Hi,
I've had to rearrange my listening room some and now have to use 21-foot interconnects to make the connection btwn my 950 and my amps.

Is the output voltage of the 950 strong enough to handle a run of this lenght w/ minimal signal loss/distortion? I will have the cables isolated from other elements by running it through a conduit of pipe-insulation.

It would take significant effort to relocate the amps in order to accomodate longer speaker cable runs but shorter IC runs.

What do you guys think?

I'm probably not the best one to respond because I don't even hear a difference between different interconnects!

But since you asked...

I doubt that 21 feet is noticeably different than 6 feet. Especially since you intend to shield the run.

That would have been my only concern. If it comes down to a choice between longer low level cable or longer speaker wire, I'd go for the longer speaker wire since the low level stuff is rumoured to stand a better chance of latching on to stray signals, hum, etc.

(And for the record, I don't hear a difference between speaker cables either.)

Jeff Mackwood

21 feet is not too long, and I would recommend you construct these interconnects, which I have run for 50 feet without problems.

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000069.html

Good news, thanks guys. Yeah, ideally, I'd rather use longer speaker cable, but like I said, it's not very practical in my particular situation.

Soundhound, thanks for the DIY link, those are the best instructions/photos I've seen yet.

I'll give it a try.

Curiously, most of the DIY stuff I've seen requires the purchase of crimping tools and equipment. Is there any payoff btwn crimping the connections and soldering them?

Soldering is preferrable since the connection is 100% bonded between the wire and the plug. Crimping is fine IF you have a professional grade crimping tool and the experience to use it correctly. Still, if I were going into space and had the choice of soldered or crimped connections in my spacecraft, I'd opt for solder!

In a high vibratory environment, such as a spacecraft, or any aircraft, crimping would be preferred. When soldering, the junction between the now solid wire, and the connector pin would create a point of high stress concentration. This would multiply the chances of the wire breaking at that juncture. This could create any number of nasty situations, that would abruptly end your flight, and ruin your afternoon.

There's an understatement!

Now that I think about it, I can't come up with any wire joints in an automobile that are soldered. Everything is a crimp connector. Presumably for the same reason Oil Can cited. Interesting!

That said, since the vibration in my living room is pretty limited, I soldered my Neutriks onto my twisted pair cabling for RCA interconnects, for the reasons soundhound cited. Well, not the blasting into space reason, but the positive connection one

-Joe


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Actually, crimp connectors are used in automobiles and other appliances for speed of assembly, not reliability. The idea that a soldered connection is not as reliable as a crimped one is false. When there are vibration issues, enough slack is given to wiring looms to avoid the problem of fatigue. A crimped connection is just as succeptable to this kind of stress as a soldered one.

While crimped connections can be very secure, soldering is the only way to achieve 100% connection between two electrical components. Crimping is simply faster for assembly line use, while soldering is very labor intensive.

The only time I would advocate crimp over solder would be in a case where the soldered connections would not maintain the proper impedance for important video signals. There are a few solder type connections that do, and many that don’t. There are some crimp type connections that do maintain the correct impedance, and some that don’t. Your choice of cable for video may be different than for audio as well, although some choices of excellent video cable also are great for audio too. I've been happily using highly recommended Belden 1694A cable and Canare connectors.

You are quite right on this count. Crimping BNC connectors are used to maintain 75 ohm integrity, and "F" connectors for the same reason. For audio use however, there is not much of an argument for crimp style connections since the signals are not as impedance dependent. The crimping tools a consumer is likely to buy at a RadioShack store are nowhere near good enough in my opinon, and not as good as a soldered connection.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited October 28, 2003).]