OK my fellow Outlaw family members...

For all those that have bi-wired in the past. What sonic difference does it make? I have seen way too many people say it is absolutely a waste of time and $$....

Yet the same amount of people swear by it and praise the sonic differences.

Some already know that I have DefTech BP30's upfront for mains (models without built in subs) and was wondering if I should even bother. I have 2 friends that have tried. One has a pair of BP30's as I do, the other has BP10's. The friend with the 10's said he likes it better after bi-wiring yet he went back to a normal hookup.

The other friend with the same speakers as myself....said he tried it and heard no difference whatsoever and went back to a normal connection. I never had the chance to hear them on my own and before I drop some $$ on a pair of cables that feature bi-wiring connections, who better to ask then all of you?

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Play it LoUd!!

If you must bi-wire, just run two sets in parallel - at least you're reducing the series resistance that way. An easier way to do the same thing would be just buy bigger wire.

Consider that, for all practical purposes the Resistance in a correctly sized set of wire is negligible and the speed of signal propagation is effectively infinite, so all points on the wire are the same for all practical purposes, electrically speaking. Then analyze the various topologies.

<---- Not an engineer. Charlie, speak english damnit! LOL...seriously now...

I need it said to me in simple terms...propagation, infinite, and topologies....

What are the benefits of bi-wiring? I just got a new pair of BetterCables that make my AR master series sound like poop. I could have bought the pair that had bi-wiring on the speaker end. Just wondering if I should return these and try it out.

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Play it LoUd!!

OK -

Simply get your $$ ($$$ ?) back and go to either the internet or Home Depot / hardware store, buy some good quality 10-12 gauge stranded wire with decent insulation. Use the money you have left over to buy music. Or, if you want to do something with the wire you can buy banana or spade terminators.

As always, YMMV, IMO, and just my $0.02

In my opinion, bi-wiring is more marketing hype than reality. Electrically, you're not buying anything unless your original speker wires were way too small of a gauge and therefore had too much resistance. I use 12 gauge wire in my system, and would recommend you get either this or 10 gauge at any place that sells good wire. "Audiophile" speaker wire is, I believe, a waste of money, and you're better off spending your money on things that do make a difference, like more DVDs


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The Soundhound Theater

Hmmm..interesting. Thanks!

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Play it LoUd!!

I just biwired my DIY speakers, which I built to allow it. I had my old cable hooked up to them for a few months already. I honestly can not tell the difference. I'm using 11ga Canare 4s11 cable in a 'shotgun' config now. Each piece is the thickest cable I've ever used, and I'm using two for each channel.

I heard a much bigger difference when I swapped my tubes in my preamp. There was a noticable change in the soundstage. This cost about the same as the cable (which was inexpensive.)

Some tweaks are worth the effort, others just aren't.

I am still on the fence with bi-wire. Some speaker manufacturer's provide for it, some don't. The one's that don't, obviously don't feel the benefits outweigh the effort/cost. Those that do, either believe in it, or just do it to be perceived as better/more high-end, etc.

Although I only own his subwoofer, I think Richard Vandersteen knows what he is doing when it comes to engineering speakers and maximizing value (performance/cost). All but his least expensive speakers are bi-wire only. If you read his web page, he believes the benefit to bi-wiring is that the collapsing magnetic fields from the bass signals in the speaker wires can induce distortion into the higher frequencies. By separating the bass signals from the mids/highs, you greatly reduce that distortion. As such, he only recommends a "shotgun" set-up, with separate runs, physically separated by an inch or two (enough to be out of the collapsing magnetic field).

I currently have my mains shotgunned bi-wired. I haven't gone back and forth to compare. Basically I had an old 15' pair of original Monster, and for free made 2 7.5' pairs. That alone lowered the resistance and capacitance of my cables by a factor or 2, before counting the effects of the 2nd run.

I think people who hear huge differences may have changed speaker wire at the same time. Thus the measurable electrical properties may have changed too. Resistance is only important if it gets too high. For short runs, once you get to 16 or 14 ga, the reduction is resistance makes negligable differences. Capacitance is another story, but all I will say is that it can vary between cables and can account for much of what can be discerned between cables.

In my mind the jury is still out. I think you need a fairly high resolution system to start with. Then maybe A-B differences can be found. Gross differences, to me, imply at least one set of poorly engineered cables with serious design flaws.

Just my $.02.

Last time I checked there was money in it for ANYONE who could identify cables in an A/B/X test run by a fella - don't remember who. I think he was on one of the 'other' forums.

I saw some speaker cables on the web listed as the ultimate; a cool $23,000 US for a pair. I think when you spend that kind of money on these, your brain will find a way of making you believe you hear a difference.

I'm happy with my 18 gauge solid core thermostat wire. It was on hand. Just have to keep the old brain in check, it keeps saying what if you upgraded to......