Just means you should try connecting the speaker wire to the top 2 terminals OR the bottom 2 terminals OR one top-one bottom terminal to see which yields the best result. Just don't forget that when single wiring you need to use the jumpers between the top and bottom terminals. You may not hear a difference with any of these combinations, depending on your system, your ears and your musical priorities, so don't be surprised if they sound basically the same.
Totem Speaker Wiring
Hello all.
I found the following on the Totem website concerning speaker wiring. It's confusing to me or am I just dumb?
Thanks in advance.
Ben
I found the following on the Totem website concerning speaker wiring. It's confusing to me or am I just dumb?
Thanks in advance.
Ben
Single-wiring Advantages
There are some cases where a high quality single wire allows for a better tonal balance for a particular need.
Single-wiring is definitely a very good way to proceed as long as the four terminals are there. The user has the choice of connecting just the lower two terminals and through this obtain a certain “tone”. Reconnecting the wire to the upper two terminals gives the user more high frequency emphasis. Connecting the red positive at the bottom and the black at the top (diagonally opposite) or vice versa will give you two more “tone” options.
In conclusion the customer/dealer has four possibilities with a high quality single wire. We recommend the diagonal connection when using the single wire to create a greater balance.
8 responses Add your response
Interesting. I’d never heard that before. I do know from experience that a bi-wired connection - single pair at the amp or double pair if amp has two sets of outputs and double pairs at the speakers if speakers have two sets of inputs, improves the sound quality. But doing the bottom pair vs. top pair (with jumpers in place) at the speakers should make no difference. |
I have tried many configurations over the years, bi-wiring and single wiring. In many cases the best method is up to the individual user, and I have found in some cases bi-wiring works better, but many times a higher quality single wire run with matching jumpers can work better. I have also found that different speakers behave differently regarding jumper configurations. Lately, I have found the diagonal connection describe by Nordost here, to work best for me with my current speakers. http://www.nordost.com/downloads/NorseJumperinstructions.pdf Just like there is no right answer for which tap on a tube amp will work best with which speaker, the same is true for speaker cables. Try different methods and decide what sounds best on your speakers to your ears. Cheers, John |
