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Should I bi-wire my speakers?


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One of my final tweaks to my big old Klipsch Cornwall I speakers was to double up on the loudspeaker cables with another set of Monster Cable. This was NOT a bi-wire arrangement, where a second set of wires from two terminals to the same amplifier, but merely a second run of the same cable. In this case, the two sets of cables were joined at the amplifier end with Radio Shack gold spade plugs. Monster Cable is the only cable which the local Tweeter/Sound Advice audio store sells.

Double the wire, with the gold spade ends, gave better focus and fuller sound across the spectrum on a infrequently used Earl Klugh Greatest Hits CD. On Diane Kralls wonderfully simple CDs (A Decade of Diana Enthralls With Krall - Stepping Out,

The Early Recordings), the cymbals come alive they sizzle like cold water splashed on hot sauna rocks.

Some tweaks remove color to the sound: This one adds it. Lasting impression: My big ole horns do not sound so different now, they sound better - less the of the Klipsch sound and more of the music. Recommended to try results may vary.

With better results from double the wire, I would not be surprised if bi-wiring worked as well.

;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have tried bi-wiring and I liked the difference, but I cannot explain it in a sensible manner, but here's what I think (just an opinion)... the effect is more noticable when the woofer(s) are "taken out of the crossover signal path", so that the woofer load is "seen" by the amp, but not by the high frequency portion of the crossover, and therefore less insertion loss is seen by the high-freq portion of the xover. There is a considerable amount of disagreement in the audio community about the effectiveness of bi-wiring. Also the simple fact of 4 wires vs. 2 increases the cross-section and surface area of the wires, which increases electrical conductivity by reducing the resistance of the respective cabling. However, a double run of the same wire may give exactly the same result for that reason alone... Try it for yourself and let us know what you think...

DM

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I had bi-wired my ALK Belles for a while and have recently gone back to standard. Frankly, I cannot tell any differance. I can bi-wire both the Belles and my center La Scala, but can't hear the differance. I recently made some Canare 4S11 speaker cables and chose to opt for two lead runs per terminal for an 11 awg. wire. These cables are easily converted to biwire capability. You can find a tremendous amount of information on the net about bi-wiring, along with the great amount of controversy on the subject.

Try them both ways and see which you like better.

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