Bi-wiring and quality of the connectors

[Singslinger]

There've been a few threads in this forum over the past couple of weeks on the benefits of biwiring speakers. The consensus seems to be that biwiring doesn't really offer discernible sonic benefits (although bi-amping does) and we're better off buying the best possible single-wired cables we can afford.

Which leads me to wonder if the little bits of metal that connect a speaker's bi-wiring terminals make any difference to the sound?

All speakers with bi-wired terminals come with connectors and these are usually gold plated which presumably suggests the manufacturers think the connectors make a difference. But in some cases, the connector is plain wire or ordinary metal, which suggests the opposite. On top of this, I know of hifi stores that sell connectors made of high-end silver speaker cables, claiming that this makes a difference to the sound.

Has anyone experimented with these connectors? Does it really matter what is used to link bi-wired terminals?

Any opinions and feedback would be much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[shooter]

http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/493277.aspx

 

[Anonymous]

Bi wiring is a waste of time. If you get a big improvement from doing it then it just highlights the poor quality of the links that have been removed or just a poor crossover in the speaker.

When single wiring you should remove the links and run the speaker cable up through both sets of terminals (does away with banana plugs too - another way of putting more metal for the signal to pass through before it gets to where it needs to!) so that the cable is in direct contact with both sets.

Oh and Gold plating a conductor is WORSE than not doing it in the first place! The only benefit of plating it with gold is to reduce oxidisation, Silver, and even tin (ask Pioneer with about the old A400 amp!) are better ways to minimise that problem while still maining signal integrity.