Bi-wiring my Cyrus 8.2 amplifier to my PMC Twenty.21 bookshelf speakers

[lucioso]

Hi everyone,

I'm bi-wiring my Cyrus 8.2 amplifier to my PMC Twenty.21 bookshelf speakers. I'm not questioning the merits of bi-wiring itself – I've decided that's the configuration I want to use.

My focus is now on ensuring the best possible connections at both the amplifier and speaker ends. I want to get the most secure and reliable connection for optimal performance.

My specific questions are:

1. At the Cyrus 8.2 amplifier end (standard binding posts), what type of termination is recommended for bi-wiring: bare wire, banana plugs, or spade connectors? I'm looking for the best balance of contact area, ease of use, and long-term reliability.
2. At the PMC Twenty.21 speaker end (also standard binding posts), what type of termination is recommended: bare wire or banana plugs? Same considerations as above: optimal contact, ease of use, and long-term reliability.
3. If banana plugs are recommended at either end, what specific type of banana plug (e.g., expanding, locking, solderless) is considered best for bi-wiring applications to ensure a secure connection that won't loosen over time? Are gold-plated plugs essential?
4. If bare wire is recommended at either end, what specific techniques (e.g., tinning, twisting) are essential to ensure a secure, long-lasting, and corrosion-resistant connection?

I'm looking for practical advice on achieving the best possible connections for bi-wiring. Thanks in advance!"

 

[Al ears]

It looks like you only have the ability to use phono plugs at the Cyrus end of the chain....
Unless I am looking at the wrong photo.
These are inherently safer than spades anyway.

 

[Integralista]

Hi Lucioso,

I think Cyrus amps are designed barely only for banana connectors. I have used Cyrus One many years ago (very good amp!) and only bananas were possible. I have used expanding banana connectors with good experience but this is not a must. I think PMC speakers have high quality binding posts for speaker cables. Here you can use bananas as well. Normaly I do not use bare wire, as it can get loose after some time. On the other hand there is no real benefit from biwirg from amp. Better is to connect with mono wires high binding posts and use short jumpers (spade-banana) to connect with bass binding post. Here is more important to use one pair of speaker cable of higher quality than two pairs of average quality. BR.

 

[Al ears]

I would agree biwiring isn't going to gain any benefit, however if that's where the OP wants to spend money then who am I to dissuade him?.....
Spades are awkward because they come in different sizes. Stick to banana plugs of any description. They don't need to be gold plated. Avoid bare wire wherever possible.

 

[lucioso]

Happy to stay away from bi-wiring and save some cash! What kind of connector would fit in the speaker output? I'm looking at 4mm banana
connectors and I don't see a way in -_-.
Are there female banana connectors?

 

[Al ears]

Happy to stay away from bi-wiring and save some cash! What kind of connector would fit in the speaker output? I'm looking at 4mm banana
connectors and I don't see a way in -_-.
Are there female banana connectors?

Try reading the manual? I believe these sockets have plastic plugs inserted that have to be removed for the banana plugs to fit.
And no they don't make a female version....
Single wiring makes sense unless you really want to spend good money on a decent biwire cable, ensure your speakers have the usual connector plates in place first.
Correction to that last sentence. Don't those speakers only have a single pair of binding posts?
If that's the case you cannot biwire them anyway.

 

[lucioso]

Alas, the manual I've found online is very sparse with its information and there's not enough information other than, "fit plugs to the loudspeaker"> I didn't know that they had some kind of plastic plug inserted. I'll have a look now, thanks!

 

[Al ears]

Alas, the manual I've found online is very sparse with its information and there's not enough information other than, "fit plugs to the loudspeaker"> I didn't know that they had some kind of plastic plug inserted. I'll have a look now, thanks!

Pretty sure it looks like they have inserted plastic "stoppers" that need to be pulled out.
Ignore the biwire bit.
And yes their manual is rubbish.....
Perhaps any Cyrus owning forum members can advise here as I have never owned a Cyrus amp, or anything for that matter.....
Best of luck. Keep it simple is best, that is single wired with banana plugs at either end.

