[mdfoy]

I was messing around with my speaker cables and jumpers and hooked the speakers cables to the treble and then ran the jumpers down to the bass/mids.  I was amazed, the sound was appreciable better, and the kicker was that the bass was better that way .  Has anyone else experienced this?  Can I potentially damage my speakers?

[Big Red Machine]

I was messing around with my speaker cables and jumpers and hooked the speakers cables to the treble and then ran the jumpers down to the bass/mids.  I was amazed, the sound was appreciable better, and the kicker was that the bass was better that way .  Has anyone else experienced this?  Can I potentially damage my speakers?

No.  Which jumpers?  The Cardas copper bar or cabling?

[zybar]

I was messing around with my speaker cables and jumpers and hooked the speakers cables to the treble and then ran the jumpers down to the bass/mids.  I was amazed, the sound was appreciable better, and the kicker was that the bass was better that way .  Has anyone else experienced this?  Can I potentially damage my speakers?

Yes.

No, you won't damage your speakers.

George

[catastrofe]

I was messing around with my speaker cables and jumpers and hooked the speakers cables to the treble and then ran the jumpers down to the bass/mids.  I was amazed, the sound was appreciable better, and the kicker was that the bass was better that way .  Has anyone else experienced this?  Can I potentially damage my speakers?

How were they wired before?

[mdfoy]

I am using SoundString speaker wires and SoundString jumpers.  I was using the bar jumpers, and then tried Anti-Cable jumpers before picking up the SoundStrings. Each change was a step up in sound quality, but the jumper position change was definitely the biggest.

[DMurphy]

I'm not sure I'm following this.  The only change you made was to hook the main feed from the amp to the upper terminals rather than to the lower?  Everything else was the same?  There were still jumpers of some kind between the terminals?  If so, then I think what you heard is a physical impossibility. But maybe I'm not understanding the experiment correctly. 

[catastrofe]

I'm not sure I'm following this.  The only change you made was to hook the main feed from the amp to the upper terminals rather than to the lower?  Everything else was the same?  There were still jumpers of some kind between the terminals?  If so, then I think what you heard is a physical impossibility. But maybe I'm not understanding the experiment correctly.

I agree, which is why asked how they were wired before. . .

[mdfoy]

Dennis,

Yes, that is all that I did.  Switched the main feed to the upper terminals. I did have to switch the jumper orientation as well, as they are directional. But that was all. That is the question, why does it sound better?  An increase in perceived volume, clarity and bass power, all at the same volume setting on the pre-amp.  That is the   

[TJHUB]

I was messing around with my speaker cables and jumpers and hooked the speakers cables to the treble and then ran the jumpers down to the bass/mids.  I was amazed, the sound was appreciable better, and the kicker was that the bass was better that way .  Has anyone else experienced this?  Can I potentially damage my speakers?

I too have experienced something similar.  I've also read where people have had sound changes from by putting the positive on the upper terminal and negative on the lower terminal (or was it the other way around ).  I used to bi-wire my speakers with two difference types of cables with very good results. 

My guess is that your jumpers are possibly altering the sound a bit, and that particular alteration is working better for the mid/bass driver than it was for the tweeters.  If it works for you, I say just go with it. 

[jsalk]

mdfoy -

I have little doubt you are hearing a difference.  The question you pose is "why"?

The problem is, you know what changes you are making and that can have a significant influence on what you are hearing.  Your brain is very powerful in that regard.  Like I said, I am sure you are hearing it.  The question is, without knowing any of the details, would others hear the same thing?

Here is a simple test...

Get two friends, one of whom has fairly good listening skills (not necessarily an audiophile, but someone who listens well).  Tell both of them that they are going to conduct a series of twenty short listening tests.  DO NOT tell them about your experience or what you are testing.  The less they know, the better.

Then give the friend with the listening skills a sheet with the numbers 1 - 20 and tell him that in each test, he will simply listen to see if the volume seems louder, there is more clarity and the bass has more power than in the previous test.  If so, he should place a "+" character after the number of the test.  If it is not louder with greater clarity and deeper bass, he should place a "-" character next to the test number.  If he simply cannot tell, have him record a "-".  As soon as he is able to record an answer, that particular test segment can be concluded and they can move on to the next segment.  This is all this person should know about the test.

Show your other friend how to connect the speaker cables to each set of binding posts.  Explain to him that after each test, he will pull the speaker cables out of the binding posts and insert them in the same OR other set of binding posts for the next listening test.  In other words, he will either change binding posts or he will not.  Provide him with a pen and paper to record the position of the speaker cables in each test.  (If you are very careful not to touch the speaker wires together and short things out, you can actually make this change without turning anything off.  So the change can be very quick.  This is not recommended, but we do it all the time.)

As for the "directional" jumpers, leave them oriented for use in the top set of binding posts.  Although I doubt it will make any difference, if there is indeed any directionality, it should make the difference between the tests even more dramatic and will favor the top binding posts.

