Bi-Wiring, is it still a "thing"?

[adamdea]

She's prejudiced, in my view. And what reasoned debate can you have with the prejudiced?

Perhaps best not to go off topic on this one, but I'm intrigued by what you say: her viewpoint seems to reflect her position in a very deep, very important and very serious rift in feminist thinking which is currently playing out in British universities and other institutions and is very much concerned with freedom of speech as well as inter alia ontology, the role if any of humanities in understanding science, the interpretation of early gender reassignment case studies, the legal concept of discrimination, the meaning of gender, fairness and competition.
The two striking things about this rift is that
1) it is already so intense that calm discussion is virtually impossible not least because one side (and conceivably both) has sought to define the very act of disagreement as a hate crime;
2) the general public is apparently unaware of it.
Whether your post is generated by 1) or 2), it seems equally ironic: I cannot think of an area where reasoned debate is more necessary* or more absent.
And back to ground plane bounce.

*albeit not on a hifi forum

 

[antinchip]

I have bi-wired my Tannoy speakers for many years since the speakers have bi-wire terminals. I have just recently bought some single wired vintage Tannoy speakers to try, so am just using one pair of conductors from each run of cable. I don't have any standard speaker cables of sufficient length to try. All sounds just fine, but I do wonder if I might be losing something via the now spare conductors. I would be interested in any thoughts.

Cheers

 

[mansr]

We are all waiting with bated breath.

I'm not. He's just throwing out random EE terms, presumably in the hope that one of them will stick.

 

[russel]

I'm not. He's just throwing out random EE terms, presumably in the hope that one of them will stick.

No, I am having difficulty understanding what you cannot understand, it’s just ohms law FFS.

 

[Timcat]

She's prejudiced, in my view. And what reasoned debate can you have with the prejudiced?

Anyway, I prefer active crossovers.

We should really end this off topic discussion here, but think on this.

Prejudice means the act of holding a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. How do you know that she holds her opinion on this basis without engaging her in reasoned debate (i.e., without at least asking her for her reasoning)? If you fail to take this step before dismissing her as prejudiced, would you not be guilty of being prejudiced yourself? I think you would be.

 

[jamwat]

way way back I've bi-wired Kef Ref 201 using Naim amps and this did make a difference and I tried bi-amping again using Naim but this made no difference at all.
I've not bi-wired since nor bi-amped.

 

[Thorn]

She's prejudiced, in my view. And what reasoned debate can you have with the prejudiced?

Anyway, I prefer active crossovers.

Is it your position that anyone who doesn't accept your views is prejudiced against whatever you are espousing? Could it possibly be you who can't have a reasoned debate?

 

[Arkless Electronics]

I made a long and detailed post on bi-wiring some time ago so won't recover old ground in the same detail again but basically if one keeps to the maxim I keep repeating on the subject of speaker cables ie keep them as short as possible and as thick as practical then nothing else matters really and any small benefits of biwiring will be negated.
Russel is correct BTW.

The longer and thinner the cable the worse it will be and the greater potential benefit from biwiring.

If it's that long and thin then there is potential for biwiring to alter frequency response etc unless the wiring is made thick enough to negate this... which then largely negates the reason for biwiring anyway! There may be some potential for "tuning to taste" here by using differing thicknesses of cable for LF and HF....

Unless the amplifier has a suitably low output impedance it's a complete waste of time anyway as the amps Zout will be so much greater than the cable resistance. Ergo, SS amps are the only ones likely to benefit.

I guess the biggest single problem with speaker cable in general is WAF! People often insist on it being hidden out of sight and end up with 10m or more cable in order to run it around walls/under carpets/in wall cavities/whatever and often further compromise it by using thin stuff for further aesthetic benefits... 3m of "welding cable" in a straight line from amp to speakers with power amp between speakers is the way to go!

 

[rontoolsie]

I suppose for those who use Naim power amps (which are always on the knife-edge of becoming an LCR oscillator) then bi-wiring will almost always make things worse. Paralleling the speaker wires will double the capacitance and half the inductance, which will make the power amp even less stable. My only attempt at this was biwiring a pair of Tukans with an chrome-bumper 250, which made them sound slight worse. But running them active with another 250 and an entry level IXO was a revelation.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

The output impedance of Naim amps is too high for it to be much use anyway. There is a 0.22R resistor between amp and output.

 

[MVV]

I suppose for those who use Naim power amps (which are always on the knife-edge of becoming an LCR oscillator) then bi-wiring will almost always make things worse. Paralleling the speaker wires will double the capacitance and half the inductance, which will make the power amp even less stable. My only attempt at this was biwiring a pair of Tukans with an chrome-bumper 250, which made them sound slight worse. But running them active with another 250 and an entry level IXO was a revelation.

a Naim dealer insisted I needed 3.5 metre cables each side then flogged me bi-wiring!

 

[rontoolsie]

a Naim dealer insisted I needed 3.5 metre cables each side then flogged me bi-wiring!

You would have thought he would have used the parallel LCR changes to his advantage and sold you 4 lengths of 10m wires.

 

[2N3055]

I said it before, the cable companies say you need to BUY-WIRE. They would wouldn't they. Then you need to TRY-WIRE!

 

[MVV]

You would have thought he would have used the parallel LCR changes to his advantage and sold you 4 lengths of 10m wires.

I’m sure he would have if he knew anything about it.

 

[Simon66]

Bi amping is definitely worth doing i think, however a 2 to 4 bi wire makes no difference, just my opinion

 

[Peter Finney]

Can’t say I’ve noticed a difference unless I bi-amp. Going for an integrated now, cut down on boxes

 

[Martyn Miles]

I said it before, the cable companies say you need to BUY-WIRE. They would wouldn't they. Then you need to TRY-WIRE!

Tri-wiring.
Now there’s a thought...

That could bring in the money for the companies making speaker cable.

 

[fegs]

@Arkless Electronics thanks for the detailed response, interesting read

 

[Tony L]

I’m delighted to say I no longer have a pair of speakers in the house that offer a bi-wire function. The only pair recent enough to, the Spendor S3/5R, have the good sense and common decency not to.

 

[garyi]

MBL, the manufacturers of my amps and speakers specify bi-wiring and they don’t make cables. The amps are configured with multiple and various output connectors to bi-wire when used in mono or stereo configuration, and the speakers with two sets of inputs not close to each other.

Based on this I’d say on the benefits of bi-wiring “it depends on your system”

I don't know man. The manufacturers of your amps and speakers put in a 'power boost' switch, with its own socket! Now it does not specify 11, but I think it should. Otherwise it's full of bull along with its bi wire nonsense.