Jumpers vs bi-wire

Nighthawk, that is true if the wires see different frequency content, which is true if the speaker is bi-amped with the crossover before the amplifier. In this case, both wires have as their source the same frequency content since the dividing network is at the speaker, not at the amplifier. The low frequency driver gets the whole signal and the high frequency driver(s) also gets the whole signal, but then passes through the crossover to eliminate the low frequencies. Just adding a wire that goes to the "high frequency" terminals on the speaker doesn't render the feed intelligent so that it knows which wire to follow!

BTW, all waves modulate each other to give the final waveform, which is the sum of all of the modulations.

Inpep, with a speaker designed for bi-wiring, the crossover network doesn't bridge the high and low speaker terminals. Yes, they do see the same frequency content. However, the high-pass filter network goes to the tweeter (and maybe mids) while the low pass filter network goes to the woofer (and maybe mids). It is as if there were two independent speakers in the same box - one for highs and one for lows. This is why you need jumpers if you're not going to use the bi-wiring capability. That's the only way both filter networks will be connected to the signal.

The high speaker terminals in a bi-wire setup don't see the IxR losses due to the large woofer currents passing through the wire. (Tweeter currents are comparatively tiny.) The woofer currents are confined to the low wire. It is the same as bi-amping in this respect. Thus the high wire is free from this admittedly small amount of distortion due to the passive losses of the wire. This assumes the amp is a good enough voltage source that it is not affected by the back EMF from the woofer which would then modulate both wires anyway. The wires are not ideal - they have resistance, capacitance, and inductance. You have to consider these properties to understand why bi-wiring works.

As to the audibility of bi-wiring, who knows? I think the effect is fairly small. It would seem that the shorter the cable, and the heavier the gauge, the less difference it would make, assuming the same cable make and model was used in both single and bi-wired configurations. I'll take a better single-wired cable over a lower performing bi-wired cable anyday.

Hi Guys,

I have a bit of a tricky question for you guys. I have just got a pair of Monitor Audio GR-60 speakers. They come with gold metal plates to connect the binding posts together. However, in case you do not know the speakers, they are TRIWIRABLE. I have a set of Zu Cable Wax biwire speaker cables which I really love, but with the triwire speakers I am connecting to two binding posts and the other one I am using the plate. My 1st question is: is it worth investing the $100+ to get Zu Cable Wax jumpers (even more costly for me since I need to import them to my country) or are those plates the speaker came with okay. The 2nd question is: when using it with a biwire cable, what is the best configuration? Currently I have one set of + and - connected to the lower binding posts (bass I assume) and the other set to the middle posts, with the gold plate connecting the middle and upper posts.

Thanks,
X

Nighthawk, isn't your conclusion what I said? Use one good wire over two is better and less fuss.
Of course the individual drivers don't see the same voltage signal, that is what the filter section in front of it is there for. The wire, however, feeding the voltage signal to the filter network has exactly the same signal for both the high and the low pass filters.

Xenithon, I think you should experiment. Do what sounds best. I would try the low cable pair on the middle posts, the high cable pair on the high posts, and put a jumper or plate between the middle and bottom posts. This should give you the smoothest sounding highs.