To bi-wire or not to bi-wire?

I have found biwiring to make an obvious difference in my system. However, I do agree with the reports of many people who say that it is system dependent.

I disagree with comments that it is based on junk science. If it is, then why does it work for many people?

As to whether it makes sense from an engineering standpoint, I have no comment because biwiring is based on science, not engineering. They're two different disciplines although obviously related. By the way, from an engineering standpoint, bumblebees can't fly. New engineering students in universities are often presented with this in order to challenge them not to be too dogmatic or closed minded when studying, analyzing and experimenting.

The speaker designer has provided two sets of binding posts for biwiring possibilities so they think it might be effective. Their opinion might be worth something. It may or may not work depending on other variables in your system; however, it's worth an experiment. Even with cheap, inexpensive cables, I have found it to be effective. So you might try borrowing some cables to give it a try. If it works, great. It's a cheap upgrade. If it doesn't, no harm done. It's part of the fun of the hobby.

Biamping should certainly produce an improvement too. However, my opinion is that passive biamping is not cost effective unless it is an intermediary step to active biamping.

Biwiring is explained scientifically on the Vandersteen website. It works, given that you use seperate (not jacketed) cables for the lows and highs.

Biwiring is explained scientifically on the Vandersteen website

A theory is proposed...low frequency high power signals induce noise on high frequency low power signals. It is hardly science though.

Given the low impedances of speaker loads and amplifier outputs it seems unlikely that noise can be induced in speaker wires that would be at all audible.

Of course, there is some ground truth, if you run unshielded line level signal wires next to some AC power cables feeding an airconditioner then it is quite likely you will pick up some noise...but this is because of the very low levels of signal at line level and the fact that termination impedances are around 10K Ohm - meaning that tiny stray induced currents may actually produce audible noise - even allowing you to pick up interference from a radio station or a ham radio perhaps..

A more logical explanation for reported observations may be caused by unecessarily wide bandwidth amplifiers of the sort that amplify flat up to 200 KHz - instabilities in amps of this type (with large amounts of feedback) might be affected by the slight change in cable inductance that biwiring would bring versus a conventional speaker wire. (Why anyone needs an amp flat to 200 KHz for audio reproduction is rather bewildering, however, specifications like this might make a buyer think the amp is "better" than one which rolls off above 20 KHZ - so they sell - the same way that damping factors of 1000 sell...)

I've found the differences to be subtle, even with separate runs. However if you're after the best sound possible and the $ is inconsequential it does make an improvement (IMHO). If you're on a budget, you should evaluate whether that $ could make a bigger impact elsewhere in your system.

As to the idea of the amplifier seeing a different impedance from biwiring vs not biwiring, any way you draw the circuit, the amplifier sees the same impedance. Likewise, biwire or not, both drivers see the same signal from the amplifier. Shardone's transmission line theory offers a plausable explanation for changing the impedance as seen by the amplifier (at high frequencies) but does not provide for an explanation as to a difference in the individual speaker circuits as seen by the amplifier- in other words the change is macro affecting everything. Now, the induced noise theory offered, from coupling low frequency noise (probably 60 Hz) does offer a plausable explanation for different effects on the respective drivers, assuming that the coupling is different for each set of wires, because that theory essentially inserts different sources in each leg (Nice theories by the way) I don't think this is the intended goal of biwiring though. I checked out all of the online explanations of the biwire effects that I could find but could not find one that demonstrated the effects through an analysis. If there is an explanation why not show it with a step by step circuit analysis with reasonable lumped components - i.e. not assuming that the speaker wires are ideal conductors. That is how the rest of the engineering community explains such things. Seems easier and more convincing. Kind of hard to argue with math (actual math that is, not referrals to math terms).