Using different cables for Bi-Wiring

Addressing your concern about different cables causing an uneven frequency distribution . . .

An engineer here at work has a bumper sticker on her car that says:

"Enlightment comes not from the answer, but from the question!"

I think that not only have you come up the perfect question, but you've also answered your own question at the same time. I think that you've talked it out to yourself.

That's why the common consenus is to use the same cables on the top and bottom.

Chuck

Here's a link to Vandersteen's views on biwiring, which I first found in another thread on this forum: http://www.vandersteen.com/pages/Answr7.htm. He recommends using the same wire for both runs, and using separate cables versus two within a single sleeve.

I would say the same cable but not necessarily the same gauge. DH labs bi-wire is 14g mid/tweet and 12g for the bass.
I believe you would find the same principles applied to the wiring inside a quality speaker, ie different gauge wiring is used for different drivers.

..i just recently biwired my piega c-40 speakers and before doing so ..read the aforementioned richard vandersteen article and tried two different cables..in my case a crystal cable 'ultra' ..that i already had with an argento 'reference' cable and the sound was not good..then when i then used 2 seperate runs of the argento 'reference' cables the sound was superb...there probably is something to using the same cables for biwiring ...in my case it certainly was the better combination...

I have often used different cables. Since the requirements for the two are different it is hard to see how using the exact same cables would be a great advantage. A much smaller gauge wire will work for the top end than the bottom. But as in every case with wire or cables results will vary with the system.