The Canare 4S11 cables on the Blue Jeans Cable website have 4 conductors. Could I use just that one cable to biwire the Quad 22l's that I have or would I be better off using 2 of the regular Belden Cables with just the 2 conductors. Just want to do what is the easiest and cleanest set up.

Thanks

Blue Jeans' site mentions that the 4S11 is popular for biwiring, so it's certainly possible - and they offer that arrangement pre-made (banana to biwire banana, banana to biwire spade, spade to biwire spade, or spade to biwire banana) using the 4S11. The Belden stuff they offer is a larger gauge (either 10ga or 12ga), but the 4S11 is effectively an 11ga when you use two conductors for each connection so you are probably going to end up with similarly low resistance either way.

Just to make sure I have this right...I would need to buy 2 of the Canare 4S11 cables for each speaker I Biwire. Basically 2 connections for each terminal. That would make it more diificult to hide the cable with the Canare being that thick. I have 100ft of Philips 14 gauge speaker wire that I got from Lowes...I could use that but what would I sacrifice in sound quality. Would it be noticable? Thanks for your help Gonk

Actually, if you get the 4S11 terminated single-to-biwire, you would need only one per speaker.

That what I needed to hear. Gonk, what would be your suggestion as to how to connect it to the 7125 amp. I have just a 5.1 set up so I have two channels not being used. Thanks

Here's something to consider when bi-wiring...

http://www.sonicdesign.se/biwire.html

Is it really worth it? Can some simple re-wiring improve the sound that engineers spent so many hours in development trying to perfect? Phase issues and crossovers are important to consider. The final test will always be your own ears.

Titleist,

I was looking at the same cable and wondering whether to go the bi-wire route or the single 10 gauge route. Have you made a choice and if so, what would you recommend?

thanks,

John

I biwred the speakers with just basic 14 gauge speaker wire from home depot. I did hear a difference..It just seemed to sound more detailed to me. At that time I ordered the Canare 4S11 that I actually received 2 weeks ago but have not taken the time to set it up. My plan is to do it this weekend so I'll let you know what I think.

I usually hold to the idea that dual-wire or double-wire is better than bi-wire. My reasoning has to do with the fact that, IMHO, resistance in the cable between amplifier and loudspeaker, while not the only factor, is the largest practical factor in the amplifier being able to accurately drive a loudspeaker.

For example, if I have a 30-foot cable run to a loudspeaker, the signal will be traveling through a total of 60 feet of wire – 30 feet to the speaker, 30 feet back. Using an American Wire Gauge Table from ProAV , or Wikipedia I find differing resistance for various gauges:

60 foot total through 14-gauge wire yields about .16 ohms

60 foot total through 12-gauge wire yields about .10 ohms

60 foot total through 10-gauge wire yields about .06 ohms

If I bi-wire with 14-gauge cable in this instance, how much resistance between the amplifier and the woofer’s crossover network, between the amplifier and the hi-pass crossover? (.16 ohms and .16 ohms, individually) If I dual-wire with 14-gauge cable, what are the resistances? (.08 ohms and .08 ohms, shared)

For very short runs through decent cable, where the resistance is very, very low anyway, most of this is mute. For longer runs, like 50 or 75 feet where the signal travels through 100 or 150 feet of wire, heavy gauge wire or doubling up can really help.

Cutting the resistance in half doesn’t get the press or the hype that bi-wiring does, but I’d urge folks who have bi-wired to try comparing dual-wire/double-wire with bi-wire – all the cabling is in place anyway.

I hooked up my front 3 channels using the Canare 4s11 today. I can't say I heard much of a difference as compared to the biwiring I did with the home depot cable. The bonus for me was one cable for each speaker instead of 4. For me most of the satisfaction with the canare is my system looks a much cleaner in the front and back w/o all the wires. For me it was worth it just for that.

titleist,

that's helpful feedback; thank you!

If I understand you correctly, the Canare 4s11 is more practical and attractive, but the sound quality is, if not improved, at the very least, it's certainly not worse. Is this correct?

Thanks,

John

The wire is more practical for me because my system (except for the mains) are built into the wall and the speaker wires can be seen. I can tell you that the Canare wire does not sound any worse than biwiring with the Home Depot cable. The Canare may actually be better but it hard to say w/o being able to switch between them. I have fairly new Quad 22l mains and they are sounding better with the more hours I put on them as well. If your looking to inexpensively bi-wire you speakers and you want 1 cable than can do it for you Canare is the best I found. I suppose you could make your own biwire speaker for less but that takes time. Hope this helps.

Yes, titleist,

that is helpful. I need the cables for the rears and the length is nearly 30'. I, too, prefer it to be relatively attractive, given it will be exposed, in parts of the room.

I think I will make the same choice.

Thank you!

John

I read an interesting article on wiring speakers and specialty brands vs. zip wire at http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm. The person that wrote the article was a head engineer for McIntosh back in the day.

I came across this while searching for the best wiring solution and it convinced me that I could get away with more "standard" wire should I choose. There is an interesting bit in there about Monster cable as well.

The link above doesn't seem to want to work when you click on it from the BB, but it should work if you copy and paste it in your browser. Not sure why, sorry!

There's a period at the end of it, but this link will also work fine.

As mentioned above I have the Canare 4s11 hooked up to my Quad 22l speakers(biwired). I have some extra left over that I would like to use to hook up an older pair of speakers I have. Can I just twist the 2 positive wires and the 2 negative wires together to use on the extra speakers.

I don't see any problem with doing that, titleist. This is done often - folks like Blue Jeans Cables offer to do this very thing, in fact.