My speaker cabling dilemma

[joe schmoe]

I have run Blue Jean cable 10 ga to my Bryston Mini-T speaker locations (in wall) and they sound good, don't get me wrong. I've spent several hours getting the best speaker layout I can, following the Sumiko speaker placement guide. The presentation, and over all soundstage with Jennifer Warnes is beautiful.

However, I was playing with the speakers wired directly to the amp, horrible speaker placement by the way, in a Bi-Amp configuration using the AQ Rocket 88 cables for the tweeters and Transparent Audio cables for the woofers. The music is much crisper, cleaner, more detailed, deeper bass. I have no depth perception or image as the speaker placement to allow connecting directly to the amp is beyond horrible. Left channel is directly in front of me and the right channel is about 4 feet to the right of that.

Music directly from my amp the Bryston Mini-Ts sounds incredible, however due to the location of my audio gear and the lay out of the room, there is no way to get a good speaker placement using my current cables. Remodeling is out of the question, unless I tear out our fireplace, hearth, and mantle, the wife won't let that happen.

In order, to get direct wiring for the proper speaker placement that I have laid out, my left channel speaker is approximately 22 feet away from the amp and the right channel is 8 feet.

What would be the best solution to have the sound being direct wired to the amp with the Mini-Ts?

Should I buy 2-22 foot bi-wire cables to allow bi-amping, yes there is a noticeable improvement with the bi-amping, or should I buy 4-22 foot cables?

The reason, I am suggesting the matching 22 foot cables is I can clearly hear a difference in my separate BJC cable runs one is roughly 22 feet long (in-wall) and the other is roughly 45 feet long (in wall also) so to keep the cable characteristics the same, I'm assuming I will need the same length of speaker cables for both channels. If I'm wrong please let me know, I'm just guessing at this piece.

With all this said, being a very poor guy, and being spoiled now with hearing the clarity of the AQ and TA cables, what and how should I go about finding this quality of speaker cable in these lengths?

How do you all manage long speaker cable runs?

[chessman]

I managed mine by putting the amp between the main speakers and running long interconnects instead. Works great for me.

[Oscar]

I just over-do the speaker cables and don't have to worry about lengths. Quadruple 8-gauge OFC for bi-amping. 20ft long each.

[mcpaf76]

Originally Posted by Oscar

I just over-do the speaker cables and don't have to worry about lengths. Quadruple 8-gauge OFC for bi-amping. 20ft long each.

Those came out awesome. Just made a pair of net 8awg from 4 runs of 14awg. Surprised 2 8 awg wires fit in those bananas. Ones I got maxed out at 8. Still undecided if I like the sound yet. One thing for sure they definitely sound better then the $280 audioquest 15awg type 4 I tried, wasn't even close. And it cost me $45.

[mcpaf76]

Originally Posted by joe schmoe

I have run Blue Jean cable 10 ga to my Bryston Mini-T speaker locations (in wall) and they sound good, don't get me wrong. I've spent several hours getting the best speaker layout I can, following the Sumiko speaker placement guide. The presentation, and over all soundstage with Jennifer Warnes is beautiful.

However, I was playing with the speakers wired directly to the amp, horrible speaker placement by the way, in a Bi-Amp configuration using the AQ Rocket 88 cables for the tweeters and Transparent Audio cables for the woofers. The music is much crisper, cleaner, more detailed, deeper bass. I have no depth perception or image as the speaker placement to allow connecting directly to the amp is beyond horrible. Left channel is directly in front of me and the right channel is about 4 feet to the right of that.

Music directly from my amp the Bryston Mini-Ts sounds incredible, however due to the location of my audio gear and the lay out of the room, there is no way to get a good speaker placement using my current cables. Remodeling is out of the question, unless I tear out our fireplace, hearth, and mantle, the wife won't let that happen.

In order, to get direct wiring for the proper speaker placement that I have laid out, my left channel speaker is approximately 22 feet away from the amp and the right channel is 8 feet.

What would be the best solution to have the sound being direct wired to the amp with the Mini-Ts?

Should I buy 2-22 foot bi-wire cables to allow bi-amping, yes there is a noticeable improvement with the bi-amping, or should I buy 4-22 foot cables?

The reason, I am suggesting the matching 22 foot cables is I can clearly hear a difference in my separate BJC cable runs one is roughly 22 feet long (in-wall) and the other is roughly 45 feet long (in wall also) so to keep the cable characteristics the same, I'm assuming I will need the same length of speaker cables for both channels. If I'm wrong please let me know, I'm just guessing at this piece.

With all this said, being a very poor guy, and being spoiled now with hearing the clarity of the AQ and TA cables, what and how should I go about finding this quality of speaker cable in these lengths?

How do you all manage long speaker cable runs?

Don't assume price is the end all when it comes to sound quality. I firmly believe any correctly sized cable of decent quality will blow away an undersized boutique cable of ANY price.

[Charles]

In managing long cable runs, use balanced IC's if possible. There is no degradation in sound quality. Balanced IC's are designed specifically for that purpose. Keep speaker cables short but from a practical standpoint 6 to 10 feet is optimum. Keep amps as close as reasonably possible to speakers, allowing for the short cable runs. Keep everything the same length that is of the same type if possible. Exception would be power cords.

However, using much heavier gauge high quality speaker cables ought to work also. The heavier the gauge the lower the resistance between amp and speaker. I wonder with the new AQ zero resistance cables (Mythical Creature Series) how this affects my thinking. Do their new cables allow for long cable runs with impunity? I suppose cost would prohibit since they are quite expensive.