What are the advantages of Bi Wiring?

[n4d5]

Hi

I have a pair of MS 908 floorstanders (which I might be selling soon). They can be bi wired. What are the pros and cons of Bi Wiring?

Thank you in advance for the advice.

 

[floyd droid]

The jury is out on this one. Some swear by it (but is it mind games because they have bi-wired and reckon they hear a difference,but do they ?). Others will say it makes not a jot of difference. Bi-amping is a better way to go apparently. Although i must say i have no experience regarding either, just imfo ive gleaned from threads etc. Cons........twice as much cable expense for starters !!!!.

can of worms topic.

 

[chebby]

Tried it in the past with an (older series) Rega Mira amp and KEF Q35.2 floorstanders. Did not make a scrap of difference. Also the cables were annoyingly intrusive and could not be formed around corners either. In the end I went back to single cabling.

Waste of money (for me) on that occasion.

 

[Anonymous]

I biwired with Atlas Hyper 2.0 (2 runs) and it made a lovely difference to my set up. More bass the most significant example...

 

[fatboyslimfast]

There we go. Six of one and half dozen of the other. Theoretically, it rather depends on the construction of the crossover, and the way this interacts with the chosen speaker cable.

So the only real way is to try it on your speakers - a nice dealer might lend you a few lengths to try...

 

[Anonymous]

I think it also depends on the setup. I certainly noticed that the sound was clearer at very high volumes. Before, at high volumes high and med frequencies were not as defined. At low volumes, I couldn't tell the difference.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a waste of time in my opininon: Just buy better quality speaker cable and cuts of also high-quality cable as jumpers and save yourself the hastle, the mess and the pain of bi-wiring.

 

[Anonymous]

If your speakers can be bi-wired try it, with several different speakers ive had it gave the treble more freedom in a good sense and an overall better soundÿ

saying that it wouldnt as much difference as say upgrading to a half decent phono lead if you was using the freebie's or slightly better

i suppose what im saying is the rest of your system has got to be up to scratch to hear any differenceÿ

 

[Sc00bied00]

definate option as stated, chord do dedicated jumper links around £40 or make your own, I'm sure the same recommendation was said by the WHF team in another post somewhere. Most benefit is from Bi-amping.

 

[Anonymous]

chainrock:I think it also depends on the setup. I certainly noticed that the sound was clearer at very high volumes. Before, at high volumes high and med frequencies were not as defined. At low volumes, I couldn't tell the difference.

I've noticed the same thing. Maybe it has something to do with how the damping factor on amps work since the signal to the speakers is less restricted with Bi Wire?

 

[aliEnRIK]

The very first 'hifi' speakers I bought were mission 780s around 1990. Initially connected via single wires, I decided to biwire and it made a BIG difference. Ive never really tested any since then, just biwire anyways. Though I recently bi-amped my monitor audios which made quite a difference to normal bi-wiring.

My mate said he couldnt tell any difference when he bi-wired his 'gale' speakers. Different speakers wield different results im sure.

 

[Anonymous]

The key point with bi-wiring is there is only a point in doing it if your speakers are designed to be bi-wired (you'll know coz the speakers will have 2 sets of connections marked HF & LF connected with a jumper). Although bi-wireable speakers have a crossover in them they are also designed to work without the crossover too when you bi-wire. When you bi-wire the signal goes directly to each driver without going through the crossover first and the drivers have filters on them to prevent harmful frequencies getting through and damaging them. The result is that the signal doesn't get degraded by the electronics in the crossover and you get a better, fuller and more open sound. Effectively what you are doing is supplying each driver with its own direct signal. Good quality bi-wire cable will use stranded cable for the low frequencies and solid core for the high frequencies as the highs prefer solid core and the lows stranded (I can recommend Atlas Hyper Bi-Wire).

I have a little pair of Mission V60 speakers and when I bi-wired them the result was immediately obviously. The bass got deeper and punchier, the treble was clearer, the stereo image was better and the definition was greatly improved. Maybe these speakers benefit from bi-wiring more than others but all I can say is that from my experience its definitely worth doing!

 

[Anonymous]

Andygerbil - You points raised are excellent and I completely agree. Just a point to note for people that may be reading this however, as with everything its all relative.

The higher up you go in terms of class of hifi the better the crossovers used in speakers and the more need for a better quality single wire vs bi-wire on a cheaper wire. Thats just my opinion.

