"Undo" biwiring?


If I have speakers with bi-wire terminals and only want to use single wire cables, is there any reason I can't desolder the wires from the low frequency posts and solder them to the high frequency posts or vice versa? Seems to make a lot more sense then adding expensive jumpers (which have made a difference in my experience), yet I have never seen this done or suggested. I would also need one less set of binding posts if I wanted to upgrade.
eugene81

Showing 1 response by kernelbob

You mention that you've tried using jumpers. Did you mean to say "which have not made a difference..."? The reason I ask is that jumpers don't provide the benefit that biwiring can.

If the high-pass crossover functions by presenting a high impedance at bass frequencies (as they normally do), then with biwiring to the high-pass connection, little to no bass current will flow because of the high impedance at low frequencies.

This means that few or no magnetic fields would be generated by the (now absent) low frequency current which could otherwise modulate the midrange/treble. This should make your midrange and (especially) the treble sound cleaner. Using jumpers or a single connection doesn't provide that benefit since the bass, midrange, and treble current all flow through the same cable up to where the jumpers connect or to where the low-pass and high-pass leads are internally joined.

When I biamp my system, I use a less expensive speaker cable from the bass amp and use the high performance speaker cable on the top, though ideally the type of cables would best be used on top and bottom, so this is a cost compromise. When I biwire using one amplifier's output, I biwire with the much better sounding, expensive speaker cable.