biwire trick

I love all you pessimistic audiophiles out there. For us, it's "prove it."

The reason I tried it is as follows from the aforementioned description of the Nordost jumpers on MD:

"Diagonal Bi-Wire
For those looking for maximum performance from their bi-wire speakers, Nordost has a recommendation. Connect your speaker wire to the speaker as follows: Red lead to the Red midrange/bass post, Black lead to the Black tweeter post. Then insert the Norse Jumpers as you normally would, sit back and hold on to your socks. The effect is astounding, with greater focus, detail and less haze and grain. We don't really understand how it works, but it does so try it for yourself!"

This theoretically could make sense. I translated it to evening the load between cables, though perhaps Almarg has more properly defined it. I really shouldn't have described it as a tweak or trick, since I really don't believe it is one. It's switching the leads.

3 things can happen: it sounds worse, it sounds the same, it sounds better. You be the judge on how neutral your analysis is. Don't think about why it should or shouldn't work. It wasn't very hard for me to hear a difference. Make sure to turn off the amps first.

01-02-11: T_bone
I vote Dcrugby's post as Post Of The Day.

Almarg, I can no longer count the times I have learned something new from your posts.

Audiogon moderators,
Would you consider a 'Post of the Day' button/link one could push next to each post?
T_bone (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

Almarged! Almarg, thank you for your insight and wisdom, always.

Yes, the MD description I used/quoted is not the same as what I'm describing (single cable + jumper arrangement), but it led me to think of what I've described here. I stand by my first statement -- I hear more air, more dimensionality, larger staging, more natural and full sound. Unless there is a downside electrically, which I haven't read yet (Almarg...assuming you would have brought it up?) I'm hearing positive differences and don't have a good reason to revert back to the conventional hook up method.

I would argue that this "trick" is definitely the wrong way to bi-wire speakers

Wrong? Different.

No just plain wrong. If one wanted to roll off the treble ever so slightly then there are better tools for that, such as tone controls, an EQ or more room treatments etc.

Who said anything about tone control or rolled off treble? Please re-read my my findings. But I suppose I could go back to the 'right' configuration, satisfied that I'm not doing something I'm not supposed to be doing, and just pretend that it sounded better than the 'wrong' way.

Scream 'cables should be (insert word here)!' all you want, Shardorne. As Elizabeth said, "Theory is great for arguing." I'm not here to argue.

Good for you for experimenting and trusting your ears.

As long as nothing blows up, or now has a reason to, why not (thanks Al)? I was piqued by the Nordost write up -- to attach the leads to treble and mid from a single cable. In their case they fill the gap with their jumpers, but it seemed like they were essentially balancing the current load. Biwire, in principal, should do an even better job since it would be truly balanced.

No idea. I wouldn't have posted it if it didn't make a difference. Even Nordost doesn't know why it works. IOW, theory can kiss my axx.

Oh, and always, YMMV