Two different cable pairs from amp into speakers


I have two different bi-wire cables with different strengths. One cable excells in the treble and mid-range and the other excells in the bass department. One cable is spade to spade and the other has bananas on both. My question is: Can I hook up both sets from my amp to my speakers (Piggy Back)? I want to use both biwire ends into the speaker and not let one bi-wire end hang loose. Will I get the best of both cables by combining the two or will the two different cables smear the sound? Maybe I should have each separate cable go to the different terminals on the speaker and not combine the cables? Thanks.
jimd

Showing 1 response by abex

Do both speaker cables need to be the same length?


The cables must be of similar length. If the two speaker cables are not close to each other in resistance, and inductance, the damping will be different. The capacitance will be different and the high frequency roll-off will be different. These electrical chracteristics affect the stereo image and image depth, as the two channels delicate balance has been disrupted.

There should be no differences in length for shorter lengths of more than a 2 to 1 ratio, and preferably the closer to the same, the better. Long runs will be more critical, and would need a closer match still.

http://www.1388.com/articles/faq_cable/#Are%20good%20speaker%20cables%20important