to biwire or to single wire with jumper that is the question.

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mgsboedmisodpc2

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Recently I changed my old biwired two distinct equidistant runs of monster cable high resolution with duraflex insulation with a new single wire run of a newer cable from emotiva with a jumper for my model 3 and what sticks out most is the improved treble
presentation.  So I just proved to myself that speaker cable changes do improve or change the sound. So how do most here on this forum wire their model 2 or 3 loudspeaker. I do plan to purchase another two sets of cables for biwiring in the future or go for a biwired speaker cable set up of 2 to 4 terminals instead of 4 to 3 terminals instead of the current 2 to 2 terminals with speaker jumper setup.  Any thoughts

kernelbob

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My experience is with VonSchweikert speakers.  There, biwiring sounds better than jumpers.  The upper frequency terminals exhibit high impedance at low frequencies.  This is to prevent low frequencies from being passed to the mid/tweeter driver(s).  This means that the low frequencies aren't being transmitted across that cable.  Using jumpers, this benefit isn't available since the single cable is transferring all frequencies.

jeffreybehr

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I believe in biwiring with subtly different cables.  I choose, generally, the same brand and type of cable for low and hi frequencies, changing conductor size and quality.  Currently, I'm thrilled with my speakercables and plan to die with them still attached to my 5As and McCormack '750s.

Audioquest makes excellent cables that include 2 series of cables well suited to biwiring.  See http://www.audioquest.com/speaker-cables/
and especially the Rocket 88 and Flat Rock cables.

And kernelbob is correct in his explanation of how the music divides itself between the 2 cables--it's controlled by the rising and falling impedances of the 2 sections of the crossover.

Letitroll98

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How does the music know which wire it's on when it leaves the amplifier?  Unless you have a crossover before the amp and are bi-amping the speakers, the same signal travels from the amp on both cables.  Nothing changes until the signal passes through the terminals and into the crossover.

The biggest reason for bi-wiring is to remove the cheap jumpers included with many speakers.  The second reason is using a preferred cable for high and low sections, as noted in the previous post.  If you have only one cable, as in the OP's case, still using the jumpers, try attaching the positive lead to the high pass section and the negative lead to the low pass section.  The reverse.  One will sound better.  This has many of the electrical benefits of bi-wiring without the cost.  And buy better jumpers.

mix4fix

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How is the factory jumper bad? If that is the case, then isn't the rest of the terminal bad as well?

Bi-wiring has double the electrical piping. But does the average speaker need that much cable? Wouldn't replacing the jumper be enough?

stevenkelby

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Unless you have a crossover before the amp and are bi-amping the speakers, the same signal travels from the amp on both cables. 

I don't think that's true. As pointed out in the example above:

 
This means that the low frequencies aren't being transmitted across that cable. 

mgsboedmisodpc2

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" I choose, generally, the same brand and type of cable for low and hi frequencies, changing conductor size and quality"
wrote jeffreybehr

Anyone ever make the mistake of biwiring with very diferent lengths of cable?  I did and what happened was really interesting.  The amp slowly went silent. I used two different lenghts of cable because I thought I was purchasing two pairs of cables but instead purchased 2 singles. So I connected the two singles along to each speaker's hi frequency connectors  and the old almost three times as long cables connected to the low frequency connectors.  So now I am currently using the jumpers but plan to purchase two more cables of similar lengths or possilby instead go with a purpose built biwired cable having one two amp connectors and four barrier spade speaker connectors which could be the bettrer way to go.  Any Opinions on which way to go?

jeffreybehr

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How does the music know which wire it's on when it leaves the amplifier?  Unless you have a crossover before the amp and are bi-amping the speakers, the same signal travels from the amp on both cables.  Nothing changes until the signal passes through the terminals and into the crossover.

Letitroll, electricity flows on the path with least resistance.  The 2 sections of the crossover network have hugely different impedances by frequency.  The higher frequencies of the full-band signal flow to the hi-frequency section of the crossover because it has LOTS less resistance to high frequencies, and the low frequencies flow to the low-frequency section of the crossover because it has MUCH lower resistance to low frequencies.  We don't often think about impedance v. resistance, but AC signals of varying frequencies behave differently than AC of one frequency or DC Voltages.
« Last Edit: 22 Dec 2012, 05:31 pm by jeffreybehr »