Vandersteen and NOT BI WIRE---Your thoughts

I have Vandersteen 5s and use what is commonly referred to as Double Bi-Wire (DBW). To be honest, I've never considered anything else, because as Stringreen says, it's what Vandersteen recommends. I've spoken with Richard V (once) and in that conversation got an impression of a no-nonsense guy who gives good advice. Specifically, I asked a question that implied having to spend more dough, and essentially was told, "save your money." Given that perspective, I don't think he'd recommend DBW if he didn't feel there was a distinct advantage. . . but I reiterate I haven't tested the alternative! Been perfectly happy with a pair of Audioquest Pikes Peaks.

If you like it go with it!!!!!

My 5As are single biwired*. I use Sonic Craft's 4-conductors-per-frequency-band formula, and the system sounds VERY good. SC's Jeffrey Glowacki recommends and sells Neotec solid-conductor, OCC-copper and OCC-silver (in Teflon) wire, with double strands of 18g. copper (= 15g. per positive or neutral) on the lower frequencies and one 18g. copper and one 23g. silver (= c. 17-1/2g.) on the high frequencies. I wound my first sets of these types of cables for my highly improved Audio Physic Avanti IIIs but had him wind the pair for the 5As, as arthritis in my hands makes if very difficult for me to get a tight-enough wind. I terminated these with AQ direct-silver-over-copper spades and then wound some 24g. conductors within and also around the 2 bundles to create a dielectric-bias system (copied from AQ). This cable is indeed more transparent than the combination of AQ Rocket88-plus-added-Neotec I started the 5As with.

I believe there is some advantage of keeping the upper-frequency and lower-frequency magnetic fields separated, and I also believe that conductor size and material can be wisely chosen for high- v. low-frequency signals.

BUT...if you system sounds good to you, use what you have.

BTW, if I were to start over with factory-finished speakercable, I'd choose AQ's Comet, one of their double-bundle, 'Flat Rock'-series cables that uses 3 copper conductors and 1 silver conductor per frequency bundle.

http://www.audioquest.com/

* Personally, I think having 2 pairs of spades under the amp's bindingposts would sound worse than having one pair feeding both sets of conductors, but I'm no GEA so probably couldn't hear any differences. :-)
.

I'm using Audioquest Slate in a bi-wire configuration, with small spades on the speaker ends (terminated by Audio Advisor). The Audioquest has the runs in the same jacket, but the quad configuration should ensure that there is little magnetic interaction between the runs. Sounds great to me.

FWIW, Daverz's Slate and the Comet I mentioned are both members of AQ's Flat Rock series. In that configuration, the hi-frequency and the lo-frequency bundles of conductors--2 pairs each--are separated maybe a half-inch, in a sort-of-zipcord configuration. Rocket88 is about the same but is less expensive.

Blues..., if you continue to single-wire, understand that the jumpers you use should be of high quality copper, etc.

And as far as taking your system to the next level, as I wrote before, I'd use AQ Comet OR order the 'SoniCraft OCC Special'. There IS a difference in sound quality among speakercables, and either of these will get you closer to the highest degree of transparency.

BTW if you're interested in trying the 4-foot Rocket88-plus-OCC combo cables, I'll sell them for the replacement cost of the OCC conductors, which would be $73, plus shipping. (That means the Rocket88 raw cable and the silver-over-copper spades are free.) E-mail me at jeffreybehr(at)cox(dot)net if you're interested.
.