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Bi-wiring and Hall effect

Bi-wiring is running two pairs of wires from each channel's power amp to its speaker, connecting them to the mid/tweeter and the woofer binding post pairs. You cannot bi-wire a single driver speaker.

I think Richard Vandersteen figured out how bi-wiring works, and why some people get great results and others get no results. It has to do with the Hall effect, i.e. the voltage difference across a conductor and the resultant magnetic field transverse to the direction of the current. Richard guessed that the large Hall effect field from the large current going to the woofer, which he could measure, interfered with the very small high-frequency current. So running two pairs of wires, one to the mid/highs, and the other to the lows, with a crossover designed for those connections *could* make a big difference, provided that the two pairs of wires were kept an inch or more apart for most of their run.

That separation requirement, to keep the mids/highs wire pair physically removed from the Hall effect magnetic field generated by the low-frequency wire pair, is what is often missing. That explains why some people get great results (with separated wire pairs) and others get no results (with both wire pairs in one cable.)

His description of how they investigated this and what they figured out is on his FAQ page.

WW
"Put on your high heeled sneakers. Baby, we''re goin'' out tonight.


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