Once everyone understands what they are to do, you leave the room until the test is complete.

Once the test is complete, if there is indeed a difference, there should be a high correlation of "+" marks to instances of the speaker cables being placed in the upper pair of binding posts (and vice versa).  My guess is that it will be relatively random.  But it would be interesting to see if that is the case.

On many occasions in the past, I was very sure things made a significant difference.  But even doing a simple blind test with myself as the listener, the tests did not correlate very well with what I was convinced was the case.

This is not a scientific test by any means.  Rather, it is just a quick and dirty test to see if others will hear the same thing you  are hearing wihtout the influence of knowing what you know.  Whether or not they do will help us get closer to the answer to your question.

If you take the time to do this, please report back and let us know the results.

- Jim

[coke]

 

Can't figure this one out.  I'm sure there is a small difference in impedance between jumpers, but the runs are so short that can't imagine what's causing you to hear a difference.

[sfox7076]

I think all of us should read the book "How We Decide" before we listen to speakers and try to determine what differences we are hearing.  There are fascinating discussions on how our neurons are wired and how we actually use reason and emotion to make every decision.  The immediate payoff our neural transmitters want really affects how we make any decision, and I would venture to guess, how we perceive what we hear.   I highly recommend this book. 

Shawn

[mdfoy]

All, thanks for the responses.

The "better" set of ears, the wife, noticed the changes, as did friends that came over for a listening session. I didn't post before going through the checks myself.  There is a difference in bass power and over all clarity. I can check if the direction of the jumpers makes a difference, they are spades and the cables are bananas. I will pull and pop, and try it without re-orienting the jumpers.  A very intriguing, "good" problem. 

[coke]

All, thanks for the responses.

The "better" set of ears, the wife, noticed the changes, as did friends that came over for a listening session. I didn't post before going through the checks myself.  There is a difference in bass power and over all clarity. I can check if the direction of the jumpers makes a difference, they are spades and the cables are bananas. I will pull and pop, and try it without re-orienting the jumpers.  A very intriguing, "good" problem.

Did you tell your wife and friends about the changes before they listened?  Did you suggest that it sounded better?  Sometimes this will influence what people perceive.

[mdfoy]

Coke,

No nofication of changes to anyone. The wife came in during a listen and asked what I changed.  We keep the volume pretty much the same all of the time, so there was no volume increase to attribute the change to.  So no one else has experienced this?

[TJHUB]

I once had a couple of friends over, and during the visit I did some speaker cable swapping.  I had a pair of speaker cables that sounded very bright to me.  So bright, I couldn't stand them for long listening sessions.  I swapped the cables back and forth for these two guys and they couldn't really hear a difference.  To me, the difference was huge.  I was starting to think I was crazy until the one friend's girlfriend said that she could easily hear the difference. 

I later changed my preamp and amp, and the brighter sounding cables became the better sounding cables.  I also learned that I was better off keeping my cable findings to myself.  There are just far too many factors involved with audio equipment and human hearing to share these things.  I suggest that you take what you've learned and use it for yourself only.

BTW, that's a very nice setup you have.

 

[DMurphy]

All, thanks for the responses.

The "better" set of ears, the wife, noticed the changes, as did friends that came over for a listening session. I didn't post before going through the checks myself.  There is a difference in bass power and over all clarity. I can check if the direction of the jumpers makes a difference, they are spades and the cables are bananas. I will pull and pop, and try it without re-orienting the jumpers.  A very intriguing, "good" problem.

All I can say is that you must have the worst jumpers ever.  Try connecting the upper and lower posts with simple speaker wire.  If you still hear a difference, it's time to go on America's Got Talent.  Because you will have defied the laws of physics. 

[avahifi]

I am gonna bite my tongue and not get involved in this discussion. 

Frank Van Alstine

[srb]

If a cable manufacturer indicates a directional orientation for their speaker wires or jumpers, I would probably choose another manufacturer.
 
However, there are some components in which directionality is important.  Turntables and disc players are designed to spin in a clockwise direction and reversing the direction would definitely make an audible difference.
 
Steve

[martyo]

Coke,

No nofication of changes to anyone. The wife came in during a listen and asked what I changed.  We keep the volume pretty much the same all of the time, so there was no volume increase to attribute the change to.  So no one else has experienced this?

First, very small changes in amplitude can skew data, "pretty much the same" could distort results.

Second, I have HT3's and I bi-wire because it sounds better, particulary the low end. I have bi-wired for 20 years, but when I first got the HT3's I did not. Then one time when we were listening to the mids and highs of the HT3's with the bass of some other speakers, my buddy who was the cable switcher "tricked" me and only hooked up the HT3's (in bi-wire mode) and that is the way they have been since.

My listening buddy is coming over for a session Sunday and I think we'll spend some time with him as the cable switcher again and listen bi-wired and with the jumpers. YMMV