Biwired Speakers - silver for high, copper for low

Thanks for your response guys.

La Fashionista is not that bad. She complains about the monsterous Shunyata and Electraglide power cords, I hide my credit card bills well. All's fair ;-)

Once in a blue moon, I get a remark along the lines "this sounds good, what did you do ?" Most times, I am allowed a free run. I can't however have extreme stuff because of two highly intelligent and extremely inquisitive juvenille life form.

Listener and Sherod, thanks - I will look up your suggestions.

Darryl, I have tried the Poiemas on the bass. Doesn't do it for me some how ?? I have spoken to Mnh and Robert @ RSA, for some reason the Poiema has not sung for me yet. Don't get me wrong, The Poiema is great sounding, I thought the delicate portrayal is to die for (as far as refinement goes). However, I do like a bit of the rougher (dynamic) side as well. My Poiema so far has not revealed that side. I don't think it is my source or pre-power. I will try again after a few days - it may simply be a question of extended setlling in.

Tom

Hi Tom, you should consider several factors in your cable search. First, you have not posted your system. If you do, chances are better you will get some more specific recommendations from those who have the same speakers and components. Second, you should consider where the speaker crosses over. The designer of your speakers was sure to consider the tonal balance between HF and LF if a bi-wire option was provided. If the LF is simply a "subwoofer" in that it operates at a very low frequency (e.g., lower than around 100-200 hz) then the differences in cables will be less important. However if the crossover is up in the lower midrange area, you are likely to muck up the tonal balance by using different cables, especially ones as different sounding as silver and copper. My general suggestion is to find a cable you like and use two runs. Some manufacturers make a lighter gauge cable of the same materials, with the same sonic qualities, that you could use for the HF while using a larger awg cable of the same make for the LF. You could consider internal bi-wire from someone like Cardas, which tends to throw a lot of copper into their higher end wires. If on a budget, the Jon Risch CC89259 diy cables are quite neutral and would offer that dynamic sound you are looking for. You could even go with the "quad" version for your LF if you wanted that last bit of bass. You could also consider trying different options from The Cable Co. Good luck. - Tim

Hi Tim, You raised valid points, esp mucking up the speaker's radically tonal balance by using different cables.

I did post my system, but I don't think I have "popular" amp or speaker. Any way, here goes the material parts :

power amp: Chord 1200B
solid state A-B, 250Wpc, very dynamic and transparent, neutral, not warm. Don't think the problem lies here.

speakers : Wilson Benesch Discovery
2.5 way carbon fibre integral stand mounted monitor
2 x 7" isobaric downward firing bass drivers, 1 x 7" mid range unit, 1 x 1" soft dome silk tweeter
crossover freq : Bass 500Hz , Mid & Tweeter 5kHz
1st order bass roll-off, 1st order mid range crossover, 2nd order tweeter crossover
polypropylene capacitors and air cored inductors in X-over.
bi-wireable, internal multi-stranded silver plated copper wiring.

I used Nordost SPM, it was OK but lean in the bass. I have tried Valhalla, it was much better but too much money. The Poiema gives a more refined presentation but lacks (so far IMS) energy and dynamics. A friend's home brew cryoed copper was surprisingly good and very musical, but not as transparent or detailed as any of the above cables. Have tried Cardas, didn't like it.

That leaves the Omega Mikro (unthinkable from a practical point of view), the Pure Note Cerulean, or others that I am not aware of.

Thanks,

Tom

i run different speaker cables on my biwired alons.

what you are probably hearing is a differnce in the "speed" of the differnce cables and they are not fully intergrating.

i had noticed this when i had a "slower" cable on top and a faster on the bottom. you can experiment by exchanging the two and listening.

i would guess since the silver is a much smaller gauge, you might noitce a differnce. you might want to try a similar cable on the bottom....

the key is to experiment. there have been combinations of cables that have work well together and i have speculated that they didnt( when it turns out they did).

good luck,

mike

I prefer not to Bi-wire any speaker. Same results everytime to my ears. Smaller soundstage, loss of coherence and bass definition. I open up the terminal plate and connect internally to 1 set of posts. Side benefit is the larger selection of wires to choose from- and reduced cost to boot.