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On Bi-Wiring

AnLaoJin

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In principle, what is the difference between the two? Can the second method reduce the intermodulation distortion between high and low frequencies?
 

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With reasonable cable length and decent amp damping factor there will be no difference (and yes I know about back EMF).
the extra terminals on the speakers are just for marketing purposes.
 
Agreed. Bi-wiring has the same effect as increasing the cable diameter in single wiring. As said above, if you start with a decent cable to begin with, the effect is minimal.
 
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The difference is the picture on the left will cause you to think your speakers have some kind of magical upgrade "built-in" just waiting for you to unlock. The picture on the right will cause you to spend twice as much money on speaker cable in order to "really take advantage" of the magical upgrade.
 
According to this article
This is not an "article". This is marketing BS from a company.
We have discovered that if your speakers have four binding posts then you may take advantage of the bi-wiring option and that you will need twice as much cable as before. We theorised and proved by measurement, the counter-intuitive notion that the high and low frequencies travel only in their designated cables. We have also shown by measurement that the theory that this would reduce intermodulation distortion caused by non-linearity in the speaker system is proven.

In light of the above evidence it would be sensible to conclude that where the opportunity exists and funds allow, bi-wiring should be explored as an option for improving the performance of any high fidelity loudspeaker system.

Guess what : Q Acoustics and QED are part of the same group...
 
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Bi wiring is topologically identical to "normal" wiring. There is no functional difference other than practical considerations like running a four conductor cable and bi wiring it to take advantage of lower gauge equivalent wiring.
 
This is not an "article". This is marketing BS from a company.
Guess what : Q Acoustics and QEF are owned by the same group...
It is published by a speaker company and obviously they want a result that works to their advantage. However, I'm genuinely interested in what makes it BS. What is the flaw in their experiment, how they made the measurement, or their conclusions?
 
Bi-wire was a stunt to sell wire. Go get some 16 gauge zip cord and forget everything you have read in a review. It is actually about perfect.

Bi-amp can have advantages either by use of active crossovers, or in PA work, amplifiers sized specifically for the drivers in question. You may want different amps on the 21 inch SUB array than on the horns.
 
However, I'm genuinely interested in what makes it BS.
The explanation they give has nothing to do with how electricity actually works. That makes it BS.

What is the flaw in their experiment, how they made the measurement, or their conclusions?
Measurement error and/or misinterpretation/misrepresentation of results. They're not providing enough (well, any) detail of the test setup, so it's hard to tell.
 
What is the flaw in their experiment, how they made the measurement, or their conclusions?

Good marketing is not telling lies, not to be mistaken for the truth

In case of single wire, the whole audio spectrum run through this wire.
The moment you go bi-wired, the signal running over the two cables will differ.
The tweeter has a high pass filter, hence none of the current intended for the woofer will enter this cable because the filter effectively blocks it.
Likewise the woofer has a low pass filter, hence the higher frequencies won’t enter this cable.
Now the big trick, compare any measurement e.g. IMD as in the article using the single wire and the tweeter wire or the woofer wire and there will be a difference.
Small wonder as the signals differs!

A real proof would be to measure the signal after the filter.
Go single wired to the speaker, measure the IMD at the connectors of the tweeter
Go bi-wired to the speaker, measure the IMD at the connectors of the tweeter.
Likewise the woofer.
If this show a difference, they do have a point.
They probably have some very good reasons not to perform this test :)

BTW: as single and bi-wires are different topologies, it is thinkable that there is a difference.
However, as all the relevant properties of speaker cable (resistance, capacity, inductance) are very low, this is not very likely this will be audible.
http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Electronics/audio/biwire/Page1.html
 
The moment you go bi-wired, the signal running over the two cables will differ.

The voltage waveform on both legs of biwire will be the same as on a single pair..

Full spectrum.
 
Warning! The following is opinion because I am not going to write an article about biwiring even though I have been a BIAMPING fanatic since 1969.

Biwiring=A load of marketing bullshit that I have wished would go away since the very first time I heard about it. It preys on audiophiles who don't have any technical background.
 
The currents will differ, though.

Yes.

As a function of the load, which is frequency selective at the speaker terminals.

disclosure: the MartinLogans are bi-wired with AWG2 THHN because I can and the cost was $0
 
I had to replace the binding posts on my MartinLogan's because they had all started to spin freely. I replaced them with SpeakOn connectors, which now mate to my AHB2, and thus did away with bi-wire capability. Frequency selectivity happens at the cross-over, not at the speaker or amplifier binding posts. Once leaving the cross-over or driver, depending on design, the frequency/load modulated signals reunit at the speaker's (-) binding post or at the amplifier's in a bi-wire configuration. So I see no benefit, what-so-ever, in bi-wiring. Bi-amping however, can have credence. I sold my old bi-wire Audioquest speaker cables for what I paid for them, and had Canare 4s11 and Neutrik come to the rescue :D

IMG_0267.jpeg
 
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