Necessary to bi wire?

mysticaldodo · « **on:** 4 Feb 2006, 01:36 am »

I suppose this is subjective and differs from speaker to speaker but just wanted to hear your thoughts on using a single connection to a bi-wire speaker (hope its clear

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I bought an Azur 640 A v2 (which doesn't do bi wiring) and love it with my ELS 3 but now am wondering whether it will severely limit my choice in speakers selection what with all the biwiring and triwiring. I have read some reviews where it states bi wiring is necessary but most don't say anything

Has anyone tried single wiring with a bi amp speaker especially a floorstander? I'm eyeing the Dali Ikon 6 or PMC standmounts but both have bi wiring connections on them.

My amp's power rating are as follows

8 ohms - 75 watts
4 ohms - 120 watts

No mention of RMS though. Thx

srb · « **Reply #1 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 01:59 am »

Amplifiers that have two pairs of binding posts per channel is just a convenience to be able to use two sets of standard speakers wires per channel. The terminals are simply wired in parallel internally.

Your amp that has one pair per channel requires you to use a special bi-wire cable that has 2 connections on the amplifier end and 4 connections on the speaker end.

It is possible to use two separate cables, though, if the amplifier binding post can accept a spade AND a banana plug simultaneously. Most people don't have too much luck trying to connect 2 spade connectors to a single binding post.

As far as sound difference, you're right - it is subjective and can vary between different setups. Some people swear by it, others can tell no difference.

In my own experience, I did not notice any difference with my bi-wireable B&W 602S3 and B&WHTM-7 versus a single cable, and I tried it with 3 different amplifiers.

Interestingly, B&W is a strong advocate of bi-wiring and they discuss the subject in their owners manuals and website.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #2 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 02:03 am »

I went thru a whole thing of trying various bi-wiring techniques with my speakers (eg. same wire top and bottom, different wires top and bottom, bi-wiring with a jumper on the black/ground terminals, etc), and after a year of trying all these different techniques, I ended up deciding that I liked the single-wire set-up the best. I gave up some "air" (opponents of bi-wiring say that the "air" resulting from bi-wiring is artificial), and maybe some extension on the highs, but the overall coherence I get single-wiring outdoes any of the benefits I got from bi-wiring.

Of the bi-wiring techniques I tried, I like the one using the same wire top and bottom the most.

Note that I think the quality of the jumper you use when single-wiring a speaker that has bi-wire terminals is important....

mysticaldodo · « **Reply #3 on:** 4 Feb 2006, 02:26 am »

Just found out my amp can be bi wireble but it isn't recommended. Bi wirable using 2 sets of speaker outputs.

But will try single wire first though. Now that I think of it, I'm actually using 1 strand of silver wire per channel, thats a genuine single wire

dorokusai · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Mar 2006, 02:23 am »

I've found no benefit to Bi-Wire, but that may not mean much coming from me, as a new member.

Dusty Chalk · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Mar 2006, 04:01 am »

It depends on the speaker, the amp, the wire, and of course the jumpers one is replacing. I found a rather large improvement in bi-wiring my old Spendor S3/5's, but am not even able to bi-wire my Dynaudio Special 25's.