Jumpers


Which offers superior sound- jumpers or a separate run...or is there no difference? 

What’s the general consensus...?
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Showing 3 responses by zephyr24069

Reading the post you seem to be asking whether using jumpers of the same cable is preferable to using a "shotgun bi-wire", i.e. 2 identical runs of the same cable to your speakers.  People can help with this by way of of advice as many have been through this but we will need some more info;

- what are your speakers, current amplification, and cables?
- why are you considering this? what do you feel you are missing currently?
- are you planning on purchasing a 2nd amplifier to do the shotgun bi-wire, if so, same brand/model or different brand or model?

Your question cannot possibly be answered without a bit more info...

One easy option depends upon your speakers; if you have more than 2 binding posts on the back of the speaker currently (you must or the question is moot), how are they "strapped" together per channel?  Did the manufacturer include simple copper speaker straps?  What are your speaker cables?  I found that, at least in my setups, that going to a bespoke set of quality after-market jumpers identical to the speakers cables in use at the time was always a good move but your mileage may vary.

Before spending money, it's best to lay out what you have and what your goals are so you can get some more advice (IMHO).
Sorry for the delay in responding,...work and life took time away since my questions to the OP.  With monos you are already setup well in a number of ways for either configuration. You haven't stated what you think you are missing and why you are contemplating this but putting that aside, here are some thoughts both on-topic and 'near topic'....

I've wired speakers in all possible configs,...based upon that, here are my prefs;

- internal bi-wire: tried it for quite some time and it is preferable when you cannot have someone build or cannot find a matching set of high quality jumpers to your cables (some manufacturers won't build them or simply use the flexible ends conductors of their cables to build a set of simple jumpers. All that stated, to use IBW, you have to start with a speaker cable with enough conductors and the right topology to allow for a clean and effective IBW to be made; several manufacturers (AQ is a good example) will tell you that only some of their cables can be made into an effective IBW config

- full range set of cables plus 100% matching jumpers: the best I've heard overall for temporal, phrase and frequency coherency; particularly true (IMHO) when you are dealing with speaker cables (and jumpers) that use ribbons+metallurgical combinations that are extremely fast & energetic but retain warmth and musicality.  I mention this because having any jumper that bridges high and mid+high terminals must not introduce any timing issues, no matter how small.  With the right set of cables and jumpers, this is by far my favorite whether using a high-quality stereo amp or mono-blocks

- shotgun biwire (non bi-amp): I've found this particularly effective viz. increasing overall dynamics of the system and clarity of bass versus mids & highs,  even with a single stereo amp or 1 pair of monos.  I did eventually stop using this config and reverted to the above (full range cable plus 100% matching jumpers) due to my choice of cables and a touch better temporal and phase coherency, i.e. better overall imaging, when I removed the extra full set of cables from the system and went back to a single set of cables and jumpers.  All that stated, I did enjoy several iterations of my system with mid-to upper line AQ, Tara and other speaker cables in shotgun biwire config.  At times I even saving money compared to going with their absolute top of the line cables and was able to achieve a step up in the system for less.  With Tara it was particularly interesting to hook up as the cables I was using featured totally separate positive and negative cables so a pair of cables was already 4 cables (2 for left, 2 for right) so imagine a shotgun biwire setup of this meaning 4 distinct cables went to each speaker,....fun to try to layout and isolate cables to say the least...

- shotgun biwire (bi-amp); was only able to do this with dual stereo amps and found that horizontal biamping was superior for clarity of bass, mids and highs individually when doing horizontally but that vertical bi-amping was superior for overall temporal+phase, i.e. image clarity.  The ultimate solution would have been to have 4 monoblocks in this config versus 2 stereo amps (less distortion) but over time, taking powercords, interconnects, etc...into consideration, this is the most complex and costly config choice keeping everything at the same level and doing it right so to speak....

Hope this helps and does not muddy the waters at all. Have a great day!