Bi-Wire vs Single Wire

RGordonpf · « **on:** 19 Sep 2004, 07:21 pm »

My RM30s are designed for bi-wire only. I love the way they sound with AU24 bi-wire speaker cables. However, the Audience website links to http://www.sonicdesign.se/biwire.html which discusses the disadvantages of bi-wiring. I don't have the technical knowledge to evaluate the article. However, I do know single wires with jumpers are cheaper than bi-wiring.

Can you technical people explain the article for us non-engineers?

Has anyone experimented with bi-wire versus single plus jumper on the RM30s?

I am not worried about current carrying capacity as I am driving the RM30s with 30 watt/channel SET mono blocks.

Thanks.

shokunin · « **Reply #1 on:** 19 Sep 2004, 07:58 pm »

Steve Nugent from Empirical Audio has some tests on bi-wiring under his FAQ section on his website. I never really understood why it made an improvement, other than it did. Reading his article made sense from an science perspective.

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/frAudio_FAQ's.html

alright linky doesn't work, you're gonna have to cut and paste...

jeffreybehr · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Sep 2004, 08:38 pm »

AudioQuest has some basics on biwiring at http://www.audioquest.com/. Select Cable Theory and go to p. 5.

I believe in biwiring and use 2 different double biwires for my 3 fronts. For the 2-way Kindel PLS-A L/Rs, I use KE-6[8]* on the bass/MR and KE-4 on the treble. On the 3-way Aerial CC3B center, I use KE-6[8] on the MR/treble and very inexpensive Type 6 on the bass. I'm absolutely convinced that the best silver conductors sound better than the best copper conductors, and I spent my money that way.

The rears are double-biwired with AQ's Bedrock, 32 and 36 feet.

* KE-6 (and CV-6, too) is now 8-conductor instead of 6-, but they haven't yet renamed them.

John Casler · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Sep 2004, 09:45 pm »

Quote from: jeffreybehr

AudioQuest has some basics on biwiring at http://www.audioquest.com/. Select Cable Theory and go to p. 5.

I believe in biwiring and use 2 different double biwires for my 3 fronts. For the 2-way Kindel PLS-A L/Rs, I use KE-6[8]* on the bass/MR and KE-4 on the treble. On the 3-way Aerial CC3B center, I use KE-6[8] on the MR/treble and very inexpensive Type 6 on the bass. I'm absolutely convinced that the best silver conductors sound better than the best copper conductors, and I spent my money th ...

Holy Moly Jeffrey, you do like Silver. That is a sizable investement in cables. KE-6 is a "Very" high performance cable.

And also high $$ too at almost $1300 per metered pair.

Did you get the DBS packs too?

I have the Volcano built as a single "biwire" and haven't had a chance to check it out yet since my current speakers are not "bi-wirable"

JoshK · « **Reply #4 on:** 20 Sep 2004, 12:07 am »

I think it is hard to generalize about biwiring without knowing where the point of crossover. With the RM30's I think it will make a significant improvement and that is all you need to really know.

I would try the Audience on top and something fatter on bottom.

Sedona Sky Sound · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Sep 2004, 05:11 am »

Bi-wire cables are pretty much all I make and sell except when someone needs something for their LRC or 626R. I don't know about the RM30s, but bi-wiring makes a huge difference on the RM40s (and bi-amping makes an even bigger difference on the RM/Xs). Based on extensive testing with the RM40 and RM/X, roughly a 14 AWG equivalent wire for the mids/tweeter and a 10 AWG equivalent wire for the bass seems to be optimal. With the RM30 my guess is that you would still want 14 AWG for the mid/tweeter and perhaps 11-12 AWG for the bass.

Cables do not have to be expensive to be good. Mine are less than $200 for a 2 meter pair and have replaced several well-know single and bi-wire cables that retail in the $600-$1200 range. Companies such as Boulder Cable and Blue Jean Cable also have good products at reasonable prices. For someone that does not mind spending the money to get the last .1% of performance out of their system, I highly recommend the Silver Lace cables from Homegrown Audio. Prior to them offering their cable, I made and tested a very similar design. It was an incredible cable but was just too time consuming (10+ hours for a non-biwire <2 meter cable pair) and costly for me to make. I looked at having it made overseas but the upfront cost for me was going to be astronomical. It just wasn't worth it and I did not feel right about selling $1000 cables.

Julian
www.sedonaskysound.com

jeffreybehr · « **Reply #6 on:** 20 Sep 2004, 06:40 am »

John Kasler, yes indeed the silver stuff is expensive, but I have a very cooperative dealer!

My system has never sounded so good and especially after rebuilding the 3 crossover networks weeks after I put the cable in. I really struggled with the idea of spending gillions on speakercable, but after I bought a used pair of AQ Argent+ and used just its 2 pairs of silver* on the treble, I was convinced to stop fooling around with almost-good-enough stuff and buy the best I could stretch to. I am NOT sorry I bought this stuff--I'm thrilled with its sound--but I've yet to succumb to silver-conductor interconnect. In fact I'm still using some old AQ Topaz.

* Argent+ also includes 2 pairs of 17g. FPC-6 copper that I'm using to rewire audio stuff.