What is Monoblock/Dual Mono/Bi-wiring?


I am really new to this beautiful yet confusing world of Hi-Fi audio.

Recently, as I was searaching for an amplifier/pre-amp, I keep running into these words MonoBlocks and Dual Monoblocks and Bi-wiring.
Can anyone kindly explain what they are and if & why they are good for better sound?
sjc0888
Here you go.

Monoblock - this is the opposite of a stereo amp. A stereo amp has two channels of output: a left output and a right output. A monoblock has only one. You need two identical monoblocks to form a stereo pair, and monoblocks, because of this, are generally priced in pairs.

Dual Monoblock - A stereo amp that takes advantage of some of the benefits of the monoblock configuration. Monoblocks are better because the channels are completely isolated: they are sometimes many feet away from each other. No electrical intereference can be had between channels in this configuration. A "Dual monoblock" design houses two independent amps into a single chassis, providing seperate power supplies for each channel and shielding the two channels from each other.

Bi-wiring - This has nothing to do with amps, only speakers. Some speakers have two sets of binding posts on the back of them. One set is for the tweeter/midrange, the other for the woofer. When a single run of speaker cable is used, these two sets are jumpered together. Bi-wiring uses two independent runs of cable for each set of jumpers, with the cables connect to the same set of terminals on the amp. The advantages of this are lengthy to explain, but it can create better sound through an unexplainable phenomenon where as the signal effective splits itself into high/low components in the wire, acting as a sort of pre-crossover. Hope this helps. Cheers!
Note: "Purest" bi-wiring separates the tweeter from the midrange/woofer whose "backwaves" can corrupt the delicate high frequencies on their way to the tweeter. Some (most?) speakers do include the midrange with the tweeter, however. Make sure to check and see what's-what, when buying speakers, if you plan to bi-amp for bass control, etc...