Is it worth "Pairing" my speaker connections? (I am not refering to bi-amping)

[WATCHIN]

I have some B&W 604's that have the dual connects, 1 pr for high and 1 pr for lows (i guess), i am powering these via a Denon 3808ci, it was suggested to me that bi-amping from the same reciver using the spare back chanels is not that effective in improving sound but if I paired my speaker wires from the same channel at the amp connection (creating a Y out from 1 wire to 2 per chanel) and ran a 4 wire cable to each speaker then removed the bridge at the speaker connects and connected the highs and lows seperate that this would sound better.

This siggestion came from a very respectable source but i have never heard of this; befor I go spend spome $ on these cables can anyone offer me an opionion on this?

 

[john72953]

I think that bi-wiring is another one of those "tweaks" that we as audiophiles like to toy with. We're always looking to improve the sound. In theory, bi-wiring makes sense. In actual performance enhancement, I've not noticed an audible difference.

For systems with a "receiver" setup I think it would be a waste. For those with "seperates" it may have benefits, but it depends on all of the associated equipment as well.

So I'd say, try it out for yourself and see.

John

 

[j_garcia]

You will get even LESS of an improvement by biwiring. All you are doing with biwiring is adding more wire, which is essentially the same as using a larger AWG wire. Biamping would actually be beneficial, though not from your receiver, it would require separate amps for each portion (highs/lows) to do this properly.

 

[audion3wb]

I thought the same thing when I first built my system. I tried it out and it actually sounded worse. Of course doing like j_garcia mentioned and using 2 seperate amps would make a difference. Theres a couple guys on the Emotiva forums that are using 2 LPA-1s (125wpc) to bi-amp and are very pleased with the results. If you did this I would recommend alternating your high/lows from each amp though, so one amp isnt only doing highs and the other doing low end for a better distribution of power.

Another good option would be just spend your money on an amp with 200-250wpc and forget bi-wiring/amping

So unless you plan on dropping a chunk O' change on dual amps don't bother trying to bi-amp.

 

[j_garcia]

With biamping you have vertical and horizontal, assuming 2ch amps. Horizontal would be one amp powering the highs and the other powering the lows of each speaker (each amp supplying portions of both speakers). Vertical would be one channel of one amp powering the highs and the other the lows of each speaker (amp supplying one speaker). With vertical, the channels aren't load balanced, but each of the amps sees the same total load. With horizontal, each amp has a somewhat matched load on each channel, but one amp will likely be working harder powering the lows. Though also generally you don't need as powerful of an amp to drive the highs.

The reason it isn't recommended doing this with a receiver is because all of the channels share the same power supply. With separate amps, the channels from each amp have their own supply to draw from which means no "competition" for that power. So while you are biamping, you are techincally just playing games with how the power is allocated.

Then you have monoblocks which would be a power supply dedicated to that channel If you are looking to augment power, just about any decent external amp will have more real world power than any receiver.

 

[phlakvest]

It doesn't look like he's asking about bi-amping. He's asking about spliting the wire out of the same channel and connecting to the high and low instead of using the bridge strips on his speakers.

In theory it could even out the resistance between the high and low inputs on the speaker. Assuming the bridge strips add a noticable amount of resistance.
But in practice I doubt you could notice a difference. I almost guarentee you couldn't tell the difference in a double blind test.

 

[john72953]

It doesn't look like he's asking about bi-amping. He's asking about spliting the wire out of the same channel and connecting to the high and low instead of using the bridge strips on his speakers.

In theory it could even out the resistance between the high and low inputs on the speaker. Assuming the bridge strips add a noticable amount of resistance.
But in practice I doubt you could notice a difference. I almost guarentee you couldn't tell the difference in a double blind test.

+1. This is a bi-wiring question, not a bi-amping one.

 

[phlakvest]

Here's an article about it.

http://www.audioholics.com/education/cables/bi-wiring-from-amplifier-to-loudspeaker

 

[Shock]

Anyone else notice you need a degree in physics to follow some of the audioholics articles?

 

[j_garcia]

+1. This is a bi-wiring question, not a bi-amping one.

Yes it is a biwiring question, but we also know that it serves no purpose. Biamping was discussed because there seemed to be some confusion on his part about how it works.