Just wondering if anyone has any experience with biwiring B&W 684 speakers and if this achieves any noticeable improvement in sound quality?. The B&W 684 manual claims that biwiring enhances low level detail but I have yet to try this out. If biwiring is to be done, is it generally advisable to use the same brand and model of speaker cable for both high frequency and low frequency speaker terminals? I have thoughts of using my existing QED Revelation speaker cable for the LF terminals and QED Silver Anniversary XT cables for the HF terminals. My local dealer here in Perth (Western Australia) doesn't have any demo QED cables to trial, so I would greatly welcome any thoughts or comments on this matter (my setup involves a Cambridge Audio 840A V2 amplifier connected with the Audiolab 8200CD using Chord Co Chameleon Plus XLR interconnects). Many thanks in advance!
-
When should you upgrade your hi-fi? How to control ‘upgradeitis’
Biwiring B&W 684 speakers
- Thread starter AKMH
- Start date
Biwiring cannot give any benefit in itself...its scientifically impossible (superposition principle). Its a good way for manufacturers to charge you twice as much for cable though 
Active biamping can give you benefits if your speakers have truely split crossovers - most dont so require open heart surgery to give benefits.
Where you might hear a difference with passive biamping is if the 2 amps driving the one speaker have different gains, which may reinforce either mid/bass or treble.
Again these are my views, from my experience....feel free to disagree and spend your money anyway
Active biamping can give you benefits if your speakers have truely split crossovers - most dont so require open heart surgery to give benefits.
Where you might hear a difference with passive biamping is if the 2 amps driving the one speaker have different gains, which may reinforce either mid/bass or treble.
Again these are my views, from my experience....feel free to disagree and spend your money anyway
The_Lhc
Well-known member
flakmonkey:Biwiring cannot give any benefit in itself...its scientifically impossible (superposition principle).
Got a link for that guv'nor?
Got a link for that guv'nor?
Yep:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superposition_principle
Basically for a linear system, which applies to a high degree to amps and cables at audible frequencies, then bi-wiring and passive bi-amping cannot make a difference. If you want to get into the physics feel free
Here's a good specific link relating to hifi, just over 1/3rd down is a whole section on the superposition principle and biwiring:
Link removed - House Rules - MODS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superposition_principle
Basically for a linear system, which applies to a high degree to amps and cables at audible frequencies, then bi-wiring and passive bi-amping cannot make a difference. If you want to get into the physics feel free
Here's a good specific link relating to hifi, just over 1/3rd down is a whole section on the superposition principle and biwiring:
Link removed - House Rules - MODS
The_Lhc
Well-known member
flakmonkey:
Yep:
Here's a good specific link relating to hifi, just over 1/3rd down is a whole section on the superposition principle and biwiring:
Link removed - House Rules - MODS
Ah, that's what I was looking for, interesting, particularly the comment about how bi-wiring may compensate for a poorly designed crossover, I wonder if that's what some people hear, I doubt the crossovers in my speakers are particularly clever (they weren't expensive) and I seemed to notice a slight difference when I bi-wired them and I wouldn't have called myself a believer then (I was just curious to see if there was any difference). Pretty much the only reason I still do is because I can't find the links for the speaker terminals!
Yep:
Here's a good specific link relating to hifi, just over 1/3rd down is a whole section on the superposition principle and biwiring:
Link removed - House Rules - MODS
Ah, that's what I was looking for, interesting, particularly the comment about how bi-wiring may compensate for a poorly designed crossover, I wonder if that's what some people hear, I doubt the crossovers in my speakers are particularly clever (they weren't expensive) and I seemed to notice a slight difference when I bi-wired them and I wouldn't have called myself a believer then (I was just curious to see if there was any difference). Pretty much the only reason I still do is because I can't find the links for the speaker terminals!
Lost Angeles
Well-known member
Bi-wiring 684s does make a slight difference but whether the cost of extra cable is worth it is debatable. I bi-wired mine to start with but found a bigger difference when I bi-amped
If you do bi-wire use the same make of cable for both.
If you do bi-wire use the same make of cable for both.
I'm using B&W 704's using kimber monacle XL and found using kimber 9033 jumper wire replacing the standard jumper links made a substantial improvment to high level detail, symbols seem to last for ever, i would recommend adding a small length of good quality wire just to test this first plus a lot cheaper than buying another cable, hope this helps
B&W 704, Arcam CD36, Musical Fidelity A308 Kimber Kable
B&W 704, Arcam CD36, Musical Fidelity A308 Kimber Kable
First, let me tell you that I never thought bi-wiring would do any good. I tend to believe "specs" and technology that I can understand.
Now, I've had a pair of B&W DM 602 S3s for several years which have always been "uni-wired" and sound great.
I recently ran in-wall speaker cable and decided that since I was going to all the trouble, I might as well run twice the number of speaker wires behind the wall, thinking the extra wire might come in handy some day. Just for the heck of it, I bi-wired the B&Ws and was simply, honestly, amazed at the change! I feel like I just upgraded my speakers!
I'm guessing my results were in large part due to the B&W crossover design. Since you too are using B&W speakers, go for it!
-Ben
Now, I've had a pair of B&W DM 602 S3s for several years which have always been "uni-wired" and sound great.
