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Connecting Single Cable to Bi-wire Terminals

samz

pfm Member
https://imgur.com/gallery/vffrBIt

My speakers come with binding posts but I don’t have a bi wire speaker cable.
So do I connect one to the Woofer terminal and the other to a Treble terminal like in the image provided.
Then do the same for the other speaker.
Many thanks
Samz
 
That’s an odd way to do it, but would work assuming you have jumpers (those copper coloured things connecting the bass and treble posts (+ to + and - to -).

Usually one would have jumpers like so, then just connect the speaker cable to the two base inputs.
 
That’s an odd way to do it, but would work assuming you have jumpers (those copper coloured things connecting the bass and treble posts (+ to + and - to -).

Usually one would have jumpers like so, then just connect the speaker cable to the two base inputs.

Thanks,
They seem to sound ok as they are. Im glad I asked as I wasn’t certain at first.
Thanks again
 
Samz, the picture you link to is a method that has become fashionable in recent years (in fact there have been at least two other recent threads on precisely this method) - how valid it is is another matter - but it does no harm to try it.
 
For me the best and cheapest way is:-
1. Strip the end 100mm of your speaker cable
2. Ensure you still have the tight twist and lightly solder tin the exposed cable
3. The binding posts have a hole in them thread the exposed cable though connecting + bass to +ve treable, do the same with the negative
4. Tighten the binding post down, cut off any excess speaker cable.

No expensive plugs or jumper cables to buy .

If you already have speaker cable with 4mm banana plugs on the end and don't want to cut them off the just strip 100mm of spare speaker cable and join the binding posts together as above then plug your existing speaker cables into the binding post as normal
have fun experimenting if it sound's better plugging into the Bass + & - or the Treble + & - :rolleyes::D

Alan
 
The whole bi-wire thing is pretty idiotic. Years ago I messed around with a pair of bi-wire speakers and realised that the improvement you hear from bi-wiring results from removing the links from the equation. In other words, you create a problem by fitting bi-wire terminals then get back to where you were to begin with by using double the speaker cable!

Some manufacturers, Naim and Epos for example, resisted this foolish trend although some caved in eventually. Idiot buyers saw single wire speakers as old fashioned.

If you intend keeping th speakers, I'd just take the panel off and solder the cables single wire. Or if that's a scary idea, fit 'F' plugs to your speaker cable. Two plugs in series on the end of each cable. The links do degrade the sound. Just try the cables plugged into alternate sockets and you'll hear for yourself
 
Any solid bar link made from a conductive metal or jumper cable of practical cross-sectional area and length will have a tiny resistance and negligible reactance. It is therefore difficult to see how any audible difference will arise from changing which terminal the cables are connected to (both +ve and -ve attached you the bass or both in the treble or one in each).

Furthermore, by what mechanism does an external bar degrade the sound quality more than would the tracks of a crossover PCB or a short length of internal wire?

Agreed bi-wiring is pretty daft but having separate terminals for each drive unit does make conversion to use an external active crossover easier.
 
The whole bi-wire thing is pretty idiotic. Years ago I messed around with a pair of bi-wire speakers and realised that the improvement you hear from bi-wiring results from removing the links from the equation. In other words, you create a problem by fitting bi-wire terminals then get back to where you were to begin with by using double the speaker cable!

Some manufacturers, Naim and Epos for example, resisted this foolish trend although some caved in eventually. Idiot buyers saw single wire speakers as old fashioned.

If you intend keeping th speakers, I'd just take the panel off and solder the cables single wire. Or if that's a scary idea, fit 'F' plugs to your speaker cable. Two plugs in series on the end of each cable. The links do degrade the sound. Just try the cables plugged into alternate sockets and you'll hear for yourself

Hmmm... everything you said is wrong I'm afraid!

Bi-wiring can be of benefit..... although mainly a cynical ploy to sell more speaker cable of course!
The links used between the binding posts when single wiring have no effect whatsoever, nor does "the order they are used in" or "crisscrossing them". All that matters is that the connections are clean and tight to keep resistance low. Personally I usually solder a couple of short (6" to 1' ish) tales to the end of a single cable run to form a "Y" with two sets of banana plugs at the end.... no links or anything to tarnish or become loose.

