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Why bi-wiring is bad

From a link at the Chris Van-Haus website:
THE DISADVANTAGE WITH BI-WIRE

One thing that happens when you biwire your loudspeakers is that the input of the high- and the low-pass filters are fed with different input signals. The difference is a result of the high frequencies and the low frequencies being forced to travel different paths, perhaps through different types of cables, but under all circumstances through cables who have seen different loads (a tweeter with a high pass filter has a completely different impedance response compared to a woofer with a low pass filter!).

What happens is that the drivers will work less good together than when their filter halves were fed with equal signals. The result is a generation of more static and stochastic phase error sounds at different directions from the loudspeaker. The stochastic phase error sounds appear because there may be different types of unlinearities in the low- and high-frequency paths.

What does this sound like? Well, usually, just as you may expect from physics, it appears as a change in the reproduction of space and sound stage. Often, the first impression is that the "biwired" sound presents extended "dimensions", more "air", and is more "living". The impression after a week or month, however, is that all recordings sound very much alike, and the "airiness" appears on all records. It does not even sound like air anymore, instead more like a slime that pollutes every record you play. No wonder, since it is not a real, recorded quality but a "speaker characteristic" added to all reproduced material. "Sameness" is another word for it.

I just went back to bi-wiring over the weekend. The first thing I noticed was cymbal-like instruments shimmer much more. Secondly the bass now seemed to be less perhaps due to the greater high frequency information.
On orchestra music the orchestra is now well behind the speakers instead of right at the speaker. Like the article said, this may be a phase or time shift error and the depth may become wearing over time.
Finally there is slighlty better separation between instruments. It's easier to pick out each instrument.
cdc
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I have never been able to bring myself to believe the commonly-heard explanation that biwiring somehow reduces or eliminates an alleged modulation of the mid/treble frequencies supposedly caused by the back-EMF of the woofer. In fact, the whole "back-EMF modulation" concept has a stink of implausability about it to me, but I'm not expert enough (actually, at all) to really know why I suspect this. There's just a 'lift yourself up by your own bootstraps' air about the concept.

Besides, it doesn't seem as if the amplifier is 'seeing' anything different in biwiring, other than the extra set of cables. I tend to believe it is simply just the presence of this additional wire that results in any sonic change. But then again, I'm a Thiel owner, so what the hell do I know? (Saves on cable costs, tho'...)
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
some users will apparently seem to benefit sonically when biwiring while others may not, or may even seem to experience a degradation. Karls has a good handle on the situation; it is a simple synergy issue.
It's like I bring a cable or a component who's sound I prefer at my house over to your house. It may be more compatible, less compatible, or possibly (but doubtfully) even sound the same as used with your own cables or electronics.
The "problem" that biwiring attacks is *cable intermodulation*, which is not caused by reflected power (networked cables can take care of that issue) but by the *forward power* of all frequencies traveling the same path simultaneously. Intermodulation is a real & measurable phenomenon & it is significantly reduced by biwiring.
I am not taking up an argument here with CDC's reported results, what you heard is certainly what you heard. That experience cannot however be carried over to any other rig unless the physical makeup is completely identical.
chazzbo
1,007 posts
 
It would seem that bi-amping will create the desired effects that some ascribe wrongly to bi-wiring.I have heard the first step in more than one hi-end system followed by the installation of a matching amp where theresults that one wants come forth.
natalie
404 posts
 
Go read Martin Dewoulf of Bound for Sound, Israel Blume Coincident, and many other will state the facts. Bi wire is a not anything more than a way for cable companies to sell two cables.
If you are bi amping thats legit and works.
I had my speakers changed over to single wire. Drastic improvment in the sound.
Less is more in Audio
2001impala's avatar
2001impala
102 posts
 
I have difficulty embracing this idea. As we all know electricity follows the path of least resistance. Thus, to suggest that it is "forced" seems to be no more than melodrama, the manner in which many people elect to prove the various versions of "The word of God" is a classic example of this.

I am curious, does anyone know of a speaker in which the cables are not split into four or six leads between the terninal and the crossover? Please explain the difference. Would not one bennifit, by bi-wiring, due to the fact creating different signal paths lowers the over all electro magnetic field in which various frequencies have to contend with (split between two cables).

However, correct me if I'm wrong. The point expressed about choosing to use different types of cables makes scents, because various cables tend to accentuate certain frequencies or sonic characteristics. Thus, your uotcome would be unusaully colored program material.

Please pardon my ignorance,

Damon
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