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correct way to bi-wire?

I have a Yamaha AV receiver and B&W 602 speakers. The guy at the store told me to bi-wire them by wiring them the normal way(4wires)at the speaker but twist the 2 positives together and plug that into the amp(same for negative). So I have 4 ends at the speaker and 2 ends at the receiver for each channel.
The B&W website says that I should use my A/B switch and make my tweeters 'A' and my midrange 'B'.
Which do you think is better?
Will my power(watts) be the same for each case?
twitt15aed
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Either way is probably fine depending on how the A/B is wired. What the dealer recommends is fine in all cases, so I would go with that to be safe. Probably not the case with your AV amp; but on a small percentage of amps the watts are cut in half per channel if you choose A and B. Just putting them all on A does not increase the load on the amp. It is no different than on a pair of regular non-biwire speakers.

Biwire speaker cables are wired internally, the same way the dealer is telling you to wire the separate pairs.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Hook up the speakers as you would normally do on one channel ( A ). Play some music as you would normally at a low level. While playing, switch over to the A + B setting with no speakers hooked up to B. If the sound disappears, your speaker jacks are wired in series. If it keeps playing, they are wired in parallel. If the speaker jacks are wired in series, you will have to tie all four wires onto one output ( A ). If the receiver is wired in parallel, you can use A for the woofers and B for the tweeters or vice-versa. While there should be very little difference either way in reality, in theory, the A & B in parralel method would be best. Sean
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sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
A & B method may be easier since you have two pairs of cables.
In the A & B mode the terminals are just combined inside the amplifier, so I doubt you will notice a difference. They are receiving the same ouput.
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