Biwiring: can you really hear the difference?

With most speakers, bi-wiring will lead to an improvement in sound quality (assuming they are set up for true bi-wiring) -- sometimes a substantial improvement. Richard Vandersteen has discussed in several audio mag interviews (and, I think, on the Vandy website) that the advantage to true bi-wiring (not so-called "shotgun" bi-wiring) is keeping the electrical fields of the low frequencies completely separate from the mid/high frequencies. His own research on bi-wiring, which led to his decision to use bi-wiring on the 2Ce, 3A, and 3A Signature speakers, indicated that it is this separation of the electro-magnetic fields that causes the improvement in the sound quality, rather than anything attributable to separation of the crossover elements.

Big difference - especially if you can "shotgun" bi-wire. That means running a second speaker cable to your other speaker input - in other words 4 runs of speaker cable, not two.

Depends on the system, sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Let's be more precise: Biwiring increases per/unit capacitance of the cable. If your amp can take high capacitance loads than it will improve especially bass. It's great to play with two different sets of speaker wires/cables rather than selecting one brand bi-wired.

I have used jumpers and I have bi-wired. The bi-wiring offered a much improved musical presentation. For the relatively small investment it's worth the effort. Try it!