Bi-wire cable versus 2 sets of cable

Thtman the "main" reason for bi-wire is not to lower resistance, but to reduce distortion in treble and midrange. The high freq cable no longer has to handle magnetic fields caused by the higher current needed to produce bass signal. This is also why double run is preferable to internal bi-wire as it better isolates high freq from distortion. Best of all worlds is bi-amp and bi-wire set-up. Avguy also makes good point that speaker cables should in general be kept reasonably short.

Some, but not all, of the above replies are misleading. There are no hard and fast rules regarding bi-wiring. The best advice I can offer is to listen carefully, without preconceptions. For some speaker/wire/amp combinations, bi-wiring is clearly the way to go. For other combinations it's a waste of money. For what it's worth, in my system I bi-wire and use double runs of cable.

Thanks everyone for your responses. It sounds like double-runs are the way to go if you can afford it. I like the idea of the same brand for each run with a more expensive one for the mids/highs and lower priced one (if must be) for the bottom octaves. Thanks again.........

Hello. Megasam above is correct. What happens when a speaker is able to be biwired but isn't is that the woofer, with it's bigger magnet and higher power requiremnts, tries to ram it's signal back down the tweeters throat, so to speak, something referred to as back EMF. This causes distortion. Biwire them, or better yet, if cost doesn't bother you, biamping is the best. Remember, however, that one good amp biwired will be better than two mediocre ones biamped. Experiment as much as you can, and good luck.