Need advice on my configuration

[FatJ]

Thanks for clicking! I need your help and advice on a possible change to my system.

My wife asked me to replace my tube TV and stand with a new fireplace and flat panel TV mounted above it. My system use is 99.99% 2 channel, however the rest of my family uses the system for TV and movies all the time. I really like the idea of the TV upgrade however it means that I will have to relocate my Meridian G57 to the equipment closet. Right now I have XLR cables running from the preamp in my closet to the living room where my G57 resides on the Lovan stand. It is connected using Monster M 2.4s to my reQuests. I'm concerned that when I move the amp and make a long run of speaker wire (which won't be as good as the cables I'm using now) that I will notice a diminished sound quality when I'm listening to music. I know that the speaker wires will pick up more noise than the XLR cables do now. The run is about 40 feet.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[JonFo]

I would not worry about a 40' run of speaker wire. Unless you it across transformers, triac's or power lines hooked up to such, it's not likely you could notice or measure a difference.

For instance, my rear Sequels are wired to their amps with 42' of speaker wire. The wire run dives under the floor in the equipment room, and runs through a crawl space and then back into the HT room at the speakers. That cable is within 5' of the two 200amp mains service feeds, and the right rear speaker cable actually crosses them (although with a 3' min. gap).

No measurable or audible impact from that.

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Unsolicited comment on the idea of a fireplace with flat screen above:

This is generally a bad idea due to the height at which the panel is placed. Unless every person in the room will be in a recliner looking up, the height of the panel is invariably too high.
It also makes placing a center channel correctly next to impossible.

Since you don't seem to already have a fireplace there, I'd suggest considering a different location for the fireplace, or the panel.

Almost to a person, every friend or acquaintance that has put a panel above the fireplace has regretted it. Chiropractic bills for the neck problems are not cheap

 

[theWB]

Agree with Jon on the speaker cable, I have 35 foot runs to my Scripts with know problems.

Of course the TV mounted above the fireplace works great for me, But it's in the bedroom and the height is perfect from the bed. Although I can see where the height might be a problem in a living room or rec room.

 

[FatJ]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to do it. Worst case scenario: I don't like it and then I have an excuse to move my reQuests to an exclusive 2 ch set up in a different room :devil:

As far as the height... it won't be too high. It actually won't be much higher than what we've got now. The bottom of the screen is going to be about 40" off the ground, the TV will be mounted on a tilt mout, and actually every one of the chairs does recline! The center will be ridiculously high but I'm not that concerned about it.

Thanks again