Regarding the metal links in bi-wire capable speakers - as everyone knows take them out and throw them somewhere you will NEVER find them again

 

[aliEnRIK]

Ive even had slight gains by ~

Connecting treble to speaker A and bass to speaker B selection (If the amp has it)

or

One wire a spade and the other a banana so the 2 dont 'cross over'

 

[n4d5]

Being abit dim here. ÿWhen you have an amplifier which can only power one pair of speakers. ÿAm I right in saying you use a banana plug and a spade connector which both go into the positive terminal on the left channel and a banana and spade connector which go into the negative terminal on the left channel and the same applies to the right channel?

 

[Big Chris]

Hughes123:It's a waste of time in my opininon: Just buy better quality speaker cable and cuts of also high-quality cable as jumpers and save yourself the hastle, the mess and the pain of bi-wiring.

Mess & pain? I don't know how you biwire Hughsey my lad, but there should be minimal mess and certainly no pain.

Oh. It's "Hassle" BTW.

;-)

 

[Andrew Everard]

That's about the size of it...

 

[Alec]

Andrew Everard:That's about the size of it...

Really? That small? hahahahaha...

Sorry.

 

[aliEnRIK]

n4d5:Being abit dim here. When you have an amplifier which can only power one pair of speakers. Am I right in saying you use a banana plug and a spade connector which both go into the positive terminal on the left channel and a banana and spade connector which go into the negative terminal on the left channel and the same applies to the right channel?

Thats about right yeah. You dont HAVE to, but ive found a small improvement if you do

 

[Anonymous]

n4d5, you're not being dim. It's not immediately obvious how it works. Yes it is best to use banana plugs but you connect both positives together in one plug for L+ at the amp end and the same for R+ then join both L negatives together and both right negatives together in the same way. This simple diagram hopefully will make it clearer than my explanation.

www.davidmannaudio.com/faq/faq3.html

If you buy a dedicated bi-wire cable the dealer will put the plugs on for you (crimped is better than soldered) so you can't get it wrong then you just follow the plus and minuses and it's easy!

 

[Anonymous]

n4d5:Being abit dim here. When you have an amplifier which can only power one pair of speakers. Am I right in saying you use a banana plug and a spade connector which both go into the positive terminal on the left channel and a banana and spade connector which go into the negative terminal on the left channel and the same applies to the right channel?

Well that is certainly one way of doing it.... I just twisted the cables together and put them into one banana plug.......

I have not had a crack at the original question yet..... I will start by saying that I have not read all the replies.... so if I repeat or seem to go slightly off topic that is why...........

You go out and you buy good hi fi..... you listen to it and it is amazing....... you then read WHF and it tells you that you can, via the investment of accessories, get more out of the equipment...... and you have to process all that..... you doubt it (is it a con? the sonic equivalent of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'?), well am I short changing myself and my investment in the equipment? But it already sounds really, really good........?

Eventually though, you want the stereo to sound better, you want to get the best from it..... so you have to decide what works for you and what does not. I am yet to be disappointed by any of it....... I bi-wired and I am happy with it...... it is difficult to describe to you what the difference is, because the essence of the question is 'describe sound' (which is impossible any more than you could, say, 'describe red'), also there is a point at which imporvements in hi-fi is not easily defined..... you know that it sounds better, but it is just a preference that is hard to point to.... it becomes 'I like it.... not sure why, but I prefer this configuration to the last'.

However (by the way I am running a bi-amped A85/P85 into Mission M64i's) what bi-wiring gave me was strength... the music sounded thicker and more powerful.... better realised. Bass punches the air a bit more.... it is not just a sound it is a force. The mid-tones and treble just step up a bit more, better definition and seperation.... so that you are ever so slightly more aware of them.... and the high notes sound a pinch richer. It is the difference between a freshly cleaned car and a car that you have polished. Both look great, clean and shiny.... but the polished car looks even more so.......

Will bi-wiring work for you? Dunno..... you simply have to try it. My recommendation to you would be to buy some older multi-strand stuff off of Ebay and test the principle first, in a cheaper way, and if you like it then sell the secondhand stuff and search for newer cable that is the correct length and more what you want.......

Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Had a demo of B&W 685s today when bi wired there was a marked improvment and when biwired using different cable types for high and low frequencies there was again a marked improvement in sound.