Bi-wire: is it worth it?

The diversity of opinion that might be expected on this question was expressed in this thread.

My comment in that thread, while obviously somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I think pretty much says it all:

02-07-12: Almarg
Having followed many prior threads that have addressed this question, I can say unequivocally that a clear consensus has emerged. That consensus can be stated as follows:

It may or may not make a difference. If it makes a difference, it may or may not be for the better.

Regards,
-- Al :-)

Eloquent as usual Al :-)

Al summed it up perfectly.....again. Good work Al!

They have four terminals, and can be bi-wired.

Keep in mind that a vast majority of speakers "can be bi-wired." IMHO, very few have actually been designed for this, and for most of them, it is just "audio fashion."

A few years ago, while reading a Q&A section in a magazine, a manufacturer was asked why they removed the bi-wire terminals from the latest version of a speaker. Their answer was that it was originally done to be like other speakers, but they had finally determined through listing tests that bi-wire compromised coherency.

Al is spot-on, it's like a roll of the dice, maybe higher, maybe lower, or same as the previous roll.

I think everyone will agree that the factory jumpers between the terminals should be replaced when using single wire cables.

Per the above poster...
"Keep in mind that a vast majority of speakers "can be bi-wired." IMHO, very few have actually been designed for this, and for most of them, it is just "audio fashion."

This is very true. And then, there are many well accepted
speaker manufacturers that do not even bother with bi-wiring/bi-amping by providing only one pair of binding posts - Vienna Acoustics, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, etc.

As a Vienna owner, I sure am glad they have given me one less thing to obsess over so I can just sit back and enjoy the music.