Good advice, while auditioning speakers at a dealer can be fun but nothing like doing it in your home. Dealer quality is not quite the same as in the past. I used to have a part ownership in an audio store back in the 80's. This is another way of saying it could make you crazy. I've got a pair of KEF LS50's and like what they do, just a bigger room would benefit from something else. I like the concept of the mid and upper range drivers originating from as close to one point as possible, but freeing them up from the low frequencies would be a good idea. I've done that before on a much bigger scale.
Biwiring make any sense?
I am on the verge of adding new floor standers to my setup as my room has enlarged. Options being considered are KEF R7 Metas and PSAudio Aspen FR10's. Both have biwireable terminals, the KEF has a jumper switch and the PS has jumper wires to bridge the terminals. The other option from dealing with the jumpers is to biwire the speakers. In this case I could run a banana and a spade off each output terminal. Is this even worth considering? Biamping is not something I'm interested in, as I already am running off an integrated amp. I had a pair of BassZillas before, each one of which had 3 sets of terminals, the top 2 being biwired, but that's a different deal (I don't have those cables anymore). Speaker comments would be welcome too. Amp is PSAudio Spectral Strata w/150 watts into 4 ohms.
65 responses Add your response
It all depends upon your speaker's design. Usually, those with biwire capabilities have designed their speakers accordingly. My speakers (Vandersteen) have biwire inputs due to Mr. V. hearing the difference between single and biwire. Others may scoff, but Vandersteen has been building speakers since the '70's, so I take his opinion seriously. Paul McGowan started with electronics and only got into speakers relatively recently. I would also try to expand your list of speakers. Can you get some audition time with dealers? Nothing beats listening to as many speakers as you can... Bob |
@secretguy 1+++ |
I dunno. My speaker cables are all silver but it seems like if you do that you're still depending on the wiring up to the output terminals on the amp (whatever that is). All I can figure is that my speaker cables are relatively thin compared to some so maybe doubling up on them might help...wouldn't hurt. Copper vs silver is pretty much beyond my knowledge base! |
Paul McGowan up above goes into detail on the matter, says it doesn't matter with regard to biamping, then recommends biwiring! Holy smoke! I knew he liked wires. Meanwhile, the rather overworked video referenced on Matthew's post up above really does a good job showing that biwiring is nonsense from an electrical standpoint. I have to admit I am skeptical about those thin metal jumper straps often supplied. The KEF's I'm looking at has that internal so you would have to guess that's real wiring. Don't know about the PSAudio speaker. I would like to hear some thoughts on those 2 speakers I was looking at before I release the $$$. As far as the biwiring goes, I think if you have the cabling already (I do), at least it wouldn't hurt. If you don't I would spend the money elsewhere, maybe starting with better jumpers. Thanks for the comments! |
I have KEF Reference 1’s, so similar to your situation. I had two sets of Acoustic Zen speaker wires available so I tried biwiring. There was a bit more bass response, as for the highs, I did not notice a significant difference, but my hearing is limited in the upper ranges. I also tried some OCC Zavfino jumpers, my assessment is they provided a slightly fuller sound, but not a significant boost. My feeling is you are better off investing in the best set of single run speaker cables. I highly recommend the Acoustic Zen Satori’s as a starting point, they made a significant difference in my system. |