Biwired Speakers - silver for high, copper for low

Hi Tim, You raised valid points, esp mucking up the speaker's radically tonal balance by using different cables.

I did post my system, but I don't think I have "popular" amp or speaker. Any way, here goes the material parts :

power amp: Chord 1200B
solid state A-B, 250Wpc, very dynamic and transparent, neutral, not warm. Don't think the problem lies here.

speakers : Wilson Benesch Discovery
2.5 way carbon fibre integral stand mounted monitor
2 x 7" isobaric downward firing bass drivers, 1 x 7" mid range unit, 1 x 1" soft dome silk tweeter
crossover freq : Bass 500Hz , Mid & Tweeter 5kHz
1st order bass roll-off, 1st order mid range crossover, 2nd order tweeter crossover
polypropylene capacitors and air cored inductors in X-over.
bi-wireable, internal multi-stranded silver plated copper wiring.

I used Nordost SPM, it was OK but lean in the bass. I have tried Valhalla, it was much better but too much money. The Poiema gives a more refined presentation but lacks (so far IMS) energy and dynamics. A friend's home brew cryoed copper was surprisingly good and very musical, but not as transparent or detailed as any of the above cables. Have tried Cardas, didn't like it.

That leaves the Omega Mikro (unthinkable from a practical point of view), the Pure Note Cerulean, or others that I am not aware of.

Thanks,

Tom

i run different speaker cables on my biwired alons.

what you are probably hearing is a differnce in the "speed" of the differnce cables and they are not fully intergrating.

i had noticed this when i had a "slower" cable on top and a faster on the bottom. you can experiment by exchanging the two and listening.

i would guess since the silver is a much smaller gauge, you might noitce a differnce. you might want to try a similar cable on the bottom....

the key is to experiment. there have been combinations of cables that have work well together and i have speculated that they didnt( when it turns out they did).

good luck,

mike

I prefer not to Bi-wire any speaker. Same results everytime to my ears. Smaller soundstage, loss of coherence and bass definition. I open up the terminal plate and connect internally to 1 set of posts. Side benefit is the larger selection of wires to choose from- and reduced cost to boot.

Tom, I'm sorry I didn't previously see your system posted. You may get more feedback by trying a post over on audio asylum's cable forum. There are many good cables discussed over there, and folks who have tried and compared them. You also occasionally get feedback from various manufacturers over there. You have mentioned several good cables, that I have not tried. Some other well-liked cables I have not tried include Audience AU24, Purist Audio Dominus, and Kimber Select. - Tim

Tom - reading your post, I would try Luminous Synchestra Signature speaker cables, and the Luminous Synchestra Reference ICs. I have both the Luminous and Poiemas here at the moment - both fully run in and if the Poiema lacks energy and dynamics then the Luminous will take you in the right direction. There is a bigger difference between the ICs than between the SCs. I have rejected the Poiema ICs, but am undecided between the Poiema and Luminous SCs. The Luminous is more revealing, faster and much larger (soundstage/images etc), but is perhaps a little too revealing for poor old redbook CDs.