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Mixing speaker cables on bi-wired speakers

This is going to sound like a dumb question.  I have bi-wired speakers and I like the bass from XLO and transparency of Nordost, so I have Nordost on the top posts and XLO on the bottom post for good solid bass.  Has anyone ever mixed speaker cables as I have described?  Is this common or not recommended?  It would seem to me that the Nordost ribbon cable is fast and XLO (XLO Ultra) is slower in comparison, but I cant tell that by listening?  

FWIW, the speakers are EggelstonWorks Rosa

Thoughts?   
mudbone
12 responses Add your response
oharchie's avatar
oharchie
31 posts
 
I've seen mismatched biwire/biamp situations work with Magnepan speakers.

With most time/phase coherent speakers it generally does not work well.

I tried a cable mismatch on Vandersteen 2c speakers and the results were flat. I invested in bi-wire (internal) cables and the speakers started to perform to their abilities.

If you are able to test them with matched cables vs unmatched and you like the sound of one over the other, you'll have a winner.

Hope that helps!

initforthemusic
282 posts
 
As always, let your ears decide. Personally, I am very happy with Morrow SP7 on bass & Cullen on mids/high's on my Revel Ultima Studios.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,712 posts
 
I have a thread on this topic, I have different length and brand of speakers cables, on the bass $60 anticables, on high , clear day and homemade strand, the result is unlimited Dynamics, more air , exciting to listen, I am bless to get this result....it’s more than a year now I never touch those cables....
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,712 posts
 
Mudbone you will never know until you try .
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I've done this before, and there is no problem.
Some folks use different amps for the highs, mids, and lows.

Different cables makes less of a difference than using different amps to drive one pair of speakers.
mudbone OP
19 posts
 
Jayctoy, thanks for starting the thread. I had a feeling it has been asked, but I couldn’t find it last night. Thanks and thanks for all the responses.
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,712 posts
 
I found using the same brand boring at times...same brand will not guaranty matching...trying is the best way....
lak's avatar
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lak
4,533 posts
 
I mix speaker cables on my Montana EPX speakers, with no problem at all. 

Below is dependent upon which amp I'm using:

HiDiamond 8 on the lower terminal and Cerious Technology Graphene on the upper terminals.
OR
Duelund 16 gauge speaker cables on the upper terminal and Western Electric 10 gauge on the lower speaker terminal.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Using different gauge for upper and lower terminals might affect speaker's frequency response.  I understand that woofers take more current, but low/high ratio will change - tweeter cable will have larger (percentage wise) voltage drops.  Most likely you won't notice the difference with gauges 10 and 16, but many people make mistake (IMHO) of wiring tweeter with very thin wire, thinking it does not require a lot of current.  Sound won't necessarily be bad - just different.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
Years ago Synergistic Research made a bi-ware speaker cable (with just one set of connectors at the amp end) that had a smaller wire on top and a heftier wire for the woofers.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Twoleftears,  I suspect that there are many cables like that.  I had one from Audioquest.  My current cable Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun has two indentical cables for high and low - each about 1 inch in diameter (gauge 10)
chrisr's avatar
chrisr
542 posts
 
Sounds like an unnecessary headache too me.
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