rocket 88


I have a pair of 12 ft Rocket 88's with the DBS attached.

I want to buy another pair to biwire my B&W's 802's. I have a change to get 10ft rocket 88's with the dbs. Does the 2 ft difference matter?

Could I get rocket 88's 12 ft without the dbs?

 

128x128guitarlenn55

Showing 3 responses by waytoomuchstuff

Short answer: "No. There won't be an audibile difference"  Premium cables have gotten quite expensive and you have a chance to buy a pair of 10' factory-terminated Rocket 88's at the right price, you should go for it.

fyi- I upgraded the internal cabling of my speakers with Rocket 88 year ago.  It was well worth the time, and money.  Also, I have decades of experience with Audiopquest (semi-retired, but still a dealer on the books) and have been a fan of DBS since it's introduction.  I'm sure there are situations where the DBS difference isn't perceptable.  I just haven't come across one, yet.

@guitarlenn55

"Bi-wiring" the 802s:

There is much debate on this subject. Justifiably so.

I think it can be argued that "all things being equal" there may be little benefit to "bi-wiring." But, given the fact that the 802’s (as are many premium speakers) are factory configured for bi-wire. So, the options are: bi-wire or not bi-wire?

If you run full range cables to a speaker set for bi-wire, you have 2 cables running to a speaker with 4 input terminals. This requires a jumper, of some kind to "feed" all 4 terminals. This can be accomplished via a factory-supplied "jumper bar" to get the job done. Not the best material, or geometry for best SQ. Or, you get high quality jumpers (from AQ, or others) to do the job. Better, but there’s still an extra set of connection points and cabling, in the signal path.

SBW (single bi-wire) is a neat, simple solution for bi-wiring. One cable, one jacket, split out into 4 leads at the speaker end. However, this does take part of the cable’s total AWG and divide it between "lows" and "highs" with debatable (by some) SQ benefits. This is your current configuration, it appears. DBW (double bi-wire) uses dedicated cables for "lows" and "highs" meaning, of course, that 100% of the cable is used for each, with no compromises in the AWG to feed signal to each. So, essentially, you’re doubling the gauge of your speakers, which is a good thing.

Given the fact that the 802’s are factory configured for bi-wire, running an additional set of Rocket 88’s is a no-brainer, in my view. Especially, if the price of admission is at a reasonable price.

@deep_333 @hsounds

Well stated, gentlemen. I learned something. Just might prove I’m still “trainable” at my age?

I would just like to add that a manufacturer (I believe it’s AQ) recommends that if you’re going to use those factory jumpers and run full range that you “stagger” the inputs, connecting the positive lead to the highs and the negative to the lows. The science here is well above my pay grade, but thought it was worth sharing.