Long interconnect or speaker cable

Certainly longer xlr. As for the speaker cable, do not do less than 5-6ft even if the length required is something like 3ft. You want to allow the speaker cable to do their job. Too short of a run and you can get added noise into the speaker because of the fact that it is so short, as speaker cable has an ability to dissipate unwanted noise over longer runs respectively and not going too long where you get signal loss. If you are going to keep them super short, be sure to use a smaller awg cable as to reduce signal to noise. It’s an issue some powered speakers can run into. Cables are like tone controls, longer and shorter runs of identical speaker cable can sometimes sound different on the same set up. 

So, my REL subs are upfront near my floor standers. Would there be any concern about the vibration of the subs next to the mono blocks? I’d put the 601s on small stands which would help, but I’m sure the bass energy would still cause the amps to vibrate. Maybe it doesn’t matter for amps?

I chuckle sometimes that we are so obsessive about cable length. I agree that the longer run should be XLR whenever possible. If it makes you uncomfortable to have a 20 foot run of XLR between your preamp and amp, note that in live venues they run hundreds of feet of this cable, sometimes all the way to a recording van outside. Even in studios there can be 100+ foot runs of XLR. I have never seen one of the master recording engineers express a concern about XLR cable length.

@passfan70 Wrote:

 If you are going to keep them super short, be sure to use a smaller awg cable as to reduce signal to noise. It’s an issue some powered speakers can run into. Cables are like tone controls, longer and shorter runs of identical speaker cable can sometimes sound different on the same set up. 

I don't think a powered speaker requires a speaker cable, a powered speaker has the amp(s) installed inside the speaker cabinet. 😎

Mike

I was just referring to the speaker cable inside the cabinet connected to the output of the built in amp. Output distortions from the amp go input direct to the driver is all. Simple and a small quib but this hobby is gets so darn particular.