 

[Integralista]

Happy to stay away from bi-wiring and save some cash! What kind of connector would fit in the speaker output? I'm looking at 4mm banana
connectors and I don't see a way in -_-.
Are there female banana connectors?

Hi, I just realized, that here you will need BFA bananas, or BFA adapters they are sometimes called. Audioquest makes a very good ones: Audioquest SureGrip 100. On PMC speakers, you just need "male" bananas.
One remark: this Cyrus amp is very good for later upgrade, you may take another Cyrus power amp from this range and conect it with preamp from your 8.2 Dac Integrated Amp. Than Power amp can drive bass drivers and integrated 8.2 Dac amp tweeters in your PMC speakers. Than 4 separate speaker cables are needed and there will be a real jump in sound quality. BR.

 

[Integralista]

Pretty sure it looks like they have inserted plastic "stoppers" that need to be pulled out.
Ignore the biwire bit.
And yes their manual is rubbish.....
Perhaps any Cyrus owning forum members can advise here as I have never owned a Cyrus amp, or anything for that matter.....

You are right, I just red this "bible". No practical info about proper BFA bananas! Info about them I found in review if this amp in HiFi+ from Jason Kennedy from 2020. Very good review anyway.

 

[Al ears]

You are right, I just red this "bible". No practical info about proper BFA bananas! Info about them I found in review if this amp in HiFi+ from Jason Kennedy from 2020. Very good review anyway.

Excellent.
No idea why the OP decided he could biwire his speakers in the first place but there you go.....

 

[Messiah]

As Intergralista says, Cyrus use BFA connectors. Plenty of options out there for these.

Cyrus did provide their own plugs with the amps although I was never a huge fan as the size of the opening to feed the cable into was quite small so restricted what gauge cable could be used. They were also angled which could be a pain depending on where your equipment is placed.

 

[Al ears]

As Intergralista says, Cyrus use BFA connectors. Plenty of options out there for these.

Cyrus did provide their own plugs with the amps although I was never a huge fan as the size of the opening to feed the cable into was quite small so restricted what gauge cable could be used. They were also angled which could be a pain depending on where your equipment is placed.

View attachment 8353

This begs to question how the OP had his speakers connected in the first instance or whether he has simply gone out and bought an amp and speakers second-hand.
Cyrus are a law unto themselves and his speakers only allow single wiring anyway.....

 

[Gray]

I had a Cyrus 8, now a Cyrus XR-i7 connected to the same PMC speakers as yours.

I say why not use all the contact area available?
So even with my old 2-core cable I just paralleled up each end:

That photo shows 2 different types of BFA plugs.
(Have a look at the ones made by Deltron).

https://cpc.farnell.com/deltron-enclosures/595-0500/bfa-plug-cable-mount-red/dp/CN04377

 

[Al ears]

I had a Cyrus 8, now a Cyrus XR-i7 connected to the same PMC speakers as yours.

I say why not use all the contact area available?
So even with my old 2-core cable I just paralleled up each end:
View attachment 8354
That photo shows 2 different types of BFA plugs.
(Have a look at the ones made by Deltron).

He cannot wire like that as speakers are single connection only, so pretty irrelevant.
Or are those speakers biwireable? Not from photos I have seen.

....ignore that I have been looking at Twenty.21i
Doh!
Please ignore my comments.

 

[Gray]

I didn't know that they had some kind of plastic plug inserted.

That's not removable.
You just push the BFA plug in - its hollow contact goes over what is effectively a banana plug in the Cyrus.

 

[daytona600]

Speaker cable suppliers invented bi-wiring to sell double the cables

Active works far better than passive biwiring PMC make active speakers , or passive with add on amp modules
Bigger PMCs are all active

https://pmc-speakers.com/home-audio/upgrades/twenty5i-active-upgrade/

 

[lucioso]

Thank you all, this is super helpful. So, trying to consolidate all of your very thoughtful suggestions, I think I'll stick to single wiring and would look into perhaps a QED XT25 with Deltron BFA and banana plugs (for the the PMD end). Maybe this?

