Where is the signal blocked?

In a Bi-Wire setup, where are the low frequency signals blocked on the cable going to the mid/tweeter? Are the signals stopped at the crossover in the speaker, or do they never travel down that cable from the amp? I suppose the opposite about the higher signal can be asked as well, having any effect on the low signal cable.

koestner03-31-2016 2:12pm

...
5 posts total
View entire discussion

kijanki Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 4,394 posts 03-31-2016 at 02:17pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Crossover.
tls49 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 1,351 posts 03-31-2016 at 02:28pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete All frequencies travel down both runs of a biwire cable to the speaker. Low frequencies are not feed to the mid/tweeter due to the crossover as in single wire.
dweller Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 3,735 posts 03-31-2016 at 04:15pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Some equipment has built-in band-pass filters in the receiver/control unit. Usually, the speaker's crossover will reject the frequencies not needed by the given driver(s) (passive bi-wiring).
almarg Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 9,670 posts 03-31-2016 at 06:03pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete In the case of a speaker that provides separate low frequency and mid/high frequency terminals (that are truly separate; there may be some designs in which they are not), the crossover will minimize or eliminate the low frequency content of the current that flows in the cable going to the mid/high frequency section of the speaker. It will also minimize or eliminate the mid and high frequency content of the current that flows in the cable going to the low frequency section of the speaker. The voltage appearing at both pairs of speaker terminals will be essentially the same, however, and will be comprised of all of the frequencies that the amplifier is putting out. Although that is arguably irrelevant, as current flow in each of the cables is arguably what matters. Regards, -- Al
bombaywalla Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 1,958 posts 03-31-2016 at 07:21pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete koestner, each of the above members has given you the correct answer. The thing to remember is that in (the poor man’s) bewiring (that you are asking about) it's all about controlling the impedance between the amp & speaker. By having a biwire between the amp & speaker, you force the speaker terminals to "see" the low output impedance of the power amp as opposed to having a single wire + a jumper across the speaker terminals that would bring the impedance of the x-over circuit into the picture additionally. Many speakers benefit from "seeing" the lower impedance of the power amp & that manifests itself in better bass control most notably. "poor man’s biwiring" because in true biwiring the x-overs are external to the speaker & they can be optimized. Often these external x-overs are active (not passive as they are inside most speaker cabinets).