I am faced with either running long interconnect cables from the receiver to the external amp with short speaker cables or long speaker cables with short interconnects. The total length will be about 25 feet. Which scenario would be better?
I'm reviving this thread, becuase I am now faced with the same situation. It seems that if one has to look at long ICs, using balanced is recommended. But what if (as in my case) my amp only has RCA inputs? Is there any value at all in using a balanced cable which then has to go through a Balanced / RCA converter?
Tonyptony...If you use rca inputs/outputs (with an adapter)the interconnect will be an unbalanced interface even if the wires and XLR connectors are configured for balanced use. When balanced interconnects are used in unbalanced mode signal pin(-) is just grounded to the shield.
Tonyptony...You will get all kinds of opinions on this. Mine is that if your preamp has output impedance of about 100 ohms or less (ss usually runs around 50 ohms) long interconnects should be no problem. For tube circuitry, where 600 ohms is not uncommon, I would keep the interconnects to less than about 8 ft.
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