Bi-amping with Audioquest cables

Lt346mp asks a good question. I have experimented quite a bit with those kinds of comparisons.

Comparing your example of a double bi-wire set of Midnight (bass) and Sterling (highs), to a single-biwire with a single Sterling cable, the Midnight/Sterling combo will win easily assuming you have a 3-way speaker. The reason is that the advantages of having two physically separate cables along with double the overall gauge trumps any advantage offered by the superior metal quality of the few Sterling conductors that would be devoted to the low frequencies in a single bi-wire.

Also, with most most loudspeakers (nearly any 3-way), the cable connected to the bass will not be as critical in terms of metal quality. The kinds of improvements one would hear with better copper or silver at higher frequencies is not as significant at lower frequencies. Is there a sonic difference with better conductors at low frequencies? Yes, just not to the same degree as with high frequencies.

With 2-way speakers, where the crossover occurs right in the critical midrange region, it is much more important to have equal metal quality (and typically identical cables, or nearly identical cables) for the highs and lows. This is true to a much smaller extent for some 3-way speakers with a higher x-over point or a gradual 1st order (6db/octave) crossover, like a Vandersteen or Thiel.

I had a single biwire of Midnight II. I recently picked up a 2nd pair of Midnight II on eBay and switched to a double bi-wire... and the difference was huge. No competition at all.

Moving swiftly on - has anyone made any sonic evaluations between using an internally bi-wired cable as oppossed to a true bi-wired set-up, using two of the same kind of cables? I've read other threads where folk have bi-wired using the Midnight cables paired with the more expensive Sterling cables, but none where the same cables has been used for both treble and bass. I am curious as to whether the folk using the Midnight/Sterling combination would reap more rewards by doing away with the cheaper Midnights and simply bi-wiring 'internally' with the superior Sterlings. Anybody got any thoughts?

Bi-wiring within a single Audioquest cable works perfectly fine.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I'm sure that in an ideal World two cables would be best but considering the cost of some of these cables,this can be prohibitive, so I'll continue as I am.

Bi-amping or Bi-wiring within a single Audioquest cable will work fine. The reason it is not recommended has more to do with the sonic disadvantage of having deep bass information traveling in close proximity to more delicate high frequencies. The magnetic field created by the bass will modulate and distort the high frequencies to some extent.

This is the reason that true bi-wiring involves two physically separate pairs of cables. What you are doing is known as single bi-wiring (or single wire bi-amping). Dividing up the conductors internally within a single pair of cables is commonly done, just not ideal.

Thanks for the reply Unclejeff. Are there any other 'goners out there bi-amping with a single pair of cables?

I would not be too worried. I would think that the Audioquest people design their cables to be used one way and they can't imagine someone wanting to alter their design.

They might think of it like chilling a good bottle of Cabernet in the icebox before serving, but this is nevertheless your choice.