If Bi-Wiring is an option, should I choose Bi-wiring over single banana with free jumpers


Hello All!

Newbie here : ) I have a pair of speakers (MartinLogan Motion 40i) that have, according to the website, "dual five-way binding post speaker terminals which allow bi-amping or bi-wiring." As you can see in the top right photo of the speaker terminals in this link, the speakers came with free jumpers (the jumpers look like just a sheet of conductive metal) between the 4 terminals. 

https://www.martinlogan.com/en/product/motion-40i

So when purchasing speaker cables, placing the best quality connection over cost, should I:

1. (Cheapest) Get single banana plugs and use the included free jumpers, or

2. (More costly but will it be WAY better?) Get Bi-wire speaker cables and remove the free jumpers.

3. Get single banana plugs, and find some high quality jumpers to replace the free included jumpers.

If it doesnt matter much to sound quality, it seems option #1 is best as its cheapest. However my goal is to get the best/most efficient connection so i suspect options #2 or #3 might be the way to go? 

Many thanks for any advice!

 

steve_a001

@westcoastaudiophile I do not know if your inquiry was directed to me.  IMHO you cannot shield an unshielded chunk of copper supplied as a jumper by the extinct Apogee Acoustics as I described and by Martin Logan as @steve_a001 describes.  These are best suited for the metal recycle bin.   That is why I recommended buying an audiophile cable equal to or better than your speaker cable.  

One technical issue I forgot to mention.  Bi-wiring effectively reduces wire gage a few units.   The reason is that an effectively larger diameter has less inductance since  it has a larger cross-sectional area, allowing current to flow more easily and creating a weaker magnetic field around it.  When bi-wiring with a cable designed with very low inductance, reducing inductance further by bi-wiring may contribute to amplifier stability issue, potentially leading to oscillation and ringing.  I actually made this mistake.   Goetz Alphacore was well regarded in the Absolute Sound in the late 90s.  I bi-wired my Apogees with their M1 cable, a low inductance design.  It caused my Krell KSA300s to oscillate, triggering the protection circuit on turn on.   Goetz graciously let me return their product with no restocking fee that time.   Just assure you do not use a very low inductance cable, or ask your amp mfg. for input if you bi-wire   

 

I have not seen the Martin Logan jumpers, but I do have jumpers on my KEF Reference 1 speakers and on a pair of Mordaunt Short floor-standers.  These are flat metal, possibly plated copper, but far bigger in cross section than any speaker cable!  In effect they are two big spade connectors in tandem - no other connection, plating, wire, crimping or solder.  To my mind, it does not matter how many 9s there are in a replacement 'jumper cable', it cannot possibly have lower resistance than the original jumpers.

Can't comment on bi-wiring ....

Bi-wiring makes no difference, The back EMF isolation theory is complete nonsense because the crossover already keeps those currents away from the MF and HF drivers. The larger gauge wire claim makes no sense either, because the second pair of wires isn't connected to the woofer except maybe by a common ground if in the unlikely case the crossover was wired that way.

Bi-Amping is a different story. Properly done with a low-level crossover before the amps and bypassing the woofer passive crossover elements, eliminating the series resistance (and consequent loss of woofer damping) and hysteresis (delay between input and output) inherent in a series inductor will make a very noticeable improvement, as well as increasing the systems dynamic range by as much as 6dB.

This is basic electro-physics 101.