QED XT25 Performance Speaker Cable Deltron BFA & Gold Banana Plugs Fitted SINGLE | eBay

QED has won moreWhat Hi-fi?. Its 2.5mm² cross-sectional area makes it ideal for longer runs. QED XT25 has a large current carrying capacity as it’s made up of99.999% oxygen-free copper. Deltron BFA &.

www.ebay.co.uk

Again, thank you for sharing all your knowledge with this n00b

 

[Jasonovich]

Try reading the manual? I believe these sockets have plastic plugs inserted that have to be removed for the banana plugs to fit.
And no they don't make a female version....
Single wiring makes sense unless you really want to spend good money on a decent biwire cable, ensure your speakers have the usual connector plates in place first.
Correction to that last sentence. Don't those speakers only have a single pair of binding posts?
If that's the case you cannot biwire them anyway.

I have single binding posts on my Denon AV amp, I have these bi-wired to Monitor Audio, using cables 2 + 4 like below. Mine are AudioQuest Rocket cables but the same thing.

Oh just picked up from the thread, he's going to require cables with BFA plugs or banana to BFA adapters to make it work.

 

[Jasonovich]

I had a Cyrus 8, now a Cyrus XR-i7 connected to the same PMC speakers as yours.

I say why not use all the contact area available?
So even with my old 2-core cable I just paralleled up each end:
View attachment 8354
That photo shows 2 different types of BFA plugs.
(Have a look at the ones made by Deltron).

https://cpc.farnell.com/deltron-enclosures/595-0500/bfa-plug-cable-mount-red/dp/CN04377

I wonder what's the benefit of BFA plugs?
Prevent oxidation?

 

[Al ears]

I wonder what's the benefit of BFA plugs?
Prevent oxidation?

Bananas should not oxidize anyway, I assume they think they are safer because the contact is shielded.

 

[Mrmason62]

I've got the 82 DAC and bi-amp with the xpower and two Psxr2.
I got my plugs from ebay. They aren't difficult to fit. I don't use those with peculiar angles. Mine plug straight in. I use bananas (not too ripe) on the other end for the speakers.
The beauty about the cryus plugs is that they fit very tightly.
You're better bi-amping than biwiring.

 

[Gray]

I wonder what's the benefit of BFA plugs?

No benefit to normal people, when compared to standard gold banana plugs.

The shrouded contacts might help prevent people from inadvertently shorting them together - if stupid enough to connect with music playing.

....and protect any small child that might otherwise have held an exposed contact - while pushing it into an unshuttered foreign mains socket 🤔

 

[Mrmason62]

No benefit to normal people, when compared to standard gold banana plugs.

The shrouded contacts might help prevent people from inadvertently shorting them together - if stupid enough to connect with music playing.

....and protect any small child that might otherwise have held an exposed contact - while pushing it into an unshuttered foreign mains socket 🤔

Its totally irrelevant what benefits they have. Cyrus use them So you have to use them.
Cyrus are amongst the best around so they tend to know what they are doing.
I have been using cyrus amps for a very long time. I dont care what plugs they use.
I remember when I had meridian amps and they used DIN plugs. That was non standard but thats they way they were. If you didnt want to use DIN then you didnt buy meridian.
Just get on with it.

 

[Gray]

Its totally irrelevant what benefits they have. Cyrus use them So you have to use them.
Cyrus are amongst the best around so they tend to know what they are doing.

Just get on with it.

Thanks for your advice 😆
Where did I say any benefit or lack of benefit was relevant?
My Quad tuner uses a DIN connector.
I've owned Cyrus amps for 22 years.
I appreciate that you need to use the appropriate connectors.

I do 'just get on with it' thanks 😆👍