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To biwire or not to biwire...?

I know there have been a few threads on this subject and it is a fairly controversial subject, but I have a few specific questions on both ways. First, there are dealers who advertise their jumpers by saying," get rid of those junky bars that come with your speakers and hear what your speakers are really capable of..." For that distance of an inch or two, does it really make a difference ? Secondly,some dealers and /or manufacturers who push the biwire method, recommend putting copper cables on the bass and silver on the tweeter. How does this make things better ? Thirdly, for those with biwireable speakers,who want to run a single cable and put in a jumper,what kinds of experiences have you had with different types of jumpers ? I have a single pair of speaker cables ( AZ Satori) and another brand of cables that tend to lean toward the "warm" side of neutral.If I put in some good silver jumpers, would that give a more neutral tonal balance or would it only emphasize the upper registers ? I have yet to find any all- silver cables that I found natural-sounding anyway.Or would it be better to use a jumper from the same manufacturer as the single run you are using ? I know these are a lot of questions, but surely others without the technical know-how like myself have wondered about these things as well. Thanks for your input.
sherod
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
Sherod: sorry there are no hard & fast answers to your questions. Opinions vary all over the map & many are simply opinions based upon no particular experience, but you'll get them nevertheless. Opinions are like ... well you know.
That said: I have * read* of the experince of many others who far preferred wire-jumpers to those connecting bars. I have no experience with either method. I use single-biwire myself & it worked well for me, but that doesn't mean it will be best for you. Regarding specific combinations of mix & match, that can go either way. The only way to find out what will work best for you in your own system & with regard to your own particular sonic tastes is to experiment. Silver cabling can be a bit "zipppy" & some will prefer that effect. Silver plated copper is different too.
sherod OP
1,690 posts
 
Clingman, I love the Satori's. Very natural sound. I'm a trumpet player, so I listen to a lot of music, especially jazz, with a lot of trumpets, and the Satori give a natural presentation of that unique brass sound. There are a pair on Auction right now. Go for it.
kr_8403
1 posts
 
Linn have a technical view on this. Try going to the following site.
http://www.linn.co.uk/spec_sound/biwiring_and_beyond.pdf
But then you could always listen and make you own mind up. This seems to be the best approach.
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ncarv
983 posts
 
I am currently bi-wiring after single wiring with brass plates and with jumpers. Jumpers are definitely better than the brass plates, not for the distance, but for the quality of the connection. Think about it -- after buying quality speaker cable, why would you want to complete the connection with crappy brass plates? I've used the Dedicated Audio jumpers and Transparent Reference jumpers, with the Transparents coming out ahead.
As for bi-wiring, I've heard both sides. I think it is probably system and speaker dependent and I would agree that a single cable of superior quality would probably outdo much lesser quality bi-wiring. In my case, bi-wiring improved the sound significantly. I'm using an older top of the line MIT speaker cable for the highs and a much lesser MIT of the same vintage, but similar construction, for the lows.
ljgj
955 posts
 
I wouldn't lose any sleep over jumpers. Some of the same people who will give extensive views on such items also use splitters when biamping and never comment on the regular copper wire inside the unit. Worry about something else.
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