Cable questions


Hi,

First, I've read back quite a few discussions of long speaker cables vs. long interconnects. My question is a bit different, in that I don't have monoblocks, which is the focus of most of those discussions.

My problem is that for family-acceptability reasons, my stereo preamp must be some distance from my speakers. I could position the stereo power amp either with the preamp (using a 3-6' interconnect) or close to the speakers (under the floor, actually). With short interconnects, my speaker runs would be about 25-30'. With long (about 20')interconnects, my speaker runs would be about 10'.

My preamp is a Classe CP-35, and the amp is a CA-200. These units do have balanced output and input if that helps.

Second, what sort of cables would you recommend? Cost is an issue, I would like to spend a few hundred dollars on cabling (I realize that's low, but I've made some jumps to step up to this gear and need to slow down for now). I currently use a 3' Radio Shack Gold interconnect and 10 foot of 12guage homemade RS speaker cable. Speakers are Celestion S-300 floorstanders.

Finally, any information out there on homemade interconnects? Is this hard to do, and are the results reasonable?

Thanks for any advice!

- Eric
ehart
Ditto with Newbee -- I am using 20+ foot interconnects with 10 foot speaker cables and am achieving very fine results. The Phoenix Gold Pro interconnects are very inexpensive (under $100 for that length in XLR) and hold up to the best of systems. I can't speak to inexpensive speaker cable (mine is pricey) but do a thread search and look for used. Actually, there are excellent threads on low cost interconnects too. Good luck.
I would definitely go with a long balanced interconnect. Least likely to have any signal loss. I'll leave the recommendations for cable brand and model to those familiar with the Classe gear.
I chose to run a 7 metre IC between amp and pre so I could keep my spkr. cables 6 ft.(Kimber PBJ works fine)
I run Classe 25 power amps and CP-60 pre amp, I use the PS Audio Statements for inteconnects and XLO type 5 speaker wire which will be replaced with the PS Audio Statement speaker wire. I would go for the longer interconnects with shorter speaker wire but since your buget is only a few hundred dollars I would keep what you have for now and spend the money on dedicated lines or maybe a few nice power cords. I know your eq. well and your buget is not enough to get the most from your eq. Also check out a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet!
The other thing to do is a nice set of interconnects for now then down the road a bit pick up speaker wire, you have some long runs and not enough in the buget to really upgrade, as a few hundred wont get you much considering the long runs so work on other things until you can afford the better wire. Happy Listening!
Great advice, thanks. I will definitely go with the longer balanced interconnect. As a bonus, it sounds as though a decent long interconnect is cheaper than decent long speaker cables. I like the suggestion to spend the money on just interconnect now, and go with better speaker wires later when budget allows.

For future reference, I would love to hear what other Classe owners are using for Interconnects and speaker wire.

Thanks again

- Eric

p.s. How do you go about demoing this stuff (wire)? Local stores have a very limited selection. Do you just buy a bunch of different stuff here for comparison, then sell the losers?