Agree, you did not suggest that it was anything audible, but electrical behavior only. ‘‘Twas a while back.
Don’t even know why I remember it. Perhaps it was just because somebody suggested there could possibly be a check mark in the "for" category. *shrugs
Probably because someone (in fact many) were saying bi-wire or not, the sum of the currents reaching the speaker would be exactly the same, quoting the "superposition theorem" (The Audio Critic being one of those). The fact is, it has nothing to do with superposition theorem, but it is true that the current flow to the speaker would be the same either way so it that sense I agreed with the Audio Critic.
The point they missed though, was that the "believers" never say anything about the total current from the amp to the speaker would be different, but rather, the current in the bi-wire scenario would have two separate paths for the low and high frequency currents between the amp's binding post and the speaker's binding posts due to the different impedance enforced at the speaker end by the crossover network being separated into 2 sections when the jumpers are removed. So you are right, good memory, I did mention the word "impedance", to try and explain why the two pairs of wire would carry different currents. Again, at the speaker end the combined currents total would be the same. I don't know what would be a practical analogy, but it could be like person A, a skinny girl and person B, a 450 lb guy each travel in a separate 2 seater mini for the skinny one and a big SUV for the 450 lb man vs the two travel in the same 2 seater mini. At the destination they would enter the same house, still only two people, no more no less.
The difference would be, the skinny girl will arrive unscathed in the separate vehicle scenario. I know that don't make much sense but I tried, and its a hot Sunday afternoon..
A better explanation can be found here, and I must have posted it way way back too, in one of those old debates. Disclaimer: I believe Vandersteen exaggerated the effects of the electromagnet field, and the back EMF, I have never seen any studies that quantity the electromagnetic effects, let alone any audible effects. It is my belief that as long as you use the right wire size, there will be no audible benefits whatsoever for bi-wiring passive speakers.
Vandersteen Audio High End Speakers | Vandersteen Audio
"The benefits of bi-wiring are most obvious in the midrange and treble. The low-current signal to the midrange and tweeter drivers does not have to travel on the same wire as the high-current woofer signal. The field fluctuations and signal regeneration of the high-current low-frequencies are prevented from distorting or masking the low-current high-frequencies. The back EMF (Electro-Mechanical Force) from the large woofer cannot affect the small-signal upper frequencies since they do not share the same wires.
The effects of bi-wiring are not subtle. The improvements are large enough that a bi-wire set of moderately priced cable will usually sound better than a single run of more expensive cable."
