Do you bi-wire your speakers?

rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
848
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I do it. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have four lugs on the back of my speakers and four wires inside my speaker cables, so I terminate all four, plug one pair (positive and negative) into the top lugs and the other into the bottom. Voila --- I don't need jumpers and all of the holes are plugged!

It seems to me it sounds a tiny bit better this way and I read an explanation somewhere of why that might be, but I could just be kidding myself.

But, it certainly doesn't sound worse, so -- hey -- why not?

Plus, gives me a chance to use four more WBT connectors.

It looks a lot cooler this way than with jumpers and that counts.

Kind of like how the car runs better after it has been washed, you know?
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,319
1,428
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Yes, I have no choice my module's binding posts are two feet apart. They don't come with jumper plates as a result. I also have a split jumper type of cable I use occasionally.
 

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com

naturephoto1

Member
May 24, 2010
820
7
16
Breinigsville, PA
www.nelridge.com
I used to bi-wire all 7 of my speakers in my system with separate runs of cables for 5 of the speakers and a pair of bi-wires for the rear speakers. With the installation of my mains- OMA New Yorker speakers which only have a pair of binding posts I can only use 1 pair of speaker cables. For my Nola LCR Reference and Nola Viper IIA side surrounds I still use 2 pair of speaker cables for each speaker. My rear channel Dahlquist DQ-6 speakers use a single pair of bi-wred cables to each speaker. All of the Nola and Dahlquist speakers have binding posts for the High Frequency and for the Bass frequency drivers. I have previously found that at least some of my speakers sounded better bi-wired and separate pairs of speaker cables are still better.

Rich
 

Jay_S

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
309
5
16
San Francisco - East Bay
Yes, but I'm not convinced that there is an irresistible benefit. The manufacturer of my speaker strongly recommended it and I already had the cables properly configured from a prior pair of speakers.
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
6,129
181
458
La Jolla, Calif USA
I bi-wire with two cables per side from my ss amp. When my tube amp is in service, I bi-wire with a bi-wire adapted pair..dual connections at amp end and four at the speaker end..The tube amp cannot accept twin cables per side:(. I think that dual cables per channel is the better option and if doable then that is the better solution, IMO.
 

muralman1

New Member
Jul 7, 2010
479
0
0
Sacramento Ca
My 1 ohm speaker calls for all the power I can give it. The connectors take the signal to two different locations, so biwiring is absolutely necessary.
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
6,455
29
405
My 1 ohm speaker calls for all the power I can give it. The connectors take the signal to two different locations, so biwiring is absolutely necessary.

Not sure I understand what you mean by "two different locations" ?
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
6,455
29
405
Simple and Superb analysis ... The results do not surprise me ...
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com

Thanks, Vincent. Not that I biwire.... but the model used is a very simple one where a loudspeaker driver is modeled as a resistor. In fact, a driver consists of a voicecoil, magnet, and suspension. Due to the effect of inertia and momentum of the cone and the spring of the suspension, a large woofer can generate significant back-emf. This is sometimes used as the rationale for going to fully- or semi-active loudspeakers, biwiring, biamping, etc.
 

Vincent Kars

WBF Technical Expert: Computer Audio
Jul 1, 2010
860
1
0
Agreed, it is far more complex and a guy like Jim knows.
But applying the theory can tell you a priori whether one could expect any effect at all and if what the magnitude might be.
I like these type of articles because it proof both the audiophiles (“bi-wiring makes world of difference, blown away”) and the debunkers (“bi-wiring is plain scam”) wrong.
 

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