How to connect bi-wire speakers

Edmond,

Is your cable a bi-wire? If so, simply connect the 2 negative leads of the wire (usually marked black) to the negative terminals on the speaker and the positive leads (usually marked red) to the positive terminals.

If the cable is not a bi-wire, you should place your jumper between the negative and positive terminals of either the tweeter or woofer. It doesn't make any difference which ones are jumpered, just be sure to place the jumpers on the same "type" of terminals (tweeter or woofer).

One other thing, as long as both speakers are connected in the same way to the amplifier, they will remain in-phase. So, it doesn't matter whether the gold speaker terminal is positive or negative, just make sure both speakers are connected identically.

I hope this is clear. If not, I'll try again [smile].

-RW-

>> NO-o-o-o-o-o!...Speaker cable either to tweeter terminals (+/-) OR to woofer terminals (+/-) <<

Gee, I thought this was *exactly* what I recommended. Obviously, I wasn't clear in my explanation. My bad, sorry. Let's suppose you have this configuration:

"Upper" terminals: +_______-

"Lower" terminals: +_______-

The jumper can go between the + and the - of either the "Upper" OR the "Lower" terminals. The speaker cable would then go to the un-jumpered terminals.

As for *requiring* the jumper to be on the bass (or, usually, Lower) terminals - *why* is this necessary? I fail to see how it makes ANY electrical difference.

If Edmond has 2 sets of cables for each speaker (with each set being a +/- pair), he should go ahead and bi-wire 'em.

If you want the *final* word on this, ask the speaker mfgr., I'm sure they've fielded this question before...

Flame suit on...

-RW-

Shadorne, I think you've hit the nail on the head! The key to all of this is the phrase "at *audio* frequencies". Jeff brings up the group delay bugaboo but fails to mention that this delay is on the order of only a couple hundred nanoseconds between upper and lower frequencies in a typical speaker cable length (say 8ft.), with upper frequencies arriving sooner.

In addition, this difference amounts to changing the placement of the tweeter 16 microns behind that of the woofer. Wanna bet you can't measure that difference in any practical way?