[Captain]

I want to get some speaker cable. I have heard it is better to put all your money in a single run and get a better quality cable, as suppose to buying something at the same price that is Bi-wire. Any advice?

 

[Awk.Pine]

Unless you have a specific reason to bi-wire, just run a single strand. Some speakers are designed for multiple amps to feed different drivers; some installations might use crossovers before running speaker wire; some just prefer different amps for different frequency ranges. Some people just like experimenting. But, the advice you've heard--better to buy a single good thing than two moderate things--is good advice. Just be careful not to assume that high price means good wire.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Do your speakers have four binding posts?

 

[MatsudaMan]

"Do your speakers have four binding posts?"

LOL!!!

 

[lowmagnet]

Infinitesymphony was asking an honest question, since some speakers do have four posts. It all depends on what they do internally that makes this an important distinction, however.

 

[skyline889]

I think what he meant was that you can only bi-wire if you have four binding posts on the speakers.

 

[tourmaline]

If you can try out a piece of biwire, i would suggest to try first. The results are very variable and depends on type of amp and speakers. Lots have found no significant improvement with bi-wire opposed to single wire, in these cases a more expensive single cable did improve sound much more.

Some have benefit with bi-wiring. Most sense is bi-wire with bi-amping. Then the drivers are fed seperately with different amps, high and low are driven bij different amp and then it makes much more sense to use bi-wire, since only then you have also seperate driven drivers in the speakers. And ofcourse it depends how it is wired internally in the speaker itself....if the bi-wire clamps are internally wired together then you won't have any difference of whatsoever.

So, in all, bi wiring isn't always bi-wiring at all!

 

[lowmagnet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think what he meant was that you can only bi-wire if you have four binding posts on the speakers.

People will bi-wire two binding posts, and that's where the practice gets sorta stupid. So you can bi-wire two posts. Why you'd want to is another question entirely.

Of course, if you have four posts on your speaker, try bi-amping instead. You may be able to drive both crossovers better this way. Otherwise using two sets of wires is like using at jumper a the binding posts. It's a basic parallel circuit for a fraction of the cost in wires.

A good example of a multi-amped design: Linkwitz Orion, which has an external crossover network and each side is powered by four amplifier blocks. The design employs a Speakon NL4FC (four conductor pairs, unbalanced) connector, and banana pairs at the terminals.

 

[Captain]

Thanks for all your replies. Think I will go for single run, as here and on another forum seems the gains if any are very slight.

 

[infinitesymphony]

I experienced a pretty noticeable improvement when switching from single-strand to bi-wire, but a lot of it probably had to do with removing the metal bridges between the binding posts. As lowmagnet said, you'll probably get a similar improvement by using a short piece of the single-strand wire as the bridge to connect them.

But, I remember reading someone else's argument that bi-wire versus single+wire-bridge isn't the same because of some sort of impedance-like effect due to the woofer/tweeter (but mostly the woofer). Sort of like the idea that if two electrical devices are connected on the same circuit, one has the ability to affect the other.

And yes, you guys divined the true meaning behind my question.

 

[grandenigma1]

Here is a quick blurry shot of what I did to remove the crap brass jumpers from my speakers... it really did improve things. I think the "bi-wire" cables are an absolutely waste of money for the premium most companies charge you for them... just buy normal cables and make some simples jumpers if you must.

 

[yourtoys7]

my home speakers, all bi-wired. For headphones, I'd pass...

 

[lowmagnet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif But, I remember reading someone else's argument that bi-wire versus single+wire-bridge isn't the same because of some sort of impedance-like effect due to the woofer/tweeter (but mostly the woofer). Sort of like the idea that if two electrical devices are connected on the same circuit, one has the ability to affect the other.

Probably due to drain on the whole network caused by the passive crossover/filter in this (the four-post speaker) case.

And yeah, brass blocks aren't the most conductive. pure copper/silver bus might be better.

then again, some people bi-wire and then 'hang' their wires separately, which I find to be a touch silly. Sound engineers coil their wires with no ill effect.

 

[Bones13]

I agree with the good quality jumper wire on the 4 posts before paying double for "bi-wiring". I did DIY bi-amping with Canare Quad for my speakers. My Piorneer Integrated Amp allows reassignment of the rear surround amps for bi-amp purposes. I don't run a surround system in my study, so I figured I would give the bi-amp business a try. I have yet to make some jumpers and try single run to them.

 

[MarconiSalad]

Bi-wired based on speaker manufacture’s recommendation. Would not do it again. For me, zero benefit vs high cost.