[RonCH]

Hi,

I'm hoping to buy 2 x 7B SST Amps next week and I'd like some advice on cabling and positioning. I'm planning to buy the Bryston cables - unless you have a better suggestion.

I can either position these amps by my speakers.  In this case the speaker cable would be short - about 0.5 metres, but one amp would be 4.5 metre ( 15' ) and the other 3 metres ( 10 ' ) away from the pre-amp. So I'd have quite long inter-connectors.   My inter-connectors have to be unbalanced.  Should I run different length inter-connectors in this case or use the same length?

Or I can position both amps to the left side of my left speaker.   In this case my inter-connectors will be 2 metres, but my speakers will be 0.5 ( 2' ) and 2.5 metres ( 8' ) away from the amps.  I guess I have to run the same length speaker cable ( or not ? ) in this case.

What's my best option?  Amps by the speakers or to the left of my left speaker?

Thanks

Ron

[denjo]

Hi Ron

Bryston cables? Those are the Van Damme speaker cables that I have been setting my sights on. I reckon that if recording studios use them, they must be pretty decent cables. Be sure to report on how the cables sound in your setup when you can.

Best Regards
Dennis

[AnthonyH]

Hi Ron

I had a similar situation to you, my pre is 2.5 meters from the power amp. I can't afford mega expensive cables at this time so I used some cheap (+- £16 each) 3 meter Lynx XLR microphone cables. I can't tell the difference between them and the Van den Hul RCA cable that I have.

My speakers probably aren't the most revealing though (PMC TB1) so you may find more expensive cables needed for your system.

Any good quality balanced cables will be good for long runs.

Cheers

[James Tanner]

Hi,

I'm hoping to buy 2 x 7B SST Amps next week and I'd like some advice on cabling and positioning. I'm planning to buy the Bryston cables - unless you have a better suggestion.

I can either position these amps by my speakers.  In this case the speaker cable would be short - about 0.5 metres, but one amp would be 4.5 metre ( 15' ) and the other 3 metres ( 10 ' ) away from the pre-amp. So I'd have quite long inter-connectors.   My inter-connectors have to be unbalanced.  Should I run different length inter-connectors in this case or use the same length?

Or I can position both amps to the left side of my left speaker.   In this case my inter-connectors will be 2 metres, but my speakers will be 0.5 ( 2' ) and 2.5 metres ( 8' ) away from the amps.  I guess I have to run the same length speaker cable ( or not ? ) in this case.

What's my best option?  Amps by the speakers or to the left of my left speaker?

Thanks

Ron

Hi Ron,

My personal preference is to keep the amplifiers as close as possible to the speakers (there are those that will disagree through).  Music is a transient condition - (stopping and starting). If the amplifier is close to the speaker then the amplifiers ability to control the speaker diaphragm is greatly improved. So 'go' when I say 'go' and 'stop' when I say 'stop'. Setting systems up at shows over the many years I have been doing this I have always preferred the sound of the system with the amps close to the speakers.

As to the length of the interconnects - electrons travel at the speed of light and without doing the math the time difference between 10 and 15 feet of cable is infinitesimal.  That being said and with my obsession with symmetry I always keep the speaker and interconnect cables the same length.

The fact that your running unbalanced interconnects does increase the risk of more noise pickup but I think the advantage of the short speaker leads outweighs the risk (choose a low capacitance interconnect).  Also if you go with the 7B's and later get a preamp with balanced out you can always take advantage of the balanced ins on the 7B's then.

Hope this helps.

james