Anyone interested in why and under what circumstances bi-wiring can be beneficial will need to search for a long post I made a while back which goes into detail about it. To summarise it though, the longer and thinner the cable the more benefit from bi-wiring.... Use thick cable and keep it as short as possible and there is then little if any benefit from it.
 
Wrong. End of.

I disagree with a surprising number of the things you say. I plugged into the different sets of of posts and could hear the difference between whether or not the links were on the treble or bass circuit. It's something anyone who has bi-wire speakers can try for themselves and make their own mind up on. I assume it will vary depending on what the links are made of, what sort of coating if any etc but like I say, easy to try it and decide for yourself.

The first sentence doesn't necessarily imply the second.

True, but I tried different things and established the second.
 
I disagree with a surprising number of the things you say. I plugged into the different sets of of posts and could hear the difference between whether or not the links were on the treble or bass circuit. It's something anyone who has bi-wire speakers can try for themselves and make their own mind up on. I assume it will vary depending on what the links are made of, what sort of coating if any etc but like I say, easy to try it and decide for yourself.



True, but I tried different things and established the second.

You could also disagree that the world is round or that engineering bricks don't float but the facts say otherwise....

Google "Ohm's Law" ;)
 
You could also disagree that the world is round or that engineering bricks don't float but the facts say otherwise....

I'm not going to debate subjective vs objective with you, there isn't any point. I truly do not care what you think.

As always, I simply encourage other people to try things for themselves and make up their own minds.
 
I'm not going to debate subjective vs objective with you, there isn't any point. I truly do not care what you think.

As always, I simply encourage other people to try things for themselves and make up their own minds.

The feelings mutual... and when you have designed, or have the faintest idea how to design, as many power amps, pre amps, phono stages, head amps, PSU's etc etc as I have and had a lifetime as an electronic engineer specialising in hi fi gear them you may be in a position to explain the "obvious" complexities of connecting two terminals together with a piece of wire to me....
 
Good day from The Netherlands! There might be a lot to say about this topic. As with many topics in audio. And many opinions as well. I can only speak from what I hear when I sit back and listen. I have not much technical knowledge.

About single- and bi-wiring, there is something strange going on. When I connect my speakers in a bi-wire configuration, which is quite easy with Audio Quest Rocket 11 speakerwire, for there are four wires already put in, I definitely hear a bettering of the total soundpicture compared to single wire with good quality bridges. There is more 'depth' , more detail.
If this is 'true' or 'not true' is not important, this is what I hear.
But when i think about this, my brain (or my ears) deceive me. Because bi-wiring is fake. Eh, it is fake when using one amplifier with two terminals (left and right). Why, well, I'll try to explain. An amplifier can not think. Neighter can a cable. An amplifier just gushes all the signals it receives from the source connected to it into the loudspeaker wire. So, highs and lows mixed together. The division between these is not a matter of the amplifier, but of the filters in the loudspeaker. So, the division between 'high' and 'low' signals doesn't start at the beginning of the cable (where it leaves the amplifier), but at the end, there where it enters the loudspeaker. It is the filter that decides which signal to go where. If this might not be true, where do we install filters in loudspeakers for? Using a bi-wire configuration "passes by" the filters, and (merely) "eliminates" them, by suggesting that the filtering already occurs in the cable. This is nonsense, for a cable is just a transporter.

But the strange thing is that I definitely hear a (noticable) augmentation of the overall sound quality in a bi-wire configuration.

Please note: I am talking about a one-amp situation. With two amps (one for the highs and one for the lows), it is different.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Good day.

Ary
 
And another point is this. There are some more than excellent loudspeakers that are single-wired. Quad electrostatic ESL-57 never bothered the whole wiring thing. They just reproduce the music marvellously. And there are others.

But the same thing can be said about bi-wiring. There are loudspeakers that sound gorgeous when bi-wired.

So, it is a bit of a black box to me...
 
Hey Pig and Arkless I seem to be able to value both your opinions on hi-fi. So ta.
 


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