Short Power Cable (ie, 3 to 6ft)

Vtin, the sonic benefits of short speaker cable*-long I/C, versus short I/C-longer speaker cable, have been difficult to gauge in my experience. I have tried both -- the latter lately; my personal experience favours keeping the IC short (around 1m). This is probably because the signal from the pre is weaker than the one leaving the power amp -- and thereby more vulnerable to IC inductance?

Others, however have had good results with longer ICs & keeping the speaker cable on the short side... Could you not try both combinations before U settle?

Cable: I've never lived with an Eclipse/Rowland combo, so no suggestions, I'm afraid!

Good luck!

*(I assume that's yr topic -- not power chords)

I assume also that you don't really mean short power cables, but short speaker cables. I found an audible improvement when using short (4 foot) speaker cables and a longer (8 foot balanced) IC between the pre and power amps than when I had used a longer run of speaker cables and a shorter IC. Of course, all the cables were same manufacturer, same grade. I have not tried the same test with single ended cables, although I can't believe 8 foot RCA terminated cables would lose much, if anything. (More than 10 feet, however, I would suspect there would be some loss.)

vtin: ok, you can ignore part of my other post on your cdp query thread (should have read this one first). are your eclipses the "old" model or the updated "classic."? the latter are somewhat more revealing and have greater bass "punch." hence, you'll want more neutrally-balanced speaker cables with the "classic." i've owned the original eclipses, the ascents and now have eidolons. I've driven all three pairs of avalons with various iterations of the rowland model 8 stereo amp. for quite some time, i used cardas cable and interconnects, golden cross and neutral reference. this spring i started to experiment with other wires. for me, tara "the one" sounds best in my system, with fim gold a close second. i have real problems with the stiffness of the fim wire, which is an important reason why i rejected it. "the one" gives me a neutral tonal balance and very wide sound stage. the sound stage depth is in keeping with the laid back presentation of my rowland amp, which i prefer. pace and rhythm are superb. BTW, if you care at all about resale, i'd not purchase speaker cables shorter than 4 feet or 1 1/2 meters. as with everything, of course, do try to audition cables in your system before buying. cables that will sound best with your gear are likely to represent a sizable investment. -kelly