bi-amping and bi-wireing

bondo

i just got the polk cs400i center
speaker for my home theatre and it is
the bomb! it the best center speaker i
have ever owned and i have had about
three of them.Anyway my question is
about bi-wire and bi-amping this
speaker, what is it and how do you go
about doing this, and what else if
anything do i need to do this ? please
someone explain this and what would be
the benifits of doing this. thank you
for your help'

sgtgto

Hi

Personally, I think bi-wiring is a waste of time and money. As far as power, you can never have too much. Go with your pocketbook and get all you can. I don't think bi-amping will do you much good with the speakers you have. A good amp, 200W or above, for each channel, L R C and at least 100W for the rear L and R will give you a very good HT setup.

I have a total of 1150Watts and my system sounds really good.


Gary

timothyj

Gary, would it be worth my money in your opinion to upgrade my 245i to the 400i if I'm running it through an Onkyo TX-DS 595 (75 watts per channel)? My fronts will be either 55i or 600i.

sgtgto

Hi Tim:

The 400i is definitely a better center speaker but personally I think the CS400 would go better with a larger front speaker. The 800s or 2000s. If you can, audition a CS400 and judge for yourself.


Gary

Aaron

The CS400 goes very well with the RT55i's. And how couldn't it? It's an exact driver match, just like the RT800i's. Ron can attest to the strength of this configuration.

Aaron

Ron-P

Aaron, you are correct sir.

The CS400 is an excellent match to the RT55s. I would not change a thing with my rig. Matched with a good PSW and you've got a very solid front sound stage.

As for bi-wiring, I went back and forth on this over several months and I do notice a more open front sound stage. Give it a shot, you never know.


Peace Out~:D

schumach

I have my CS400i bi-wired and noticed the voices were easy to hear at lower volumes.

bondo

hey shumack,how do you bi-wire the polk CS400i? and what do need to do this? can you please give some detailed info on this ,so i can give it a try.your input is greatly needed thanks,...bondoman

Ron-P

bondo,

Run 2 sets of speaker wire off one channel of your amp. 1 set goes to the tweeters, one to the drivers. Done.


Peace Out~:D

juice21

does anybody know a clean way to hook both speaker runs to the reciever. i mean, does any body make a y-connector for bannana-plugs that's good?

Aaron

Buy some bi-wire speaker cable. It's a pre-made cable that has one set of connectors on the amp end and two sets of connectors on the speaker end. Several companies make these including Monster, Audiquest, and MIT. They are generally somewhat pricey, but if you really expect to get anything out of bi-wiring, this is what I would do.

Aaron

juice21

guess i should have said, other than specially made bi-wiring cable. monster makes a cable that is $85/pair, which isn't too bad, but i already have original monster with bannana's running to my front's and center now. i was looking for a way to just buy an extra run and get a good connection/y-splitter, rather than purchase the bi-wire cables, and have perfectly good original monster just laying around. it's not so much to save alot of $$, cause i think buying another run and any kind of adapter is going to run $50 plus for the front's anyway, just didn't want to have semi-expensive(to me anyway) cable laying around with no use for it.

Aaron

1) If you're just using regular Monster cable you should be able to fit two wires in a terminal. I did it with my RT55's no problem, and I know I could do it with my receiver as well. If it really difficult, you might have to get creative and strip the wires back a bit and twist them together to make a "singe" wire that goes into the terminal.

2) Sell your old Monster cable and get a nice bi-wire set. Presto, no semi-expensive wires laying around.

Aaron

PETERNG

You can run two sets of the speaker cables from the same terminal of your amp or receiver to the low and high terminals of the speaker. In most case you will not need a Y adapter or anything. In your case, you are using banana connectors; you need extra space behind the amp or receiver since you have to plug one on top of another. So if you don't want to buy the special made bi-wire cable, you only need to buy another set of MC cable (same of what you already have):)

juice21

thanks peter and aaron. i was hoping someone knew of a male to 2 female bannana y-splitter for a clean connection to the rear of my reciever. i guess i will have to double it up, or go with the bi-wire. i'll have to weigh the options. sound-which is better? the pre-made special biwire? i want to get the most out of bi-wire i can. thanks again!

PETERNG

I have a set of brand new male MC banana connectors (24 k gold plate), if you interest, post your email here. Peter...

Aaron

In terms of the best contact, I would think that two wires in the same terminal would be better than using a Y-adaptor or some such device. That's just one more interface to go through. As I said before, the best route is still a pre-made cable.

Aaron

Ron-P

I agree with Aaron that pre-made biwire cables are most likely the best, but when you need 15+ footers like me, that is not a option. I could find a better item to drop 1k on.

The fewer connections you need to make the better.

I used standard Monster wire with bananna twist on connectors. Twisted the two wires together, twisted them onto the bananna plug, and then wraped them in electrical tape. Makes for a nice clean and solid connection.


Peace Out~:D

juice21

thanks for all your help guys. i think i am clear on the options now, and it looks like only two. i think i'm going to stop bye a local place and price the two out.

Aaron

I don't know what AQ or MC, but you can get a 15' run of MIT Terminator 2 bi-wires for around $300 (includes your choice of thread-on spades or bananas). Granted that's not cheap, but a fair cry from $1000.

Aaron

MIT Terminator 2 bi-wires

schumach

I took two strips of monster cable and soldered the end going into the receiver. It was the least expensive way to give me the best results.