Perhaps not, and of course there isn't a standard, but the amplifier output originates from a single positive pole and a single negative pole. Therefore, assuming only a small L/C/R effect from the speaker cables, is not the relative current draw at each crossover board determined by the drivers and crossover components and not whether it arrives at the speaker by means of a single pair of positive/negative wires or two pairs of wires in a bi-wire configuration?
Mitch2
Mitch2, it's not as simple as you make it out to be. Yes, current is single-ended when it comes out of the amplifier (altho' several Ayre amplifier designs are fully differential outputs) but it's not just running current into the speaker x-over. It's also a lot to do with the impedances the x-over circuit creates & whether or not the speaker designer wants to introduce a highly variable parameter from the speaker wires (it's R, L, C) & the amplifier output impedance (remember tube output impedance is much higher than s.s. output impedance. thus tube amps have a different effect on the x-over than s.s. amps).
A picture is worth a 1000 words. take a look at these pics that I've uploaded for you viewing. These pix are courtesy of Arthur C Ludwig Sr - from his article on this subject.
https://picasaweb.google.com/106074825717940223133/SpeakerCrossOverCircuits?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLa8tuTSmPLALg&feat=directlinkif you are using a parallel x-over topology it's easy to see how we can have 2 pairs of speaker binding posts.
What happens when we use the series toplogy? How do you break that circuit & provide 2 pair of binding posts? And, the speaker designer can definitely decide to use the series topology as that might be better for his speaker design. In the series topology the x-over components provide a very controlled impedance at each node that can be upset if an external entity (like a speaker cable or a power amplifier - tube or ss) is suddenly introduced into the network. In such a case it would ruin the speaker response.
am i making any sense? Or am i talking thru my hat here?