Biwire questions - Best cable for

Dunlavy Speakers which are all capable of bi-wire told me there makes no difference in bi-wiring and to save my money. He also told me that the amp does more work to run 2 cables than 1 and may degrade the signal. I guess he would know

Snook, may I direct to Vanderstein Speaker site where they have in depth explanation of their experiments with bi-wire and why it improves sound in speakers designed for bi-wire use: http://www.vandersteen.com/pages/Answr7.htm This is very in depth article, and expands on comments by myself and Bob.....Sam

Thanks Megasam read the Vandersteen article. It amazes me how far apart the great speaker designers can be. Dunlavy is a major designer of cables and still is opposite of the Vandersteen ideas.

Speaker designers are as divergent in philosophy as any in audio. Bi - wire versus not, 1st order crossovers vs 4th order(and even simple vs complex within those), inert cabinets vs reactive(this will be coming to the forefront), many drivers vs few drivers, easy to drive vs difficult, dynamic vs esl, low impedence vs high, etc. While many can make good sound, there is no absolute. With all that has supposedly learned over the years in this hobby, what has REALLY been learned? We now have designs that break all the "rules", and many claim they have the best sound they have heard. Maybe we should start a new thread to share ideas on this topic...

I have good news for you. There seems to be no good reason whatsoever to bi-wire! I just received my latest edition of the Bound for Sound report in which its head honcho, Martin De Wulf, has published an article entitled, "Down With Bi-Wiring." Apparently, Marty has had a recent revelation and essentially contends that the very things bi-wiring is purported to accomplish are wholly negated by the fact that the wires nevertheless come together at the speaker terminals. Hence, he says, "...what's the difference if they come together at the back of your amp, or just inside the loudspeaker? Nothing! And don't think that you are accomplishing something with four sets of terminals on the back of the amplifier. They're all connected once they get inside the amp---No Advantage!" He further states, "...there was a time when I was on the bi-wire bandwagon. I stuck it out because of the terrible performance when the ubiquitous brass plated jumpers were used to tie the terminals together. Of course bi-wiring sounded good in comparison to those wretched things." He points out for those who are unaware, that the solution is a simple one. Typically, speakers have a plastic cup that houses the speaker terminals. Simply remove the screws securing it to the speakers, unhook one set of the internal cables and then hook them up to the other set, close it all back up, and that's it. He concludes that he's started to do some A/B testing (just 3 sets of speakers so far) and has yet to hear a pair of speakers that sounded better bi-wired. ---------------------By coincidence, (although I too have been bi-wiring for ages) I've recently been wondering about/questioning the whole reasoning behind bi-wiring myself. Reading Marty's article therefore spurred me into immediate action---performing the minor "surgery" on a pair of Stratus Gold i's. And I have to say, the results are truly amazing. That ridiculously simple mod, in conjunction with a SINGLE cable run yielded results that I would quantify as being better that a component upgrade. But please don't take my word for it. I expect there will be MANY a nay-sayer, but why not just try it out for yourself. You may find your results are worse/better/nil. The one thing that is for certain though, is that there is absolutely NOTHING to loose! If you are lucky, you might just happen to find you can afford to buy yourself a single-run of speaker cable that is TWICE as good as what you thought you'd have to spend to get a bi-wire pair. Good Listening!