I recently ran in-wall speaker cable and decided that since I was going to all the trouble, I might as well run twice the number of speaker wires behind the wall, thinking the extra wire might come in handy some day. Just for the heck of it, I bi-wired the B&Ws and was simply, honestly, amazed at the change! I feel like I just upgraded my speakers!
I'm guessing my results were in large part due to the B&W crossover design. Since you too are using B&W speakers, go for it!
-Ben
Oh,
Follow this link for some info supposedly attributable to B&W themselves concerning bi-wiring. I wish I could find the original source of this material.
Link removed - House Rules - MODS
Follow this link for some info supposedly attributable to B&W themselves concerning bi-wiring. I wish I could find the original source of this material.
Link removed - House Rules - MODS
AKMH:Just wondering if anyone has any experience with biwiring B&W 684 speakers and if this achieves any noticeable improvement in sound quality?. The B&W 684 manual claims that biwiring enhances low level detail but I have yet to try this out. If biwiring is to be done, is it generally advisable to use the same brand and model of speaker cable for both high frequency and low frequency speaker terminals? I have thoughts of using my existing QED Revelation speaker cable for the LF terminals and QED Silver Anniversary XT cables for the HF terminals. My local dealer here in Perth (Western Australia) doesn't have any demo QED cables to trial, so I would greatly welcome any thoughts or comments on this matter (my setup involves a Cambridge Audio 840A V2 amplifier connected with the Audiolab 8200CD using Chord Co Chameleon Plus XLR interconnects). Many thanks in advance!
I recently demoed a pair of 684s and I specifically asked the guy at Audio-T about biwiring with different makes of cable and in his opinion this would be fine. I recently upgraded to Oddy 2 but I still have my old Silver Anniversary cable so when the B&Ws arrive I'll be giving it a try, especially after reading Abdab's recent post in this thread!
I recently demoed a pair of 684s and I specifically asked the guy at Audio-T about biwiring with different makes of cable and in his opinion this would be fine. I recently upgraded to Oddy 2 but I still have my old Silver Anniversary cable so when the B&Ws arrive I'll be giving it a try, especially after reading Abdab's recent post in this thread!
Personally I'd leave them single wired but just replace the OEM jumper bars with either short lenghts of your speaker cable or some specific jumper cables such as the Chord Signature ones etc...
I demo'd the B&W 684's, 683's and M/A RX6's single wired and bi wired and there was very little change, if at all any BUT using some jumper cables did make a difference to the overall soundstage instead of the standard jumper bars
Now if you were to bi-amp; that'd make hell of a decent change
The B&W 683's and M/A RX6's bi-amped with my NAD C355BEE (out of my 2nd system) and the shops NAD C275BEE power amp made for amazing results...
I demo'd the B&W 684's, 683's and M/A RX6's single wired and bi wired and there was very little change, if at all any BUT using some jumper cables did make a difference to the overall soundstage instead of the standard jumper bars
Now if you were to bi-amp; that'd make hell of a decent change
The B&W 683's and M/A RX6's bi-amped with my NAD C355BEE (out of my 2nd system) and the shops NAD C275BEE power amp made for amazing results...
hifilover1979:
Personally I'd leave them single wired but just replace the OEM jumper bars with either short lenghts of your speaker cable or some specific jumper cables such as the Chord Signature ones etc...
I demo'd the B&W 684's, 683's and M/A RX6's single wired and bi wired and there was very little change, if at all any BUT using some jumper cables did make a difference to the overall soundstage instead of the standard jumper bars
Now if you were to bi-amp; that'd make hell of a decent change
The B&W 683's and M/A RX6's bi-amped with my NAD C355BEE (out of my 2nd system) and the shops NAD C275BEE power amp made for amazing results...
Does replacing the jumper bars with cable improve the sound because the bars supplied with the speakers are generally of low quality (like the 'junk' interconnects you sometimes get with cheaper all-in-one systems)? Also, if taking the jumpers out of the equation is the desirable thing to do shouldn't biwiring give you the same benefits, or is there more to it than that?
Personally I'd leave them single wired but just replace the OEM jumper bars with either short lenghts of your speaker cable or some specific jumper cables such as the Chord Signature ones etc...
I demo'd the B&W 684's, 683's and M/A RX6's single wired and bi wired and there was very little change, if at all any BUT using some jumper cables did make a difference to the overall soundstage instead of the standard jumper bars
Now if you were to bi-amp; that'd make hell of a decent change
The B&W 683's and M/A RX6's bi-amped with my NAD C355BEE (out of my 2nd system) and the shops NAD C275BEE power amp made for amazing results...
Does replacing the jumper bars with cable improve the sound because the bars supplied with the speakers are generally of low quality (like the 'junk' interconnects you sometimes get with cheaper all-in-one systems)? Also, if taking the jumpers out of the equation is the desirable thing to do shouldn't biwiring give you the same benefits, or is there more to it than that?
hifilover1979 said:
I biwired my old AE Evo3s and honestly couldn't hear any difference, so I wasn't keen to try it with my new 684s. Instead I gave jumper cables a try (Oddy 2, the same as my current speaker wire) and I was surprised by the considerable difference they made. When you change interconnects you ususally have to listen carefully to pick out subtle differences but with these the change was immediately obvious. The treble became a stronger presence and much sweeter and sharper. Before it was akin to the poor relation of the mids and bass but now it was right alongside them in terms of authority.
I don't know if biwiring would have given the same benefits but the jumper cable was certainly cheaper than buying 2 new runs of speaker cable.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram