To biwire or not to biwire ?

[skinnyfat]

Let me open a can of worms here.

I have my own opinion on this topic which I will keep to myself for now (can hear a combined sigh of relief), what do you guys think  :?:

Skinny

[kay]

I think it depends. On many things - speakers, amp, cables. With some, it might make a difference. For a long time my physics-trained brain told me it's a load of rubbish to sell more expensive cables. Now I'm not so sure. For the most part, I don't think it's worth it - just like I don't feel it's right to use cables as tone controls.

[Viagara]

I have also jumped on the bi-wire bandwagon and bought some Supra bi-wire cable. It made a difference, but I am still not sure if it sounds better. It sounds like the mids and highs are clearer, but maybe I am imagining it.

I suppose the best advice for someone who wants to try this, is run an extra pair of cables and judge for yourself if it makes a difference instead of buying expensive cables and convince yourself that it does sound better just to justify the expense.

[JimGore]

Hi all.

You are correct in calling this a can of worms.  Everybody has their own opinion on bi-wire.

Personally, I have my system bi-wired.  Didn't buy special bi-wire (4 strand) cable, I just cut equal lengths of my existing QED cable, and installed.  On my system, the improvement was noteworthy - much more crisp.  I suppose it is possible that it is an illusion, but I do think it sounds better (on my system).

Cheers.
Jim

[siphiwe]

It sounds (slightly) different but I can't say the difference is better, so my speakers aren't bi-wired.

[skinnyfat]

Here goes

1. If you have speakers that are bi-wire capable and you're not sure whether you should biwire, the first thing I would recommend is to rip the flimsy bridge plates off and replace with a short length of your existing speaker wire.(unless you're using flex wire which you shouldn't)

2. I personally believe, whether misguided or not, that bi-wiring does have its merits. It is important to note that it is no good bi-wiring with great cable but your interconnect between player and amp/pre amp is bog standard. An all encompassing aproach needs to be taken when it comes to HC. I've read and agree with the recommendation that you spend aprox. 10 - 15% of your budget on cabling.

3. I have my set up bi-wired (well semi bi wired). My FR, FL, C are bi-wired with my surrounds single wired. My thinking was that 70- 80 % of movie sound info comes from your front three speakers so I would be prepared to spend the extra cash on the wire. To bi-wire the rears becomes a bit more costly but they dont carry the predominent sound info so I wasn't too concerned. With the rears I replaced the bridge plates with speaker wire.


For the record I think bi-wiring has made a difference to my set up. I also feel that some speakers benefit more from bi-wiring than others.(my kefs love it, they told me so :lol: )


Skinny