2. speakers
  3. 1012317915

Wiring two post speakers with biwire cable

I have speakers with one pair of binding posts each. My amp has four binding posts for each channel (biwiring capable).

I have a set of biwire cables (one end has two terminations, + and -, the other end has four, two + and two -).

Is is safe to connect all four terminations at the end of this cable to the two posts on each speaker, or should I leave one set of + and - unconnected? What if I connected the four termination end to the amp and the two termination end to the speaker?

I don't want to run into any problems with running cables in parallel, messing with impedance, etc. Thanks.
turnaround

Showing 6 responses by sugarbrie

sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Most amps with 4 binding posts for easy bi-wiring are coming out of the same circuit inside the amp (they're just split into 4), so I agree what Bob is saying is OK. (And don't reverse the direction).
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
What cables do you have? I would say Yes, go ahead and connect all four. Unless it is a BiWire only brand of cable, the Biwire post versions that are a single cable are the same cable as the standard cable, just terminated for Bi-wire. Many cables have more than one insulated conductor per channel, they just separate them into 4 instead of 2 on the speaker end.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
You guys need to read his question. He asked if he could use biwire cables on non biwire speakers. He does not intend to modify the speakers to biwire.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
If your speaker cables are the same as the non-biwire versions you will not be shotgunning. Many brand of speaker wires are bi-wire capable. There are mulitple conductors (separate wires) per channel. All they do is segregate the separate conductors into 4 on the speaker end instead of 2. These type of cables will therefore be no different than the non biwire cables if used on your speakers.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Caterham: A lot of cables are sold this way. Most of the Straightwire, Audioquest, Kimber, Wireworld, etc; you get the same cable whether single or bi-wire. The cost is usually only +/-$30 for the extra labor to terminate in a bi-wire configuration. If you go the their websites you will read that the cables are "Bi-wire capable".

This does seem that strange to me. If the speakers are not biwire, the signal is split to the low/high inside the speakers. Bi-Wire is moving it back to the amp (moves the crossover back). Many brands do not make a shot-gun cable, you have to terminate double runs.

I realized later what you were saying also. There are many bi-wire cables on the market and they do cost a lot more than the single cable because they are double inside (MIT, Nordost, Analysis Plus).


So Turnaround; what kind of cables do you have?????

sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Turnaround: There is only a $28 difference between the list prices of the mono (single) and bi-wire versions of your cables, and the website only describes one type of construction of the internal cable, so they are definitely the same cables whether they are terminated with 2 or 4 connectors on the speaker end.

Therefore, if you just connect the two reds together and two blacks together on the single red and black lugs on the back of your speakers, they should perform pretty much the same as the mono (single, non-biwire) version of those cables.

More to discover