Question about Bi-Wiring

@jay73 - ditch those little plates that couple the terminals and replace them with real copper wire.

• Make each jumper 20" long
• make each jumper from 2 strands of solid UP-OCC copper wire
• 16 gauge or 14 gauge will suffice
• use some sort of copper terminal i.e. spade or banana

You could even try Romex - it should work better than those plates

You should hear a noticeable improvement and it should not matter which terminals you connect the cables to.

Those little jumpers are very often made form brass or a copper alloy and they degrade the signal

Hope that helps - Steve

@jay73 RE: 

So, you literally mean copper wire terminated to spade or banana plugs with the specs that you mentioned?

Exactly - here's the problem with those plates

• they are most probably made of brass or even some copper alloy like Copper Beryllium
• this will not conduct the signal as effectively as pure copper
• if you plug the cables into the HF terminals then the low frequencies are impacted
• if oyu plug the cables into the LF terminals then the high frequencies are impacted
• replacing the plated with pure copper (like Romex) or even better use UP-OCC copper, then you should hear no change regardless of which terminals you pluf the cables into

I had a pair of bi-wire speakers

• I tried bi-wire cables and they worked OK
• then I replaced the plate-jumpers with copper wire and went back to a single cable and it actually sounded better.
• Then a fellow DIYer told me about the 20" jumper - he had researched different lengths a lot and 20" was the optimum length
• I then made UP-OCC copper jumpers from 2 x 18 gauge wire from VH Audio and the speakers had never sounded so good

If you are into DIY tale a look at these cables - they provide excellent results

My Audio Alchemy (image99.net)

If you have any questions just ask

Hope that helps - Steve

@jay73 - unfortunately I recently sold those speakers with he Jumpers on them and I did not take any pictures.

But they are very simple

• I used two pieces of VH Audio UP-OCC 18 gauge copper wire for each jumper 20 inches long
  • strip the insulation at one end of the pair for about 1/2"
  • twist tightly together
  • Then twist the two wires in a more relaxed twist
    • about one complete twist every 3 to 4 inches (see image)
  • Finish the other end in the same way - with e tight twist
  • Then on each end I use KLE Innovations Banana plugs, they provide the best sound quality
    • but you can use bananas or spades of your choice,
    • Furez makes a very good pure copper or silver plated copper spade

Hope that helps - Steve

Is there such a thing as bi-wire speakers?

• I think what we refer to as "Bi-wire speakers"
• were actually designed for "Bi-amping"

I understand and hear the impact of Bi-amping

But in a Single-Amp system that connects to Bi-Amp speakers

• I do prefer using a good quality single cable with good quality jumpers
  • i.e. as opposed to Bi-wire cables
• I also realize some amps come with a second set of outputs
  • but generally, that second set of terminals are connected to the same outputs as the first set

Semantics? - probably 🙄

Regards - Steve 😧