2. cables
  3. 167869-11005

I really could use some help here.....

This is a hopefully finely detailed question that gives the people who are seriously trying to help me all the info they need to answer this question which is about cables, routing and speaker connections. Hopefully I can explain it well enough that someone can tell me what I have done.

The connections are ONLY RCA jacks and banana clips. That's all. Let me describe how I have wired things.

Source signal is from an OPPO Digital BDP-105 running to the CD input on my preamp via RCA jacks. Simple.

The signal leaves my preamp via Preamp Out connectors, also RCA jacks, and runs to my Sunfire SDS-12 subwoofer which has two line level RCA jacks for input so you can make use of the hi pass filter built in. That is the easy part, here is where it gets tricky ( for my understanding anyway...this is where I need your help in understanding the circuit I created  and if it makes any difference at all ).

The signal leaves the Subwoofer via the RCA jacks using the Subwoofer Out connections and goes to my RCA jack inputs on my amplifier ( all this makes sense to me so far, here is where I need help understanding )...the amplifier has banana clips for the connections to the speakers. RIGHT THERE, I change things. I have Monitor Audio speakers that can be bi-wired or bi-amped and when I bought them, the fellow through in a pricey set of cables allowing me to do that ( this is BEFORE I added the subwoofer to the system  ) so the signal finally leaves my amp via 2 banana jacks and arrives and terminates at my speakers in with 4 banana jacks and plugged in using the bi-wire configuration. Am I clear in describing this, Christ I hope so.

If I am, can anyone tell me what that that circuit looks like sonically, what's going on with all the other connections, what the Hell am I hearing? 

In short, I originally had just normal preamp/amplifier connections then bi-wire straight to the speakers.

Now I have introduced that subwoofer pathway into the signal path between preamp and amplifier? I'd love serious explanation on what that did, if anything, to the signal. My hope was that it was going to make the subwoofer and amplifier more in sync than if I'd run a separate connection from my second Preamp Out to the subwoofer. This way it's all in one signal path. So, is this the optimum way to set this up? Or have I screwed this up somewhere and it should be connected a different way?

Thank you so much!

For others, please stop calling my gear "junk" and I should sell it all and by REL. You're not helping any and you're giving a bad reputation to Audiogon people who are seriously trying to help me.

Components
1993 B&K Sonota ST-202+ amplifier fully refurbished
1993 B&K Sonata Pro-10 MC preamp
2008 Monitor Audio Silver RS8 speakers
OPPO Digital BDP-105 Blu ray player
2018 Sunfire SDS-12 subwoofer

I hope I've given enough information for people smarter than me to tell me if I have things connected in the best fashion and I'm hoping someone will take a few moments to answer.

Thank you.

j


Please do not pop in to suggest I spend $6,000 on all new gear while insulting me. This is what I have to work with so that's how it will stay. Thank you.

stereoisomer
itsjustme
682 posts
 
In general bi-wiring means that you can run independent wires to the tweeter and woofers.  It is different from bi-amping in that no additional filters are added - the entire signal goes to both.  I fail to see the benefit frankly.
Anyhooo.  You have put the signal through a high pass filter int he subwoofer, and the entire HPF'd signal goes through both wires  - split to both the tweeters and woofers.  The signal below (about) 100Hz remains at the subwoofer.
So the only things that changes are:
1. one more filter in the path2. Added subwoofer performance3. Speaker's woofers or woof/mid are relieved of the below-100 Hz (or whatever) material - therefore less stressed and less modulation of midrange on very low, long waves of low bass.
Ought to be good.
A schematic would be some much easier to follow, but i'm not going to figure out how to scan and insert a scetch. :-)

G


dwmaggie
222 posts
 
If it sounds good to you, then it is right.  What you have is a LeaverRite.  LeaverRight there, you are done.
allenf1963
364 posts
 
@stereoisomer ,

Congratulations, my Audio Brother!  Maybe it was in the way you laid out the parameters of your question, the clear and precise details given, or perhaps simply how you adamantly made it known up front that toxic members need not reply:
"For others, please stop calling my gear "junk" and I should sell it all and by REL. You're not helping any and you're giving a bad reputation to Audiogon people who are seriously trying to help me."
Whatever magic you posses, I hope that it spreads across the Audiogon Message Board faster than the COVID-19 Delta Variant!  Your question and reply thread is one of the first discussiona I've read on Audiogon since I became a member where every response was positive and helpful, and void of the usual Toxic Asswipes that enjoy spewing their "Holier Than Thou Pabulum" every chance they get. 

By the wording of your question, you know who and what behavior I'm talking about.  It's a real pitiful shame that Audio fans new to the hobby, or seasoned Audiophiles that just don't have the depth of knowledge others here posses, have to politely ask not to be trashed, mocked or ridiculed when asking a question.  Hopefully in the future, the thus far "Silent Majority" will start calling out the toxic keyboard warriors.  However, based on recent actions that are becoming more and more common, I expect that Admin will simply delete and censure any threads that "rock the boat" against certain members. 

I'm glad that you got some very solid advice on your wiring  conundrum!

Cheers.


asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,706 posts
 
....what interests me about bi-wiring, and the discussions it generates...

2 cables of a hopefully 'identical' type, gauge, et al....properly fused together @ both ends into a common connector type...

Why would/should an electron with no known preference in a waveform created by untold quintillions of its' like end up in a particular cable?

Now, if half of the pair is of a different type, then one can state that claim...imho.

Now....extending this into cables in general, one can also claim that X 'sounds better/worse' than N, Q, CBGB.....

I concur that, Yes, there Is a difference.

I call it 'Inadvertent EQ'; changing an item that may have better in the first place but perceived as 'not so much'....and basically driven by prefered perception of perfection.

...but I'm just advocating the devil...;)
hartf36's avatar
hartf36
208 posts
 
Don't let anyone tell you your B&K gear is "junk".  My EX-442 Sonata makes my Maggies sing. 

Literally.
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