Single or Bi-wire

[dteam702]

I take it most probably uses single wire configuration for their SF, but I was thinking of going bi-wire route for mine(2 on the amp side and 4 on the speaker side).. Any pros & cons??

[jdandy]

Dewey.......Which Sonus faber speakers are you planning to bi-wire?

[dteam702]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Dewey.......Which Sonus faber speakers are you planning to bi-wire?

Futura..

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by dteam702

I take it most probably uses single wire configuration for their SF, but I was thinking of going bi-wire route for mine(2 on the amp side and 4 on the speaker side).. Any pros & cons??

There is a nearly infinite set of pros and cons with each camp unable to convince the other. You have two options. One is to listen to others and pick which side to join. The other is to test the two at home, decide for yourself and see what camp you are in.

(FWIW, I do not believe (based on my personal experience) that bi-wiring has any audible advantage over competent single wiring.)

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by dteam702

I take it most probably uses single wire configuration for their SF, but I was thinking of going bi-wire route for mine(2 on the amp side and 4 on the speaker side).. Any pros & cons??

Replace jumper plates with a jumper made from the same wire as your speaker wire.
Run one run of speaker wire.

[Face]

In my experience, the only advantage to bi-wiring is replacing the cheap jumpers that come with most speakers with quality cable/termination. Unless the cabinets are modular, all of my DIY builds only have a single set of posts.

Unless you plan on bi-amping or using an active crossover, more than one pair of posts are a waste.

[dteam702]

Thnx everyone for the feedback..

[Glisse]

dteam,

I've been trying to figure this out myself for the last couple of months with my Futuras.

I've come to the conclusion that it depends on the amp, the speaker, and the cable. Which in itself is a useless piece of information

I did buy a second pair of one of the cables I was trialling, and heard a slight increase in weight and detail. But this change was dwarfed by those effected by using a different brand of cable, or a different model within a brand.

Let's say you have a budget of $3000 for speaker cable. For a true bi-wire, that means 2 runs of a $1500 cable. Is that going to be better than a cable that is $2500 for a single run plus $500 for matching jumpers? I am using cost just as an example, because there certainly is not a direct correlation between cost and how suitable a cable may or may not be.

My experience suggests it is unlikely that you would get a better result bi-wiring within a given budget. Do as Bill sagely suggested, and get the best single run with jumpers. Of course, finding the best cable isn't easy in itself.

As an aside, I have quite a few pairs of SF speakers, bought over a long time frame. Interesting that the brand itself goes backwards and forwards as to whether they provide a single set of terminals, or bi-wired. I tend to think SF provide the split terminals in the Futura for bi-amping rather than bi-wiring. On a speaker as expensive as the Futura, I wish they would have provided jumpers made from whatever internal wire they use, rather than the plates. Still, I can understand the issues which this would present (such as bananas or spades, etc.).

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Glisse

dteam,

I've been trying to figure this out myself for the last couple of months with my Futuras.

I've come to the conclusion that it depends on the amp, the speaker, and the cable. Which in itself is a useless piece of information

I did buy a second pair of one of the cables I was trialling, and heard a slight increase in weight and detail. But this change was dwarfed by those effected by using a different brand of cable, or a different model within a brand.

Let's say you have a budget of $3000 for speaker cable. For a true bi-wire, that means 2 runs of a $1500 cable. Is that going to be better than a cable that is $2500 for a single run plus $500 for matching jumpers? I am using cost just as an example, because there certainly is not a direct correlation between cost and how suitable a cable may or may not be.

My experience suggests it is unlikely that you would get a better result bi-wiring within a given budget. Do as Bill sagely suggested, and get the best single run with jumpers. Of course, finding the best cable isn't easy in itself.

As an aside, I have quite a few pairs of SF speakers, bought over a long time frame. Interesting that the brand itself goes backwards and forwards as to whether they provide a single set of terminals, or bi-wired. I tend to think SF provide the split terminals in the Futura for bi-amping rather than bi-wiring. On a speaker as expensive as the Futura, I wish they would have provided jumpers made from whatever internal wire they use, rather than the plates. Still, I can understand the issues which this would present (such as bananas or spades, etc.).

The next Sonus that improves by bi wiring over simply replacing jumper plates with proper jumper wires will be the first. Not saying it can't happen, it just hasn't yet, Futuras included.