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New to this. How do I stack my stuff?

I'm new to hifi. I've asked a lot of questions here and some of you may already know my situation but I got the following by chance and for free: Audio Research LS16 tube pre-amp, Arcam CD92 cd player, Madrigal Proceed HPA2 amp. 

It is all up and running and I'm loving it. Now just trying to maximize the little things that I can. For instance, speakers had spike stands but spikes were missing so I made a set.

Now I read in the CD manual that it recommends sorbothane feet and says sound quality will be better.

I'm now figuring out that placement of components is important and that proper stands, expensive ones, are best. Well, expensive stands are not going to happen. But I can try to make accommodations that are cheap and won't turn the room upside down.

Here is how it is all situated now...let the ridicule flow, but keep in mind that I am space limited to a serious extent. Was not sure I'd get the system in my house at all:

The (very) heavy Proceed amp is sitting on a carpeted floor on strips of wood which raise the bottom of it well above the carpet. It is higher above the carpet than it would be above a hard surface just on its own feet.

The CD player is sitting on a small, simple, wooden, antique side table. It is sturdy. The pre-amp is on top of the CD player. I have no idea what this might mean in terms of SQ but the CD player actually puts out a fair amount to heat which rises up into the pre-amp of course. That concerns me.

So other than getting some sorbothane feet for the CD player, what else would be a priority here?

Finally are there issues with which cables contact which cables, how much speaker cables are looped, etc. (Most of the cabling is Transparent Super Bi-wire.)

Thanks for any assistance.
n80
celander's avatar
celander
1,503 posts
 
@n80 

I respect your opinion about the 6’ run of balanced Transparent cables being audibly fine sounding cables in a given system. I encourage you to think outside of the box regarding a couple possible advantages of swapping out those balanced cables for a longer run of another balanced cable.

A longer run of balanced cables would enable you to move both your CD player and ARC tube preamp away from the speakers. That might provide you with certain sonic advantages about soundstage presentation that George pointed out and reduce noise in both the source and preamp being separated from each other and away from the speakers. Those advantages might offset the loss in perceived sonic qualities in switching from the Transparent balanced cable to a diffrent balanced cable.  

A longer run of balanced cables would enable you and your spouse to place the CD player and preamp where it’s most convenient for your use in the room. 

A star quad audio Canare balanced cable is a decent cable with excellent audio characteristics. HAVE (or others) can custom make these for you. A set of balanced interconnects of decent length is relatively inexpensive (<$100 per pair). 

Here are some links. 
http://store.haveinc.com/default.aspx 
(I can message you specific product page links showing lengths and Neutrik XLR terminations w/ gold contact pins and my contact at HAVE customer service). 

https://www.cs1.net/products/canare/L-4E6S_balanced_audio.htm

n80 OP
2,116 posts
 
I will certainly take this into consideration but locating the components elsewhere is probably going to be a problem even if I had longer cables.

Also, only the cables from the pre-amp to the amp are XLR cables. The cables from the pre-amp to the CD are also Transparent but they are RCA cables.

These Transparent cables are high dollar. Way more than the Canare, even used. Now, I have no idea what that means in terms of actual quality difference and I know there is a never ending debate on the topic of cables. So this question comes to mind: Would moving the amp and CD to a better location in regard to the speakers using presumably lower quality cables provide enough advantage over the higher end cables?

In other words which is better: higher end cables with poor component position or good component position with lesser cables?
n80 OP
2,116 posts
 
shadowcat, sorry to hear about your wife. We've been married 30 years. We lost my mother-in-law 3 years ago and my dad this month and have seen how hard it is for each of their spouses to deal with that loss.
celander's avatar
celander
1,503 posts
 
N80. Keep your Transparent RCA cable. It’s perfectly fine. You can easily set up the CD player away from the ARC preamp using the usable length of your RCA cable. I am only referring to swapping in a longer run of the balanced IC between your preamp and power amp. Keeping your power amp near the speakers is also fine. 
celander's avatar
celander
1,503 posts
 
“In other words which is better: higher end cables with poor component position or good component position with lesser cables?”

It is the entire system quality that needs to be considered. Eliminating certain distortions like proximal effects of speaker radiation patterns on sources and low-level, noise-sensitive preamps by using a longer run of interconnects can easily trump maintaining those distortions by using a short run of very high quality interconnects. But everything is adjudged by experimentation to discern which sounds better overall. 

Ease of use of your source player and preamp switching/volume functions close by to the seating position of you and your spouse is of secondary importance, but can have an impact on long-term enjoyment of the setup. 
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