2 runs of wires or 1 run w/ jumpers

I have found a double run sounds better, but is usually not cost effective, unless you get it used at a good price.

"03-24-15: Rlwainwright
Electrically, no difference. Monetarily, 100% more expensive for 2 runs. Aesthetically/street cred 2 runs are cooler. But if your real goal is the best sound, 1 run is as good as 2. Save yer money for stuff that really provides a benefit, like better source material and room tuning..."

Not true. There is an electrical difference. Also, on a speaker that is very sensitive to biwiring like my Vandersteen's, I can tell 100% of the time in a blind test. The difference is so big, its like swapping a component.

03-24-15: Zd542
Not true. There is an electrical difference. Also, on a speaker that is very sensitive to biwiring like my Vandersteen's, I can tell 100% of the time in a blind test. The difference is so big, its like swapping a component.

I'm curious Zd542 if you are comparing apples with apples. By this I mean are you comparing (2) $1000 cables to (1) $2000 cables?

I was big on bi-wiring years ago, but as I started using more and more exotic cables, my sound got better and better. However, the prices are so high that I can no longer afford to bi-wire. I am much happier with the single run and a high quality jumper than I ever enjoyed with lesser wires in bi-wire format.

Obviously, YMMV.

03-24-15: Soix
The only physical advantage I've heard in doubling the cable is a decrease in capacitance, which in theory should be a positive but I've no idea if it's enough to be meaningful or if it may have anything to do with the differences I hear in my system.

A technical correction to Soix's otherwise excellent post: Doubling the cable will double the capacitance, everything else being equal. That is true for both a shotgun configuration (both runs paralleled, i.e., connected to either the same or different speaker terminals but with the jumpers in place), and for a biwire configuration (the two runs to separate speaker terminals for the high and low frequency sections of the speaker, with the jumpers removed).

Doubling the cable in a shotgun (parallel) configuration will cut resistance and inductance in half, which may be marginally beneficial if speaker impedance is low, or if the gauge of the cable is narrow (as it tends to be with many silver cables), or if the length of the cable is long.

Doubling the cable via a biwire configuration will not affect resistance or inductance significantly, everything else being equal, aside perhaps to a minor degree at frequencies that are in the crossover region. What it is alleged to do is to reduce interaction between drivers. Some would also allege that it audibly reduces interaction between high and low frequency currents within the cable. See the paper linked to in the post by Tls49 here, and my subsequent comments on it.

Regarding the specific question, with a 7 foot length of 9 gauge Anti-Cables Level 3, and with most and probably nearly all speakers and amplifiers, while I would not totally rule out the possibility I would not count on either biwiring or shotgunning as being likely to provide any benefit.

Regards,
-- Al

Oops. Thanks Al. Interesting post as usual. It is indeed resistance I was trying to get at but failed miserably.