Without prejudice to the effects that the absolute benefits
are always system dependent, Some of the high-end quality
build brands are moving away from bi-wiring in favour of
shotgunned runs and jumpers configurations.
Biamping ... Different story.
E.g. NORDOST
http://www.nordost.com/downloads/NorseJumperinstructions.pdf
CHORD
http://www.chord.co.uk/help-and-information/speaker-cable-
guide/bi-wire-or-single-wire/
"... Many hi-fi and home cinema loudspeakers have two
pairs of binding posts. This allows the speaker to be either
bi-wired using two sets of loudspeaker cable or bi-amped
using two amplifiers.
As a general rule (and there will always be exceptions) we
tend to find that bi-wiring will open out the sound stage
and increase perceived levels of detail. However, single
wiring will often sound the most musically coherent. There
is also an issue with single and bi-wire speaker cables. In
all the research we have carried out, a single wire speaker
cable out-performs a bi-wire cable of equivalent cost. This
makes a lot of sense; the single wire speaker cable has two
high quality conductors and the bi-wire cable requires four.
So for a given budget, we believe that a single wire cable
will always out-perform the equivalent bi-wire cable, so
much so that we no longer produce dedicated bi-wire
cables..."
For me:
(i) in my high-end "A" system, shotgunned NORDOST
Freys with matched FREY jumpers bested all contenders and
pretenders. (including bi-wires) - full stop. The
differences were not subtle. The only thing stopping me from
moving even higher in the NORDOST chain is price and also
limiting returns of the added big-time ka-ching. In
fairness, having matched FREY ICs for synergy with the
speaker cables helps.
(ii) in my more modest "B" system, I actually run
bi-wired sets. I do so primarily as a "pick 'em"
choice between quality silver-plated OCC copper single runs
with matched jumpers, versus, all-Cu copper quality bi-wires
as leftover surplus sets from prior systems.
I did not see any noteworthy differences between them in
THAT system. I retained the bi-wires and sold the
singles/jumper sets as hedge for potential flexibility later
(the bi-wires can be re-terminated into a shotgunned and
jumpers configuration)
FWIW.....
are always system dependent, Some of the high-end quality
build brands are moving away from bi-wiring in favour of
shotgunned runs and jumpers configurations.
Biamping ... Different story.
E.g. NORDOST
http://www.nordost.com/downloads/NorseJumperinstructions.pdf
CHORD
http://www.chord.co.uk/help-and-information/speaker-cable-
guide/bi-wire-or-single-wire/
"... Many hi-fi and home cinema loudspeakers have two
pairs of binding posts. This allows the speaker to be either
bi-wired using two sets of loudspeaker cable or bi-amped
using two amplifiers.
As a general rule (and there will always be exceptions) we
tend to find that bi-wiring will open out the sound stage
and increase perceived levels of detail. However, single
wiring will often sound the most musically coherent. There
is also an issue with single and bi-wire speaker cables. In
all the research we have carried out, a single wire speaker
cable out-performs a bi-wire cable of equivalent cost. This
makes a lot of sense; the single wire speaker cable has two
high quality conductors and the bi-wire cable requires four.
So for a given budget, we believe that a single wire cable
will always out-perform the equivalent bi-wire cable, so
much so that we no longer produce dedicated bi-wire
cables..."
For me:
(i) in my high-end "A" system, shotgunned NORDOST
Freys with matched FREY jumpers bested all contenders and
pretenders. (including bi-wires) - full stop. The
differences were not subtle. The only thing stopping me from
moving even higher in the NORDOST chain is price and also
limiting returns of the added big-time ka-ching. In
fairness, having matched FREY ICs for synergy with the
speaker cables helps.
(ii) in my more modest "B" system, I actually run
bi-wired sets. I do so primarily as a "pick 'em"
choice between quality silver-plated OCC copper single runs
with matched jumpers, versus, all-Cu copper quality bi-wires
as leftover surplus sets from prior systems.
I did not see any noteworthy differences between them in
THAT system. I retained the bi-wires and sold the
singles/jumper sets as hedge for potential flexibility later
(the bi-wires can be re-terminated into a shotgunned and
jumpers configuration)
FWIW.....