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DIY Bi-wire Jumper - Effective Gauge

Posted by Duster (M) on August 27, 2016 at 16:40:26

In Reply to: Length vs gauge. Shorter and smaller gauge OK. longer and larger OK too posted by Smelly_Socks on August 26, 2016 at 19:43:02:

I have found the effective gauge of bi-wire jumpers regardless of bridging to or from the low-posts and high-posts perform better when the bi-wire jumpers are a rather large effective gauge, rather than a single 22 AWG solid core wire, for example. A fundamental experiment is to incrementally add several 22 AWG solid core wires, increasing the cross section each time the wires are added to the bundle, such as:

One 22 AWG wire = 22 AWG effective gauge

Two 22 AWG wires = 19 AWG effective gauge

Four 22 AWG wires = 16 AWG effective gauge

Six 22 AWG wires = 14 AWG effective gauge

Ten 22 AWG wires = 12 AWG effective gauge

Sixteen 22 AWG wires = 10 AWG effective gauge

When the desired effective gauge is determined, gently twist each bundle of wires together to form a proper litz wire bundle for each bi-wire jumper.

I recommend building at least a 14 AWG effective gauge bi-wire jumper (twisted bundle of six 22 AWG solid core wires per polarity), but 12 AWG effective gauge or larger is more advisable to experiment with, IMO.

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However, I highly recommend choosing VH Audio 21 AWG solid core OCC copper wire with AirLok insulation, since the cellular FEP Teflon AirLok insulation is very well-behaved when twisted vs. solid FEP Teflon insulation, and it's a superior sounding wire, IME. Here's the effective gauge calculations using 21 AWG wire instead of 22 AWG wire:

One 21 AWG wire = 21 AWG effective gauge

Two 21 AWG wires = 18 AWG effective gauge

Four 21 AWG wires = 15 AWG effective gauge

Six 21 AWG wires = 13 AWG effective gauge

Ten 21 AWG wires = 11 AWG effective gauge

Sixteen 21 AWG wires = 9 AWG effective gauge

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Note: Make sure to use a longer length of wires than the final desired length, since the bi-wire jumper will become shorter when the wire bundle is twisted together. Also, since the bundle of wires may be somewhat stiff, make sure to build the bi-wire jumper long enough to form a gentle bend that will not put stress on the wires and the bi-wire binding post connections.

VH Audio 21 AWG solid core OCC copper wire with AirLok insulation (see link below):

• http://www.vhaudio.com/wire.html   (Open in New Window)

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Schiit Audio

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