2. cables
  3. 1077644291

Cobalt cable theory on bi-wiring. Fact or fiction?

The follow was taken from colbalt cables web site. I was just wondering what those with more knowledge and experience think of this theory? If the theory is sound, it will save alot of people some money for more component upgrades. "Bi-wiring is a technique becoming quite popular in speaker applications. However, in our opinion, there are only a few situations where bi-wiring makes sense and MANY situations where bi-wiring is just hype. Here is what we think the complete story is about bi-wiring, and why it really does not make any sense for most people's equipment. The simple explanation for why the advantages of bi-wiring are very slight or nonexistent is that most people only have speakers built for bi-wiring, while their amplification is not. By using the same amplifier channel for both sets of bi-wire cables (both sets are connected to the same binding posts on the amplifier or receiver), the same electrical path is being used for both sets of terminals on each speaker, thus negating the core advantages of bi-wiring.

For example, most bi-wireable (we invented a new word) speakers come with some sort of plate or bar that connects the two (+) and the two (-) terminals (one for high frequency and one for low frequency) to each other. By using these plates or bars, you are "bridging" the two sets of terminals together creating only one connection point, so that you only need to make one speaker connection to each speaker.

By using the same amplifier channel (and terminals) for each set of bi-wire terminals on your speakers, you would be bridging the two sets of terminals together with your amplifier (since they share the same connection point on the amplifier). From an electrical perspective, this is NO different than running one speaker cable to the speaker, and bridging the two sets of terminals together with the bar or plate.

But wait, there's more! If you act now... (just kidding).

The only advantage in most setups (only speakers built for bi-wiring) for bi-wiring would be using twice as much physical wire (two separate runs to each speaker, thus dropping three gauge) as a standard wiring configuration.
However, if you are already using a fairly low gauge speaker cable (like our 10 AWG Ultimate Speaker Cable), there is little to be gained by "doubling-up". Plus, the added expense of running twice as much speaker cable for a barely audible (at best) difference, probably does not make too much sense.

The funny thing is, bi-wiring is actually a sound theory (pun intended, HA!), but the advantages can really only be had when it is used in conjunction with bi-amping (running more than one amplifier channel per speaker). In order to bi-amp the "right way", an external crossover between the preamplifier and each amplifier channel will be needed (so that only the high-frequency or the low-frequency parts of the signal will be amplified), and the internal crossovers inside the speakers will need to be disconnected (so that each amplifier will go directly to the corresponding speaker driver, i.e. the woofer for low frequency and the tweeter for high-frequency). WHEW! We personally don't know of too many people who will go to these extremes to take advantage of the benefits of bi-wiring, so bi-wiring just ends up getting WAY more attention than it should. We think that you should know what some of these other companies are up to out there. Straight-up and at ya partner."




dbx
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Zaikesman...True that Impedance (not just resistance) matters. However, low resistance is a big step in the right direction, and much easier and cheaper to do than Inductance minimization.

I still think that the best approach is to minimize everything with wires about one foot long! (Monoblock amps).
jetkitty
53 posts
 
I will not even attempt to participate in the technical analysis of the merits of bi-wiring. What I want to add is that I can definitely hear a difference, and - yes - I have participated in 'blind' listening experiments to confirm this.

Of course, one cannot argue with those individuals that state that they can't hear a difference. If bi-wiring doesn't improve your sound, then don't spend $$$ to do it!
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
I don't buy zoya's theory for a minute. The frequencies we are talking about are so low that the wavelength of the signals is about 10 miles long. (3*10^8/20*10^3 = 15000 meters).
Therefore all points on the cable are at the same voltage, and see the same impedance, whether you biwire or not. I bet you could not measure the slightest difference between the signals at the HF and LF terminals when biwiring off a single amplifier.

The only time an amp sees different impedance is when you biamp, because it's only driving one part (HF or LF) of the speaker, and so the impedance curve to each amplifier is likely to be much more benign.

Biwiring without biamping may help in that there is simply more conductor, but I don't expect any effect beyond this.
cpatbay
10 posts
 

A theory is NOT a theory until proven true. Otherwise, they are called hypothesis or conjectures. Too many unproven claims are put out there to lure unsuspected consumers.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Jetkitty: Your admirably honest post prompts me to remind anyone who may have read mine, that I am not talking about audition results, because my Thiels will only accept single-wiring by design. I'm just stating my reasoning for suspecting that anybody hearing a difference with biwire, will probably be doing so for reasons such as the increase in overall wire guage, rather than any stemming from biwiring as a supposedly superior connection topology per se.

BTW, it seems to me there is a nearly perfect method to test this proposition: Provided you have high-quality jumpers available (ideally they would be identical to the speaker cables, but I think the short length of the jumpers probably makes that point relatively moot), just do a test that leaves the biwire cables in place while simply adding and removing the jumpers at the speaker terminals. The results of that test could then be compared to taking the biwire cables and connecting them both to the same set of speaker terminals (like at the amp) with the jumpers left in place, and then finally with one set of the two biwire cable leads left disconnected at the speaker end. Obviously if the tests could be performed blind that might be nice, but I like to think that's optional for anyone who's made the effort to come to intellectual grips with the reality of the placebo effect and invest the time required to minimize its potential to bias the results.
More to discover