Do you Bi-Wire, if you can?

My suggestion to try connecting bi-wired speakers with jumpers at the speaker terminals was intended as a way for folks with bi-wire cables and dual speaker terminals to easily hear the effect of single-wiring their speakers. Some might say running the bi-wire cables to the two terminals and then connecting (the two positive terminals and the two negative terminals) at the binding posts with jumpers would be better than single wiring the speakers, since the magnetic field from the woofer signal would be separated from the MF/HF cable right up to the binding posts. Advocates of bi-wiring usually say separating the woofer's magnetic field from the higher frequencies is the primary advantage of bi-wiring while opponents sometimes quote a lack of coherence and phase issues. I wonder if the jumpers might improve on the coherence/phase issues?

09-22-15: Mitch2
Some might say running the bi-wire cables to the two terminals and then connecting (the two positive terminals and the two negative terminals) at the binding posts with jumpers would be better than single wiring the speakers, since the magnetic field from the woofer signal would be separated from the MF/HF cable right up to the binding posts.

Yes, some might say that, Tim (Mitch2), but they would be wrong. Per the second paragraph of my previous post, in that situation both the low frequency content of the signal and the high frequency content of the signal would divide up between the two sets of conductors in approximately equal amounts.

Therefore, assuming good contact integrity for all of the connections that are involved, whatever sonic differences may occur between single wiring and biwiring with twice as many similar wires but with jumpers in place are likely to mainly be the result of the factor of two difference in resistance and inductance that results. With the magnitude and character of the resulting sonic difference being dependent on the impedance characteristics of the particular speakers that are being used.

Best regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al for the explanation... I see better the circuit.

Mofi, I used biwire cables with my previous Infinity Reference 60's, Renaissance 90's & later, Marten Coltrane Alto's. With my Ref 60's, I initially ran Audioquest single wires with the factory gold plated jumper plates before upgrading to Audioquest Slate biwire cables. I'm sure I heard a tad bit more resolution and space, though i'm not sure how much of that owed to the higher quality Slate cable.

My current Magico S5's are single wire only. So wnen I stepped up to the S5's I traded up my old Jorma Prime biwire cables for Jorma Statement single wires. Interestingly, Jorma Kosky found a single run of Statement sounded better than Prime biwires! That is because one pair Prime biwire and One Pair Statement single wire with jumpers costs about the same, but with higher sound quality so it is lower in price/performance.

It sure would be easier if there were "standards" in the audio world, like providing only a single pair of binding posts on speakers. Like most things in this hobby, it can be difficult separating product features designed for better sound from those designed for better sales, with the only true test being how it sounds.

I suspect more than a few speaker manufacturers jumped on the bi-wire bandwagon simply so they would not be left behind and their products thought to be inferrior. If they were really interested in better sound, they would include higher quality jumpers than those crappy metal jumpers that come with even relatively high-priced speakers.

I have achieved the best results in my system by keeping cable runs short and heavy on the copper. Although I am currently bi-wiring my speakers, my speaker cables are only 1M long and consist of a double run of 10 awg vintage WE wire, resulting the best sound I have heard with my current speakers.