Replaced Factory Speaker Jumpers
 

In a telephone conversation with Lyle the other day, he mentioned he removed the factory jumper pins from his PMC EB1i's that strap the woofers, mids, and tweets together at the terminals. Along with his new Ayre gear and Cardas cabling, Cardas provided him with jumper cables to use in place of the factory jumper pins. He told me that his EB1i's sound better with the wire jumbers rather than the factory solid jumper pins.

Today I decided to experiment with my EB1i's. I made up eight jumbers using the 9 guage Kimber 8TC cable, and silver soldered the bare conductors at both ends of each jumper. I removed the factory soild jumper pins of unknown material. Ian, please correct me if I am wrong, but they look and feel like brass plated steel pins. They are definately not copper, and I could not bend them by hand. I installed the newly made Kimber jumpers, tightened all terminals, reinstalled the Kimber 8TC from each MC501 amp, and tightened the WBT locking banana plugs.

I expected things to improve, and was not disappointed. A brand new freshness developed in the midrange and the top end. The overall improvement in definition of details, lingering harmonics, and the leading edge of notes was clearly audible. Liz Story's piano was sweeter, the chords more gripping and dynamic, the sustain was transparent and rich. On the Gary Mulligan Quartet - Dragonfly CD, Dave Samuels vibraphone was so three dimenisional and clean I was amazed. Not a hint of bite anywhere on the scale. Just fantastic. Gerry Mulligan's baritone saxophone, and Ryan Kisor's trumpet were completely lifelike and dynamic, lots of rich tones with that wonderful metalic flair from the trumpet, and no ringing, or exaggeration on any notes at any volume.

Since the Kimber 8TC speaker cables were always connected directly to the woofer terminals, the woofers never relied on the factory jumper pins for their signals, so I heard no change in the bottom octaves, but no improvement is needed. The EB1i's bottom is deep, controlled, and rock solid.

The factory jumper pins are in the drawer of the buffet now. The Kimber jumpers are here to stay. I wish I had thought of this tweak a long time ago. Many thanks Lyle. You are certainly correct. The EB1i's do sound better with wire jumpers.


http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...1i-jumpers.jpg

Now there is something for the skeptics to chew on. :D I am not surpised at your findings at all Dan.

Hmmmmmm, Food for thought for sure.

I replaced all my jumpers with amps. :D

I knew I shouldn't have sold my FPL stock about 15 years ago.

I believe that is the ultimate "tweak"

The best part about this tweak, besides actually hearing an improvement in my speakers sound, it cost me an hour of my time, and zero dollars. When you get something for nothing, it is a big deal in my book. Pretty rare these days.

Dan
Any reason you do not bi-wire rather than jumpers?

Jim.......In the past, I have tried bi-wiring, and even tri-wiring speakers, and have never experienced any sonic advantage for the work and expense. Even if I were to bi-wire the EB1i's, I'd still need a set of jumpers to pick up the tweeters.

I have achieved excellent results using single runs of Kimber's braided OCC copper, teflon insulated 8TC speaker cable. Each (+) and (-) side of the 8TC cable is an aggregate of eight seperate insulated stranded conductors that equal 9 guage. I have used Kimbers speaker cables for 28 years, first the 4TC, and then the 8TC. I purchased my first 20' length of 4TC directly from Ray Kimber during a demo in 1981. I am convinced they are excellent performing cables on several levels.

My right channel speaker requires 38' of cable from the amp to the speaker. I use equal lengths for both speakers even though my left channel speaker is within four feet of the amp. Both wires leave the amp, go through a wall plate, up into the attic, then back down again behind their respective speakers. The guage of 8TC is more than adequate for this distance. The braided technique Ray Kimber employs makes the cable almost completely immune to RFI and EMI, so I pickup no noise in the cable runs, even being in the attic and near electrical circuit cables there.

Even if I were a proponent of bi-wire, another 76' of Kimber 8TC (L + R) isn't cheap. If it was absolute that bi-wire or tri-wire produced better sound, the cost wouldn't be a consideration, but to bi-wire for some mythical gain does not interest me. Bi-wiring, and tri-wiring is a cable manufacturer's and dealer's dream come true. They sell more high-dollar wire. The dealer convinces a customer that audible gains can be had without more ultra high priced gear. Sort of like a poor man's bi-amping without the active crossover and additional amps. I have seen dealers use this approach to sell bi-wiring, and always find it amusing, if not bordering on unscrupulously taking advantage of the less experienced audio enthusiasts.

I have bi-amped speakers in the past using electronic crossovers, and have achieved excellent results that were superior to a single amp. This is the path to follow when driving speakers with more than a single cable, in my humble opinion.

:screwy::slap: I think you heard what you wanted to hear.