Spoke too soon about no hum. It got really quiet in the house tonight and had a good listening session and left the earlier comment where I said "No hum. No noise." When I stopped playing music and stood up, I heard a slight hum. I got closer to the speakers and they just have a monotone hum coming out of them. Going to need to troubleshoot the hum this week and figure out the cause. Lots of things going on that are different -- also switched from low level subwoofer connection (interconnect) to high level coming off the speaker binding posts, so not sure if it's the 15' interconnect or the high level subwoofer connect that is causing the hum. Maybe the hum is making the soundstage better. ;-)
Need 25 foot interconnects
I just moved around my equipment so that the rack with the preamp and digital sources is on the left side of the room and the monoblock amps are just behind the left speaker on a short platform on the floor. I’m using a 15’ RCA interconnect right now, but want to move each monoblock to just behind each speaker — which means I need a longer cable. The monoblocks are unbalanced RCA input only but my preamp can do balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA out. Would a balanced XLR cable plus an XLR to RCA adapter work for this setup and be my best option? Or should I just get a Belden (or similar) 25’ unbalanced RCA interconnect? Or is there a better option?
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+1 @ghdprentice . In my den I have a pair of Kef R11 being driven by PS Audio M700 monoblocks. I took a pair of Audio Quest Rocket 44 cables cut them in half and am biwireing. The bass has improved so much I have turned off the sub. Big improvement over 8ft runs. I would also use RCA and an adapter to another pair of equivalent RCA of 10ft. Try to keep them clear of other cables. If it sounds good then spend the coin for a better pair. |
As others have mentioned, the starquad configuration is best for a noisy environment. Canare L-4E6S is the very best because the shielding is the best: heavy, braided, pig to work with. Mogami is almost as good, but the shielding is twisted, so not quite as effective, but a whole lot easier to work with. Add some decent connectors like ETI or KLE and you can't do much better. Switchcraft is pretty good too, for that matter, at bargain prices. |
Nice gear shaming @urbie - however solid gold cable also seem to obey the laws of physics.
This is great. |
I will be transitioning my setup at some point next year and face a similar question. I’m currently using a long(ish) pair of WyWires platinum IC’s (13’ single ended) but will need at least a 30’ run in the new setup. The rest of my system is (mostly) connected up with Empirical Design IC’s and PC’s which I have used for decades and never felt the need to upgrade. I reached out to Karl last week to discuss and am confident he has a solution for my new configuration. ED cables tend to fly under the radar but recently won another Editors Choice award from TAS after doing the same in back to back years (2008 & 2009 I believe) FWIW. These are very high quality cables that are reasonably priced and therefore a great choice when you need a long run that could otherwise break the bank (the WyWires are great but considerably more money). Give them a call—Karl has been a trusted adviser for me over the years and is great to work with, customizing lengths, assessing system hiccups, etc. |
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