advertisement


Extra long Interconnects

achaddy

pfm Member
Since moving house a few months ago my Gyrodeck has remained dismantled in its box.

I would obviously like to get it back into action but the other half has seized on the opportunity to veto my plans and claims where I plan to put the Gyro would look stupid:rolleyes:

She has said that the only place it can go is in the complete opposite corner of the room:mad:

Unfortunately as I have a surround system integrated into the system I cannot just move everything to that corner.

So an option would be to put the Gyro in that corner with a pre-amp and the DS then run pre-out interconnects (unbalanced) to the power amps on the other side of the room. but this would be about 10mtrs in length.

However, as the front L/R are part of a surround I would also need to run the same length back to the pre-amp again from the pre-out of the AV amp.

The Pre-amp I dont have yet but maybe an Akurate Kontrol. The power amps are Avondale m130s.

Would 10 meters be too long for unbalanced interconnects or does anyone have any suggestions other than the obvious.:D
 
Flowers, mink coats, diamonds, expensive restaurants. Probably cost you less than the incredibly complex solution you have in mind.
 
You will likely have ground loop problems. I use a 65 foot interconnect from my buffered tape out to line in of a secondary system but use a product that handles the potential ground loop. Unfortunately it won't work in the UK.
 
If the phono stage has a decently low impedance output, say under 1000 ohms, 10 metres isn't a long interconnect, even unbalanced. Use decently screened cable like RG6 or RG59, which is cheap enough at well under £1/m and it'll be fine.

S.
 
Diamonds and fur coats are out I think.:(

Slapping with a wet fish sounds good:p

I went with AKurate Kontrol because of inbuilt phono. So don't know what impedance would be for that but easy to find out I imagine.

I don't think what I am doing is complicated, I've had the same configuration before. Its just the distances that I am concerned about.
 
Diamonds and fur coats are out I think.:(

Slapping with a wet fish sounds good:p

I went with AKurate Kontrol because of inbuilt phono. So don't know what impedance would be for that but easy to find out I imagine.

I don't think what I am doing is complicated, I've had the same configuration before. Its just the distances that I am concerned about.

300 Ohm unbalanced output..........

Cheers,

DV
 
If the phono stage has a decently low impedance output, say under 1000 ohms, 10 metres isn't a long interconnect, even unbalanced. Use decently screened cable like RG6 or RG59, which is cheap enough at well under £1/m and it'll be fine.

S.

Sounds like a good advice - what have you got to lose by trying it out?
 
Since moving house a few months ago my Gyrodeck has remained dismantled in its box.

I would obviously like to get it back into action but the other half has seized on the opportunity to veto my plans and claims where I plan to put the Gyro would look stupid:rolleyes:

She has said that the only place it can go is in the complete opposite corner of the room:mad:

Unfortunately as I have a surround system integrated into the system I cannot just move everything to that corner.

So an option would be to put the Gyro in that corner with a pre-amp and the DS then run pre-out interconnects (unbalanced) to the power amps on the other side of the room. but this would be about 10mtrs in length.

However, as the front L/R are part of a surround I would also need to run the same length back to the pre-amp again from the pre-out of the AV amp.

The Pre-amp I dont have yet but maybe an Akurate Kontrol. The power amps are Avondale m130s.

Would 10 meters be too long for unbalanced interconnects or does anyone have any suggestions other than the obvious.:D

Check with Avondale, but I'd have thought you'd be ok. If you are really worried you could get a preamp with balanced outputs, and then a "balun" at the poweramp end which is how many studios are wired, but they would consider 10m as short. Just use a low capacitance screened lead with a 50 ohm impedence, and it should be fine. I ran a Naim NAP250 with a long interconnect and it was perfectly happy.
 
Check with Avondale, but I'd have thought you'd be ok. If you are really worried you could get a preamp with balanced outputs, and then a "balun" at the poweramp end which is how many studios are wired, but they would consider 10m as short. Just use a low capacitance screened lead with a 50 ohm impedence, and it should be fine. I ran a Naim NAP250 with a long interconnect and it was perfectly happy.

The impedance really isn't relevant at audio frequencies. Good screening is, which is why I suggested RG6 or RG59, which both happen to be 75 ohm cables. One benefit of using 75 ohm cable is that the same cable can be used for other applications, like video and digital audio.

S.
 
Think I might have a role of that stuff lying around in the garage so could give it a try.
Need to by the pre first but could run an experiment with the AV amp.:)
 
What would be preferable.

Long interconnects or speaker cables?

I could put the Main front L/R power amps with the pre in the opposite corner as well meaning the speaker cables will be about 10 mtrs.
 
What is the input impedance of your power amp?

Long interconnects can pick up RF noise which then demodulates to the audio band in the amp circuit.

Amps (should) have RF filtering on the inputs, but the strictness of this can vary quite a bit from kit to kit. If they want the amp to maintain a flat response even with high source impedance (passive pot for example) then it means the RF filtering will be less effective when fed from a low source impedance. It's a compromise, and I've no idea what your amp will be like.

If you do find it an issue though, a series 1K resistor at the amp end might help things.

Oh and use well shielded cable. - http://www.maplin.co.uk/high-quality-av-signal-cable-9512
 
I have recently switched from a long balanced interconnect to the same length unbalanced (7m). The unbalanced lead is from bluejeans cables, their low capacitance version (belden, maybe?) and it is superior to the balanced connection previously used. I am not convinced that Linn's balanced options are particularly effective. Either way, this works well for me and it is hard to determine whether there is much difference between 1m Linn black and 7m of the Blue jeans stuff. At this length I thought it prudent to use a cost effective cable for comparison, and glad I did.
 
What would be preferable.

Long interconnects or speaker cables?

I could put the Main front L/R power amps with the pre in the opposite corner as well meaning the speaker cables will be about 10 mtrs.

It really doesn't matter, whatever is more convenient.

Theoretically, it would be better to put the power amps close to the 'speakers so that the loop resistance of the 'speaker cables is low, and avoiding the need for thick 'speaker cables. On the other hand, long interconnects need to be well screened, or RF and hum pickup could happen.

Having said all this, in normal domestic lengths, neither really matters. 10 metres is not long for an interconnect or for 'speaker cables if reasonably thick (e.g. 79 strand) so go with whatever is more convenient domestically.

S.
 


advertisement


Back
Top