To Biwire or not to biwire?

[Z-Man]

Does anybody here biwire their speakers? If so, can you speak to what improvements you hear over a single run of cable? I'm considering going this route on my new Mirage speakers, which are currently cabled with a single run of Audioquest Bedrock - a cable that I'm happy with and is reasonably priced, so I'd probably just get a second pair. Any thoughts?

[SEK]

My Vandersteen 1Cs don't benefit from bi-wiring, but other speakers in the Vandersteen line reportedly do (though I'm unable to detect the difference). My friend with biwired Vandersteen 2CEs swears by his biwires. Being an audiophile is apparently a very subjective enterprise.

[JohnS]

My modest system is biwired. I'm not sure I can hear any difference. I'd give it a try though if it isn't too costly.

[Leeway]

Bi-wiring is not really about the cable, so much, as it is about delivering sufficient power to the drivers in your speakers. This is quite dependent on the type of speaker you have (especially what kind of drivers and impedance) and the type of amplifier you have (amount of power it can deliver cleanly). Some speakers do benefit from this arrangement, some do not.

You might want to lay out your situation in more detail (type of speaker, amp, etc) at www.audioasylum.com, in the Speaker or General forums, where a considerable amount of energy is spent on exactly such issues B-)

[SEK]

Lotsa voodoo at the Asylum, but also many good deals in audio gear.

[Leeway]

Lotsa voodoo at the Asylum, but also many good deals in audio gear.

Don't know about "voodoo" but certainly a diversity of opinion (you know, ask 10 people, get 20 answers). But Z Man can get some feedback from people who own his type of speaker(s) and who might have gone the bi-wire route.

BTW, SEK, were you thinking of Audiogon? (not Audio Aylum) -that's where gear is usually sold. Different site I think.

[Chuck Nessa]

I am sure the Bush/Ashcroft circle frowns on biwire situations. Be VERY cautious.

I think this is horseshit unless you have a desk full of green magic markers.

[Leeway]

I am sure the Bush/Ashcroft circle frowns on biwire situations. Be VERY cautious.

I think this is horseshit unless you have a desk full of green magic markers.

Do yellow markers count?

[wolff]

I would contact the speaker designer, since it is speaker/system dependent.

To generalize, most recommend good jumpers and bi-amping to get the most from their speakers. Been wanting to try 300B amp on the mids and a 2A3 amp on the tweeters.

I'd also recommend trying better grade parts in the crossover as another way to greatly improve your speaker. Some of the caps/resistors/inductors, even in expensive speakers, are the cheapest they could find.

Edited January 2, 2005 by wolff

[SEK]

BTW, SEK, were you thinking of Audiogon? (not Audio Aylum) -that's where gear is usually sold.  Different site I think.

Errr...yeah (it's Audiogon for esoteric and not-so-esoteric gear deals).

I'll be gentle and back off from "voodoo" and stay with "subjectivity" to characterize the Audiogon and Audio Asylum discussions and advice.

[Jim Alfredson]

You fools are all wasting your time. Everyone knows the single biggest improvement you can make to your system are a couple of these:

CLICK ME!!!

[Leeway]

You fools are all wasting your time. Everyone knows the single biggest improvement you can make to your system are a couple of these:

CLICK ME!!!

They won't say it in the ad, but I understand that if you place one of these in your car's gas tank, you will get over 50 miles per gallon!

I don't bi-wire my speakers, but the concept behind it is not all that esoteric. It's just a matter of delivering more power directly to the drivers. Many speaker manufacturers provide for bi-wiring and even tri-wiring on their speakers. Now, whether this is actually a remedy for initial poor speaker design, or just an option to upgrade speaker performance, is another question. The simplest way to test the possibilities of biwiring is to try it and see if it works.

As for subjectivity, who would argue with that. Audio, not unlike like jazz, involves subjective impressions. Of course, the more listening you do in either area, the more reliable those impressions are likely to be.

[Z-Man]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll try the Audio Asylum, but I often have little patience for the discussions over there. I've always been skeptical of the advantages to be had from biwiring, but the speaker mfgr swears that there's a dramatic improvement. Who knows, maybe they're just heavily invested in copper futures. When I get some time I'll probably do an A/B comparison with some cheap cable, but right now I'm quite happy with the sound of my system so I'll just leave it alone.

[wolff]

Get rid of the jumper plate your speakers came with and buy 2 feet of very good OFC speaker cable(10-12 gauge), and make some 6" jumpers. You could also try some 20 gauge solid silver. No need to terminate with spades. Super cheap upgrade.

[Peter]

Green magic markers!!! Brings back memories of the eary days of CDs. Supposedly, if you colored the outer edges of your CDs green, you'd get improved sound.

[Peter]

I'm bummed. Just tried to order some of those Silver Rock Signature Knobs. You guys must of got there 1st cause they're sold out (uunless you're willing to settle for pine)!

[Rooster_Ties]

Green magic markers!!! Brings back memories of the eary days of CDs. Supposedly, if you colored the outer edges of your CDs green, you'd get improved sound.

Every once in a blue moon, I'll buy a used CD with green markered edges. (Usually on eBay, where I'll have no idea before getting the disc in the mail.) I think the last one I got was less than a year ago -- a Peter Murphy promo CD.

In fact, Spontoonious was over for lunch today, and he had a classical disc with green painted on the outer and inner edges, both!!

[Ron S]

I'm bummed. Just tried to order some of those Silver Rock Signature Knobs.  You guys must of got there 1st cause they're sold out (uunless you're willing to settle for pine)!

Actually, they're sold out because I bought their entire stock to replace every door and cabinet knob in my house--sort of a holistic acoustic thing. Or maybe it's a Feng Shui thing. Or maybe I was just supposed to COLOR all the knobs GREEN with that case of magic markers I had specially imported from Lichtenstein!

[neveronfriday]

Talking about voodoo stuff (which I am, in some ways, into if it does give you some improvement):

Before Christmas I had a friend over who had replaced the feet of each and every electronic device in his HiFi chain with some ultra-expensive new ones, sometimes of different types. I think he spent a year on reading up on this stuff.

When I showed him my setup, which constists of some 4 slightly cut-up and curved-out wine cork feet which I simply placed beneath my CD player, he cracked up so bad that he had to leave the room for a while.

Then we took them to his house.

Then we took off his high-tech stuff and put mine underneath.

Then I left the room laughing like mad.

I think he had tears in his eyes.

Top-notch (and very audible) sound-improvement for zilch. Only the wine had actually cost something (a cheap one at that) and I think the cork was for free.

Cheers!

Edited January 10, 2005 by deus62

[Ron S]

Talking about voodoo stuff (which I am, in some ways, into if it does give you some improvement):

Before Christmas I had a friend over who had replaced the feet of each and every electronic device in his HiFi chain with some ultra-expensive new ones, sometimes of different types. I think he spent a year on reading up on this stuff.

When I showed him my setup, which constists of some 4 slightly cut-up and curved-out wine cork feet which I simply placed beneath my CD player, he cracked up so bad that he had to leave the room for a while.

Then we took them to his house.

Then we took off his high-tech stuff and put mine underneath.

Then I left the room laughing like mad.

I think he had tears in his eyes.

Top-notch (and very audible) sound-improvement for zilch. Only the wine had actually cost something (a cheap one at that) and I think the cork was for free.

Cheers!

But the secret to your sound-improvement, of course, is to DRINK all that wine while listening to your equipment--guaranteed to improve the sound of ANY system.