Should I not buy a speaker if it cannot be bi-wired?

[admin_exported]

I am still browsing the internet for a speaker to match with Solo Mini (award winner).

I see that B&W 685 and Monitor RS1 and others are bi-wireable.

Other speakers like Dynaudio Excite, Audience (ex demo), Spendor 3 (ex demo), and Neutron 5 (wife likes the gloss black!) are not bi-wireable.

Are the latter (non-bi-wireable) therefore not even worth listening to?

 

[The_Lhc]

Wow! There's a leap, you should take up the long jump!

No it doesn't mean that at all, it just means those manufacturers don't consider bi-wiring to be a benefit with their speakers.

Have you listened to any of these speakers? That's the important part...

 

[matthewpiano]

I don't biwire anyway. In a choice between single runs of high quality cable, or cheaper runs of biwire cable I'd go for the higher quality cable every time. To me, it makes much more of a difference than bi-wiring.

 

[gbhsi1]

By all means- try the non bi-wireable becuase if you use a good quality single run of cable (cheaper than bi-wire) you will still have an excellent sound. In the end, it's what they sound like to you that matters, bi-wired or not 🙂

 

[d4v3pum4]

If those manufacturers don't think bi-wiring is viable or offer a significant increase in performance with their speakers, what does that tell you? ÿMy Focals cannot be bi-wired and after trying it on several systems before, both my own and others and discovering the only difference was less £ in my wallet, it didn't concern me.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Taylor74:I am still browsing the internet for a speaker to match with Solo Mini (award winner).

I see that B&W 685 and Monitor RS1 and others are bi-wireable.

Other speakers like Dynaudio Excite, Audience (ex demo), Spendor 3 (ex demo), and Neutron 5 (wife likes the gloss black!) are not bi-wireable.

Are the latter (non-bi-wireable) therefore not even worth listening to?

I wouldn't worry about bi-wiring - the second string of speakers you mention are very good and probably too good for the Solo Mini anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

I have not listened yet. I am just going on What HiFi write-ups.

I might not have the time to be honest as I work a lot, so am looking for as much advice from the forums.

I also started another thread about which all in one system to buy if that interests you.

 

[The_Lhc]

Taylor74:I have not listened yet. I am just going on What HiFi write-ups.

Well I don't think at any point have they stated that a speaker is no good because it's not bi-wirable.

 

[John Duncan]

Interesting quote from AEJim recently (a speaker manufacturer of note).

AEJim:Actually I've found that market demands, mainly directed by the press (and probably cable manufacturers too!) have been the main reason for making bi-wire the norm nowadays.

Personally I'd rather make single-wire speakers, every engineer I know would rather make single-wire speakers - when you go to the shops with a single-wire speaker they often use it as a reason not to like a speaker - "ooh, single-wire mate, all the competition use bi-wire, our customers won't like it...". In reality unless you are using some awful components you can always make a single-wire speaker work better than bi-wire purely due to the fact you can make the crossover simpler and with fewer components.

There is always an argument for bi-amping, but then this can be done left/right for single-wire speaker designs rather than top/bottom so you still get the power and low crosstalk benefits.

Needless to say when we made our latest range our UK Sales Manager at the time insisted that at the price-point they HAVE to be bi-wire so they are... I don't think any new future models while I am here will be 😉

Oddly it doesn't seem to affect the high-end products so much, people I guess presume that the crossovers are higher grade or something, on the same note the manufacturers who've never offered it don't seem to be affected either (Dynaudio spring to mind).

I'm not saying bi-wire can never offer benefits, just that if the crossover is designed well you certainly shouldn't need to do it, and if you didn't have to offer it as a manufacturer you'd probably be able to design the crossover better in the first place!

Interesting quote from me:

JohnDuncan:Neutron Vs with single-wire QED Revelation are great.

Listen. Buy the ones that sound best.

 

[John Duncan]

But I'd add Dali Lektor 1 and 2 to your list...

 

[jaxwired]

AEJim:Actually I've found that market demands, mainly directed by the press (and probably cable manufacturers too!) have been the main reason for making bi-wire the norm nowadays. Personally I'd rather make single-wire speakers, every engineer I know would rather make single-wire speakers - when you go to the shops with a single-wire speaker they often use it as a reason not to like a speaker - "ooh, single-wire mate, all the competition use bi-wire, our customers won't like it...". In reality unless you are using some awful components you can always make a single-wire speaker work better than bi-wire purely due to the fact you can make the crossover simpler and with fewer components. There is always an argument for bi-amping, but then this can be done left/right for single-wire speaker designs rather than top/bottom so you still get the power and low crosstalk benefits. Needless to say when we made our latest range our UK Sales Manager at the time insisted that at the price-point they HAVE to be bi-wire so they are... I don't think any new future models while I am here will be 😉 Oddly it doesn't seem to affect the high-end products so much, people I guess presume that the crossovers are higher grade or something, on the same note the manufacturers who've never offered it don't seem to be affected either (Dynaudio spring to mind). I'm not saying bi-wire can never offer benefits, just that if the crossover is designed well you certainly shouldn't need to do it, and if you didn't have to offer it as a manufacturer you'd probably be able to design the crossover better in the first place!

Translation: Bi-wire is marketing B.S. and actually results in reduced sound quality due to speaker design.