Biwire oval 9's, single Zen Satori - surprised

Fz1jmp, I wasn't crazy about bananas that it came with (getting loose) but it wasn't perhaps factory termination (I bought it used). Sound-wise the best should be bare wires followed by spades and then bananas, but I couldn't hear any sonic improvement with spades.

I was not going to terminate the 2nd set of Satori's. My other set are terminated with spades, the new pair are terminated with bananas, so I'm just going to connect them using the banana plugs. Now thats not a probable is it? I will have banana plugs and spades connected at my amp end. I figure thats true separation.

Fz1jmp,

Shotguns are optimized for low and high frequencies (not identical) and marked accordingly. I had to install spades and discovered that wires inside are exactly the same. I doubt that there is any other difference.

Be careful if you terminate yourself because between whole bunch of solid insulated wires (about 10) one is stranded containing again at least 10 strands of very thin wire. Be sure to clean it and not to break. I crimped AQ spades with AQ crimper borrowed from local audio store and then soldered with 4% silver solder heating wire first to avoid thermal expansion of the spade that might release oxygen free connection.

I have the VR4SRmk2 and love the Satori Shotguns in my system.

I've never gotten anything special from bi-wire. Bi-amp yes, just not extra wire. Single wire to the HF posts and jump to to the LF posts.

Thanks for the various feedback. I read that the VR's should be bi-wired, Albert himself has a whole analysis on the VS website. I was very happy with the Satoris and Zen jumpers, they sounded better then anything else I have ever used in my system. With that in mind I saw the Oval 9's here at a decent price, I read they were supposed to be transparent, with slight emphasis on the bottom end. Being they were used, I assumed decent break in. I actually checked and re-checked my connections, but the mid's suffered. I've realized that cables are so incredibly system dependent its almost impossible to assume what the sound will be from system to system. I bought a separate Satori run, with bananas, I currently have spades. That will give me a true bi-wire opportunity.

Drubin makes a good point, and I agree with Kijanki's assessment as well. If you haven't already done so, maybe try hooking up one leg of the Oval 9s (being careful not to let any of the unused terminals touch each other of course), which may give you some insight into how the VSs react to biwiring vs. single wire hookups apples to apples. Also, how long did you have the Oval 9s in your system -- maybe they need some more time to break in or settle into your system?

FWIW, I have both Satori shotguns and single wire and prefer the shotguns by a fair margin. Increased clarity and dynamics are the main benefits, but whether that's due to my speakers working better biwired, decreased capacitance of the higher overall gauge of wire, etc. I don't know. Probably worth a look if you're up for it. By the way, what kind of improvements were you looking for and what characteristics of the Oval 9s had you convinced they would be that much better? Just curious (I've never heard the Oval 9s myself).

Borrow another pair of Zens and try biwiring with them. That way you isolate the variables, so you'll learn the impact of biwiring independent of a change in brand of cables.

I have Satori Shotguns and like them a lot. Nice combination of detailed upper midrange and slightly pronounced lower midrange (where my class D amp sounded a little thin). I've never heard Oval 9s but read many reviews. They suppose to be more bassy what might be very good in some systems.