bi-wire vs jumpers

What speakers are you using? As pointed out above, some speakers, even though they have dual binding posts, are not really designed to be bi-wired. I recall reading somewhere, for example, that John Dunlavy did not recommend bi-wiring, but he supplied dual sets of binding posts to satisfy the market.

My speakers require tri-wiring; I do that with a bi-wire speaker cable and jumpers from the manufacturer of the speaker cable. Haven't done much experimenting, as I either had a single speaker cable with two jumpers or the biwire with one jumper, and the change to biwiring involved a different cable manufacturer's product. So I can't say for sure that one way is better than the other. I think Al's posts are probably the best summary of what you're going to find in these forums. If you can afford to bi-wire and your speakers will take it, I'd suggest rolling the dice with a biwire in order to relieve any angst you might have. You could then compare the speakers fully bi-wired vs. using one part of the biwiring plus a jumper and report your findings to us!

thank you all for your inputs, and the additional links to more opinions. I wasn't expecting a definite answer to it, but it's all good info. Al's comment, agreed

@Jmcgrogan2, I can only wish.

@Rcprince, the speakers are Paradigm S1v3(pbt) -(I live in a small apartment). I ordered a pair of CC Diamond Piccolo's single ended. I'll stick with jumpers for the time being, but I'm very curious about bi-wiring, and should get a set of bi-wire splitters eventually. if I do, I'll duly report my personal preference.

cheers!

Neither, I use 2 separate runs and it makes a HUGE difference in MY system.

Neither - shotgun is the absolute best way to go. It's not cheap, which is why it's not talked about alot but, if you have a system worthy - it will pay it's dividends.

Talk is cheap - I actually have done this on several systems, including my current one.

depends on various things and mainly on:

(1) the effect on your speakers (one size does NOT fit all)
(2) how far up the food chain are the speaker cables selected. The better the cable, the less favouritism toward bi-wiring. For example, on the CHORD website, CHORD is migrating away from 2 to 4 bi-wiring in favour of single runs with jumpers:

Bye Bye Bi-wire?

We have taken the decision to discontinue our range of dedicated bi-wire cables. The reason being, that in the vast majority of cases we believe that the best, and more importantly the most musical performance is obtained by using the best quality single wire speaker cable that falls within your budget, rather than a bi-wire cable of the same cost.

see website at www.chord.co.uk/products.php?pg=242