Low watt (SET) amps with long speaker cables?

[Mordante]

Right now, nothing is off the table. My only reason for asking about longer cables is because I have been contemplating putting my rack to the left and the speakers in the middle, front. I normally keep the gear in the middle between the speakers and only need maybe six foot cables. I always wanted to move my gear to one side and leave my speakers free and clear.

Depending what happens in the next few weeks (stay tuned), I'll need to figure something out.

I have the same sort of set-up.

My rack is on the long side of the wall and my speakers on the shot side. I used to play with an integrated amp using 7meter long speaker cables. Recently I bought a pre amp and mono power amps. I now use a 6meter long XLR cable to the mono amps. My speaker cables are at AudioQuest, they are going to let me know how much it will costs to shorten them to 3meters.

 

[joeinid]

I have the same sort of set-up.

My rack is on the long side of the wall and my speakers on the shot side. I used to play with an integrated amp using 7meter long speaker cables. Recently I bought a pre amp and mono power amps. I now use a 6meter long XLR cable to the mono amps. My speaker cables are at AudioQuest, they are going to let me know how much it will costs to shorten them to 3meters.

I could probably simplify, have a single rack and leave it at the front of the room.

I guess a lot depends upon gear choice.

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[atmasphere]

If the speakers are higher impedance (16 ohms) then you can get away with longer cables as AJ suggests.

SETs are not particularly noisy such that having longer cables would present any problem.

I do think that monoblocks placed by the speakers have advantages, in particular the ability to run shorter cables, which is important if the amp has a higher output impedance (and SETs do) and the speaker is a lower impedance (which in this case includes 8 ohms and less). In such a case, being able to run a balanced line to the amps has a lot of advantages, even if you have to run a set of line transformers (Jensens being some of the best out there) to do the job.

Another way to look at this is that the speaker sees the amps and speaker cables as the source impedance driving the speaker. OTOH, the amps see the speaker cables and the speakers as the load. This means that slight DC resistance in the cable can affect the damping factor more than you might think, but as AJ mentioned earlier a higher impedance speaker usually makes this problem go away so longer cables can be used. To flip this around, one disadvantage of lower impedance speakers is that the speaker cables become more critical.

Now I have to assume that the speakers are also higher efficiency, since SETs really shouldn't be driven to much more than about 20% of full power (as a general rule of thumb) since the higher ordered harmonics will start to show up at about that power level. Because they show up more on transients, this causes the amp to sound more dynamic since the ear/brain system uses those harmonics to sense sound pressure. If you are conscious of this fact, it can ruin it for you if you know that the 'dynamics' you're hearing are really just distortion masquerading as such. So make sure the speaker has some serious efficiency if you plan to use SETs. That way you will get the best results out of the amp.

 

[joeinid]

If the speakers are higher impedance (16 ohms) then you can get away with longer cables as AJ suggests.

SETs are not particularly noisy such that having longer cables would present any problem.

I do think that monoblocks placed by the speakers have advantages, in particular the ability to run shorter cables, which is important if the amp has a higher output impedance (and SETs do) and the speaker is a lower impedance (which in this case includes 8 ohms and less). In such a case, being able to run a balanced line to the amps has a lot of advantages, even if you have to run a set of line transformers (Jensens being some of the best out there) to do the job.

Another way to look at this is that the speaker sees the amps and speaker cables as the source impedance driving the speaker. OTOH, the amps see the speaker cables and the speakers as the load. This means that slight DC resistance in the cable can affect the damping factor more than you might think, but as AJ mentioned earlier a higher impedance speaker usually makes this problem go away so longer cables can be used. To flip this around, one disadvantage of lower impedance speakers is that the speaker cables become more critical.

Now I have to assume that the speakers are also higher efficiency, since SETs really shouldn't be driven to much more than about 20% of full power (as a general rule of thumb) since the higher ordered harmonics will start to show up at about that power level. Because they show up more on transients, this causes the amp to sound more dynamic since the ear/brain system uses those harmonics to sense sound pressure. If you are conscious of this fact, it can ruin it for you if you know that the 'dynamics' you're hearing are really just distortion masquerading as such. So make sure the speaker has some serious efficiency if you plan to use SETs. That way you will get the best results out of the amp.

Thank you so much Ralph. I greatly appreciate your input.

The Dou XD are 107 dB at 18 ohms.

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