Advantages of monoblocks

05-03-14: David12
As an aside, people have mentioned short interconnects, long speaker cables, V the opposite, assuming you are using XLR's for long interconnect runs, are there theoretical reasons that mean short or long runs of either, should be better?

Nearly all effects of speaker cables and line-level analog interconnects can be expected to be proportional to length, everything else being equal. One conceivable exception being antenna effects, where certain unpredictable lengths of speaker cable may be more susceptible than others to picking up RFI that may be present and injecting it into the feedback loop of the amplifier, if there is a feedback loop in the particular amplifier.

In general, the lower the impedance of the speaker the more critical speaker cable effects will become, because the inductive reactance (the inductive form of impedance), resistance, and perhaps other less explainable cable factors will become more significant in relation to that lower speaker impedance. Therefore, as speaker impedance decreases keeping the length of speaker cables short becomes increasingly preferable.

And the higher the output impedance of a component which drives a line-level analog interconnect, the more critical that interconnect cable will become, because capacitive reactance (the capacitive form of impedance), and perhaps other less explainable cable factors will become more significant in relation to that higher output impedance. Therefore, as the output impedance of a component driving a line-level analog interconnect increases, keeping the length of that interconnect short becomes increasingly preferable.

Everything else being equal, balanced line-level interfaces will tend to be less susceptible to cable effects than unbalanced interfaces, in part because of reduced susceptibility to ground loop effects.

All of the foregoing applies to situations where none of the parameters of the cables that are involved are extreme. A few speaker cables, on the other hand, have extremely high capacitance per unit length, and different considerations may come into play in those kinds of situations. For example, the performance of some amplifiers may degrade, in some cases even to the point of oscillation, in the presence of extremely high speaker cable capacitance.

Also, all of the foregoing assumes that the goal is minimization of cable effects and colorations. From a subjective standpoint, that assumption will of course not always be applicable.

Best regards, to a fellow Daedalus owner!
-- Al

Simao, I am presently using the LSA Statement amp in its present condition. Earlier it was called the Statement Plus. I also own a pair of BMC M2 monoblocks. Here to fore, I have preferred the M2s over the LSA Statement, but one of my M2s stopped working and I put the stereo Statement in. Putting the Statement on a Star Sound Tech. Apprentice platform added greatly to its performance.

I will soon get the broken M2 back and will of course try them. But there is no question in my mind that the LSA Statement is exception especially for the present price of $4500 new. I would call Exemplar Audio at 425 334-4733 and ask whether you have the current LSA Statement. You will probably need to have the top off to answer their question. If you don't ask about updating it and do it. Also buy the Star Apprentice platform. Forget the mono blocks.

I just recently moved from using a Jeff Rowland Capri preamp and Ncore 400 monos to a Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 integrated. The improvement has been enormous and the decision, about which I was very concerned, has proven to be a very good one. Just goes to show that we should not depend on assumptions.

That being said, I have two thoughts to share concerning the precedeing commentary. Firstly, the arguments about longer interconnects vs. longer speaker cables are influenced in their validity by the relevant and relative lengths of each. My speakers have outboard passive crossovers which did not require any increase in the length of my speaker cables, and, of course, I now have no interconnects to consider between pre and power amps.
Secondly, Simao said nothing about sources but that may well be the best place to scratch the rotating itch that he senses commencing. Perhaps a DAC that can perform at the level of his LSA Statement would put the brakes on the merry go round for another year. Maybe an NAD M51 would do the trick.

Ait,

I hadn't come across any of your posts since those I read on the capacitor thread. I valued your comments and it was good to find your post here.

Cheers,

John

Actually, I was wondering about an external DAC. My digital source is a Rotel 1072 - an acknowledged giant killer, but still the weakest part of my system. I looked into DACs about a year ago and nothing came up that people said the Rotel couldn't best.

Any ideas?