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Hi Inmates!Thought I would share the results of my biwiring experiment. I have always been a skeptic about biwiring, but then, too, I have always been an agnostic or an atheist when it comes to cables in general.
However, I heard such a profound improvement in bass response when I tried some Purist Audio cables, I could no longer argue the fact that cables can make a difference. I recently tried some Mapleshade speaker cables, which offered improved detail but fell short of the Purist bottom end.
I'm a have your cake and eat it, too type of guy, so I wired the Purists to the woofers and the Mapleshades to the mids and highs. Not only did I get the best attribute of each cable where it was needed, but the speakers opened up—in fact, that was the most noticeable change. The decay of cymbals was the first thing I noticed. The detail was more focused.
I was not expecting that particular improvement, so it is not a matter of wishful thinking—or hearing. It was an improvement over solid core copper jumpers, and really opened my eyes to what really cheap brass jumpers must be doing to speakers.
I won't use the words dramatic or spectacular to describe the change in my speakers, but it is significant.
Anybody else have similar positive results?
Follow Ups:
... installing a jumper cable between the "negative" terminals only. Leave the "positive" terminals jumperless. You may notice a profound difference, once again.
to my budget speaker AE Evo One.Now it sounds like a bigger speaker and I can make out what Bruce Springsteen says.I even heard George shouting something in Hey Jude.Thanks for this idea.I have never seen this mentioned anywhere.How does it work?
RE: Jumping the negative posts.Thanks for the hint. My early impression is a blacker background, tighter, more authoritative sounding bass and the midrange seems fuller. The whole presentation seems more seamless, yet punchier. Realism has stepped up a notch.
I'll need listen to some more material, but this is my impression from one of my reference CDs. I am trying to temper my enthusiasm, as this is still early in the game, but I am quite surprised at just how good these Herons are sounding.
So, can someone explain why jumping the negative posts in a biwire application would make such a difference?
most recently, my VMPS RM 30s. When I first hoked them up single wire, they were good, but the sound was not quite right, in a hard to define way. It seemed that the woofers and mids didn't quite mesh. When I biwired them with the same .99999 silver/teflon cable, the sound focus snapped together, in a most convincing way. The driver discontinuity went away.
I have performed this test on many biwireable speakers over the years. The degree of improvement varies from case to case. In some cases, I can't tell a difference, but in most the sound seems to smooth out and open up.
I'm sure there's a more scientific explanation, but here's my take.
When the woofer is told to reproduce a bass note, ideally it would start and stop immediatly, we know it doesn't work like that, the woofer will continue to move as it settles. This movement is fed back thru the voice coil into the crossover and thus interfering with other drivers reproduction of music.
By biwiring, you are giving these unwanted signals a longer path and some added resistance (long cable)to basically isolate them from the other drivers.
I think the Meadowlarks are first order crossover like the Vandersteens, it appears that first order crossovers may benefit more then others. Due to simpler crossover construction???Just a guess. There's a lot of other opinions on this. I think Thiel is 1st order and they don't want you to biwire? Is this correct?
The Focals I used to have had biwire capability, but the factory recommendation was not to biwire and that the biwaire capability was simply a marketing move and they thought most users would screw up the sound by using wrong or different cables.
All I know is that it works wonders on the Vandy. Other speakers I had tried it with, didn't improve much, if at all.
I hook my speakers up by connecting a single run to the top (HF) taps and use jumpers to the bottom. This is per recommendations of, both, Tannoy and Stuart Marcus of Vampire Wire. It opens up the HF a bit and provides plenty of low end. Currently, I use simple 12ga continuous cast copper cable (Vampire, of course) for both the run and the jumpers. I've tried bi-wiring in the past without any sonic success. Congrats to you for discovering a combination that works.
I can only trust my ears, and a couple of years ago I tried this and continue to do it. From Wollcott tube amps I ran AP Solo Crystal Oval 8 to the bottom and Jena Labs Symphony to the top of VSA VR4jr.
Sound is fantastic.
Certainly not an audio engineer, but my thinking was different drivers, why not different cables to suit each. I'm sure some mis-matches can be made, but for me it works. Harmonic Tech has some highly reviewed 'Woofer & Tweeter' cables that certainly must differ.
I've had similar results with the Vandersteen 3a's, but it's pretty well known that the 3a's benefit from biwiring. I was using AQ mt Blanc and copper jumpers. Not being able to afford another run of AQ I tried some XLO I had on the woofer and the difference was very noticable. I was hoping NOT to hear a difference. As you said, it opened up the soundstage and may have given the bass more weight. I think the amount of improvement differs from speaker to speaker and I thought you were suppose to use same wire on top and bottom for max benefit. What speakers are you using?
RE: what speakers?Hi, and thanks for the followup. I am using Meadowlark Hot Rod Herons. And you may very well be right about it being best to use the same cable top and bottom. I'd be interested to know any verifiable pros or cons or even theory on the subject.
In my case, it seemed logical to use a cable with better bass delivery on the bottom and the one with better detail on the top. Perhaps someone who has experimented has something to offer.
Richard Vandersteen's web site (vandersteen.com) and read his explanations of bi-wiring and why both cables should be the same, top and bottom. It'll only take a minute and will enhance your understanding considerably.As others have said - Vandy's benefit significantly - some other brandsa may not
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
Hi, and thanks for leading me to the Vandersteen FAQ which states the same cable should be used top and bottom so as not to mess up the midrange. That makes sense, though I don't hear that happening. The only way to tell is to get another cable.Does that contridict the cable maker(s) who sell a specific cable for woofers and another for higher frequencies in bi-wire applications?
And does anyone have any idea how using different cables to bi-wire might affect a 2-way, 3-way or as in my case, a 4 way speaker?
Thanks.
Hi Inmates,A little more searching and I found this link from John Risch regarding the use of different cables. Here's the key section:
*Should both cables be the same kind?
This is not absolutely necessary, although it can be argued that certain sensitive speakers need the same exact cable in order to minimize any discontinuities in the midrange (crossover region). However, as long as both cables are of a high quality, this is much less of a problem than it might seem. An extreme example would be to use heavy gauge zip cord for the woofer, and an exotic high performance cable for the highs. Some audiophiles have used this approach to great effect, and others found the zip cord on the woofer holding them back. It never hurts to try, and see how well a particular pairing will work for you.
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