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TEACH ME ABOUT BI-WIRE

I see a lot mentioned about bi-wiring. I am not familar with this. I know you must have speakers that can be bi-wired and they are configured for bi-wire by removing a buss bar to seperate speakers and/or crossovers within the cabinet. I have also read that you need to have an amp that has bi-wire capability (two left and two right speakers outputs - and not to be confused with speakers A & B).

Can someone explain what takes place within each speaker when it is set up for bi-wiring? What are the advantages and disadvantages if any? What if my amp only has one set of left and right speakers outputs (but has something called loops for additional amps), Can you accomplish bi-wiring if you had two amps? If so how would it work?
sfrounds

Showing 3 responses by paulwp

paulwp
585 posts
 
Hey Sedond, try leaving the jumpers in place (be very careful not to cross plus and minus), or as Jon Risch suggested in another forum, just the jumper for the "negative" side. First, if the sound is the same with both jumpers in, I would assume biwiring has no effect other than more wire. Second if the sound is better with one jumper left in, then you have a cheap tweak upgrade. Might be worse though, people have reported different results.
paulwp
585 posts
 
Yes, try connecting wires to both sets of terminals and leave the jumpers in (belt and suspenders), and compare the sound to biwiring without the jumpers. If biwiring makes sense, I think (and as everyone knows, I could be wrong about this) you should prefer the sound without the jumpers. The second suggestion is a "tweak" recommended by Jon Risch, who says that in some systems, people have reported better sound (I dont know in what way) from connecting just the negative jumper or shorting strap. I never could figure out what that meant for me because with my preamp I have to reverse the cables.
paulwp
585 posts
 
Nobody is more skeptical of bi-wiring than I am. Even the designer of my speakers, who put bi-wire terminals on the speakers, doesn't really support the idea.

But, but. For some strange reason that has no logical basis in science my speakers sound better traditionally bi-ired than non-biwired using the same amount of wire or bi-wired using the Jon Risch "tweak" mentioned above. Even my little spl meter thinks the bass is better (more of it). But the treble is also clearer, and that just generally makes for better imaging as well as a purer sound and tighter bass.

So, try it. What's the harm?
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