Bi-wiring from a single amp using "a" and "b" speaker outputs

[booz]

Hey folks,

 

Relatively new to this whole thing but loving it. 

 

I have a sansui g3500 amp with 2 sets of speaker outputs.

 

My speakers are Richter harlequin 5's that have bi-wiring option.

 

Is there an advantage to bi-wire?

 

I've seen online that you can bi-wire to the same speaker outputs.

 

But Can you bi-wire to the 2 separate speaker outputs "a" and "b"? 

 

Any advice would be awesome.

[aussievintage]

48 minutes ago, booz said:

Is there an advantage to bi-wire?

 

Question prone to provoke huge debate.   I don't believe it makes significant diffence, but plenty do.

 

49 minutes ago, booz said:

But Can you bi-wire to the 2 separate speaker outputs "a" and "b"? 

 

Those outputs on the amp and almost exactly the same.  They connect to the same place via switch, so the only difference is the position of the switch and the second pair of output terminals on one leg.   Can't see how any difference, if any, could be positive.  Can only be worse, given the extra connections and switch contacts.

[muon*]

Try it and see, the result will depend on the design of the speakers used.

 

The A and B speaker outputs are in parallel when switched to A+B.

[wartman]

I am/was a sceptic.

Tried it out on a pair of Springwood tower speakers, that I felt were a little bright.

Removed the jumper cables on speaker terminals

Used speaker cables from tweeter to speaker out "A" on amplifier.

Then speaker cables from bass/mid to speaker out "B" on amplifier.

To my shock, the brightness has disappeared.

It may be speaker dependant, I don't know.

Worth having a go, it only takes a few minutes.

 

 

 

[David A]

12 hours ago, booz said:

 

Is there an advantage to bi-wire?

 

 

My next integrated amp only has one pair of speaker binding posts, I suspect because the Designer knows that single wiring bi-wireable speakers with matching jumpers in most cases sounds better than bi-wiring.

[muon*]

48 minutes ago, David A said:

 

My next integrated amp only has one pair of speaker binding posts, I suspect because the Designer knows that single wiring bi-wireable speakers with matching jumpers in most cases sounds better than bi-wiring.

You can still bi-wire with that amp, you just connect both sets of speaker cables to the single set of speaker posts.

 

A/B speaker sets on amps were mostly to accommodate two sets of speakers, the A and B sets are/were usually just the same ouput.

[David A]

32 minutes ago, muon* said:

You can still bi-wire with that amp, you just connect both sets of speaker cables to the single set of speaker posts.

 

A/B speaker sets on amps were mostly to accommodate two sets of speakers, the A and B sets are/were usually just the same ouput.

 

Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. Makes sense. Though I believe my following contention still holds true "..single wiring bi-wireable speakers with matching jumpers in most cases sounds better than bi-wiring". Hence that's how I plan to wire my next speakers.

 

Edited October 12, 2024 by David A

[pete_mac]

10 hours ago, wartman said:

Removed the jumper cables on speaker terminals

 

I was wondering... were these gold plated brass jumpers? If so, you could probably have replaced these with short sections of speaker cable between the upper and lower binding posts and simply ran one pair of speaker cables to yield the same improvement.

[Cafad]

1 hour ago, David A said:

 

Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. Makes sense. Though I believe my following contention still holds true "..single wiring bi-wireable speakers with matching jumpers in most cases sounds better than bi-wiring". Hence that's how I plan to wire my next speakers.

 

I would recommend trying both methods if you are bringing in new speakers.  I've found this bi-wiring vs jumpers phenomenon to be very speaker dependent. 

[David A]

2 hours ago, Cafad said:

I would recommend trying both methods if you are bringing in new speakers.  I've found this bi-wiring vs jumpers phenomenon to be very speaker dependent. 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Though I think the difference between biwire and single wire cables (with matching jumpers) wouldn't be worth the upcharge. In fact I know of several instances where the latter configuration was preferred to bi-wiring, such as my friend's $700k Marten Coltrane Momento II's.
 

Edited October 12, 2024 by David A

[aussievintage]

10 hours ago, muon* said:

the A and B sets are/were usually just the same ouput

 

Exactly, in fact I have never seen anything different.