XLR interconnects & speaker wire length

[ThomasCT]

I'm looking for some AQ King Cobra XLR interconnects for the Marantz AV7005 & MM7055. I found some that are 0.75M , 1M, and 1.5M in length. I'm planing to rack mount the pre/pro & amp. Does it matter which length I should go with ? Should all interconnects be the same lenght or I can mix match the sizes?

The ML Vantages, ML Stage, ML Helos 100 will be connected to the MM7055 via 70 foot BJ Belden 10-gauge 5T00UP speaker wires.

Thanks

Thomas

 

[tsv_1]

I'm looking for some AQ King Cobra XLR interconnects for the Marantz AV7005 & MM7055. I found some that are 0.75M , 1M, and 1.5M in length. I'm planing to rack mount the pre/pro & amp. Does it matter which length I should go with ? Should all interconnects be the same lenght or I can mix match the sizes?

The ML Vantages, ML Stage, ML Helos 100 will be connected to the MM7055 via 70 foot BJ Belden 10-gauge 5T00UP speaker wires.

Thanks

Thomas

For analogue interconnects, general rule of thumb is the shorter the better (though not so short there's any strain at all on the cords or connectors). Of the lengths you're talking about, any of them should be fine. Best to use matching pairs for any given stereo connection (e.g. L/R between preamp and amp), but really no benefit or concern if you use say a 0.5m pair to go from source to pre, then a 1.5 pair to go from pre to amp. In my setup I try to use the length that gets me from point A to point B with just enough slack to be comfortable without having much additional length to tie/loop/hide.

I salute you for choosing XLRs which, IMO, are always the right choice whenever possible (assuming quality cables/connectors of course).

Them's my 2 pence

 

[Speedskater]

I think that I would go with 70 foot XLR balanced interconnects and shorter speaker cables. Modern equipment can deal with much longer balanced interconnects.

 

[tsv_1]

I think that I would go with 70 foot XLR balanced interconnects and shorter speaker cables. Modern equipment can deal with much longer balanced interconnects.

I missed his comment about the long run to the speakers and I would agree if this were for a 2-channel setup. For 5 channels though, some long speaker cables are going to be needed no matter what. Then there's remote trigger to consider as well (if that applies here).

 

[ThomasCT]

What do you consider is long ? If I don't run the cable up then down the wall then I can keep it around 40ft per run for the front L/R and center. Would that make a difference ? I would like to enjoy 2-channel listening as well.

 

[tsv_1]

What do you consider is long ? If I don't run the cable up then down the wall then I can keep it around 40ft per run for the front L/R and center. Would that make a difference ? I would like to enjoy 2-channel listening as well.

Frankly, anything under 100ft (especially with 10 AWG) isn't really going to present much loss - on the order of 0.1 Ohms in the audio range. However, this becomes significant for some ML speakers at HF where their impedance can drop significantly (I think the Vantage impedance drops to 1 Ohm at 20KHz). For critical 2-ch listening, it would be best (IMO) to try and keep the speaker cables short. That said, you simply may not hear a difference with one setup (long speaker cables) vurses the other (long XLR). And a long run of quality XLR cables will of course add cost. Erring on the side of practicality, I'd probably just stick with your current setup. If you feel like you're missing something in the sound, experiment with long XLR runs.

Cheers

 

[Speedskater]

For any speaker whose impedance drops to 1 Ohm at 20KHz, I would think that about 10 feet should be the limit. This speaker cable should have low self-inductance like a star-quad construction.

For an XLR cable, going from 3 feet to 100 feet should and about $100 to the cost of the cable.