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Placement of Components

I've read that the ideal placement of components is on a side wall (not between speakers).  I am wondering if this applies to turntable set-ups only or across the board to all components? I am guessing that having a turntable between the speakers will degrade the sound quality due to the vibrations that the turntable cartridge picks up from the speakers?  Would a streamer have the same issue if it was placed between the speakers?  

I am running a Musica Pristina A Cappella III > Denafrips Terminator + > Asthetix Calypso Eclipse Preamp that are are on a side wall on a basic Salamander Archetype rack and are connected using a 25 ft. XLR runs of the World's Greatest Cables ( about $100 on Amazon) to Audio Mirror Reflection 45 SET mono blocks into Cornwall IVs. There is also an Intel NUC running Roon in the next room.  I am wondering if the long run of my modest XLRs are limiting my sound quality and I would be better of placing my components between my speakers and buying higher quality XLRs.  25 ft. runs of high quality XLRs are prohibitively expensive but I could swing one or two meters of higher quality XLRs (i.e. Cardas, Kimber, etc.) if it makes sense to place my components between my speakers.

Or maybe it's just six of one; half a dozen of another?  Any thoughts from those of you that have experimented with both set-ups in a balanced system would be appreciated. 

bgchz
hshifi
572 posts
 

Hello,

I love the idea of the tt being closer so I don’t have to go up to the front to change or flip the record. I think you are still going to get vibration on the tt either way unless you address that with a wall mount or special isolation. 
the next issue is the cost of cables. I have always heard longer interconnects and shorter speaker cables except your phono cable beyond 2m. 
If you are going to do this then put your amp on an amp stand in between your speakers so you can keep the speaker wire short. Run balanced for noise canceling and the length but more about the noise. 
I agree about the Klipsch speakers in the upper line that you probably do not have to worry about that as much.
before you go to buy expensive cables and racks you should see if you can upgrade your base equipment first. It usually has a much bigger impact over the cables. I hope this helps. 

sgreg1
612 posts
 

Rule from Vandersteen is shortest speaker wire as possible and all long runs will be component connections. I run mono blocks so each amp is right next to the speakers and long xlr from pre amp to each mono.

ditusa's avatar
ditusa
1,881 posts
 

Comb Filtering is both audible and measurable. See below:😎

Mike

 

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,569 posts
 

@aewarren , there certainly are absolutes but there are issues that may only pertain to certain situations. A good example is you do not want to place a turntable on anything that sits on a bouncy floor unless it's chassis design is well isolated.

Amplifiers should always be placed as close to the speaker as possible. This is more important for lower impedance loudspeakers but it does pertain to all loudspeakers. 

Turntables are always a touchy issue because they are vibration measuring devices and they do not care where the vibration comes from. The more isolated they are the better. The volume of point source speaker drops off at the cube of the distance so keeping the turntable as far away from the speakers as possible is a good idea. The caveated is that there are locations where the bass can be amplified do to acoustic considerations and you certainly do not want to place the turntable in one of these locations.

Everything else could care less.  

hshifi
572 posts
 

Hello,

Mijostyn, I agree about the bass nodes. Very good point. 

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