Replacing Stock Jumpers?

Firerider58

Saw this in an earlier post, and also read it in a review of the 800's. Question is,,,what does this accomplish performance wise? Is a heavy wire required for it?? I find it hard to believe that they could sound any better, but I'm willing to listen to any advice. Thank's for any help!

Ron

Jay M

Hi Ron, here is the theroy behind bi-wiring.
As the 6.5" drivers, in your speakers, move forward and backward producing sound they also produce what is called "back EMF". If you were to hold a single 6.5" driver in your hand and attached an AC voltmeter to the terminals on the driver and then pushed on the speaker cone with your finger tips, you would see AC voltage appearing on the meter. The motion of the speaker's voice coil in the speaker's magnetic field results in electricity being generated. This is called back EMF and when the jumper wires, on the back of the speaker, are connected this back EMF is fed into tweeters and can effect the way the tweeters do their job. This can cause modulation distortion, one frequency modulating another frequency.
If you remove the jumper connections on the back of the speaker and run a second pair of wires from the other binding posts to the receiver the low impedance of the receiver acts as a "sponge" for these back EMF signals and prevents the interaction of the drivers and the tweeters. In a nutshell, bi-wiring can reduce intermodulation distortion by absorbing, at the receiver, the back EMF produced by the drivers.
Larger guage speaker wire may be appropiate if you were running longer lengths. Replacing the jumper plate will not affect the sound.
I hope this is helpful information.

Jason @ Polk Audio

newsman

Wow, that's is the shortest and the most useful post on biwiring I ever seen in my life. Finally I understand what biwiring tries to accomplish. Does BMF from two 6.5 drivers can actually interfere with signal to the tweeter to a degree where it becomes audible? I wish I had time and cable to experiment!

egk

Hi,

That IS a good explaination. My question then is, why doesn't Polk use better jumpers so we don't have to replace them? It can't be very expensive.

Ed

trubluluc

EGK-

Replacing the jumpers may or may not make an audible difference, I tend to think it wouldn't make much of a difference.
Either way it is not the same as Bi-wiring, which runs separate cable all the way back to the receiver.

-luc

Strong Bad

If I interpret Jay M's posting correctly, then a jumper of any quality is the weak link here. Wouldn't matter if it were made of copper, gold, platinum, aluminum, etc...the problem is, having a jumper.

Jay M, from your experience and those at Polk (as well as any others), does eliminating the jumper link for speaker wires (bi-wire configuration) tend to smooth out the high frequencies as well as increase detail, imaging, etc...???

Sounds like it may, but please clarify.

Thanks for the great posting.


John

newsman

John, I agree and disagree with what you've said. Jumper in our polk speakers is just what any other speaker with single pair of posts have. Only in their case jumpers are inside of a box without us having an option of running separate cable runs to tweeter and midbass. As far as quality of the jumper is conserned, than unless you make pure gold or silver jumper you won't achieve a better (theoretically) jumper. The one supplied has gold plating already and has larger surface area than a 12Ga cable, and you wold never hope for achieving a shorter path and gold plating throughout with mid-range cables in place of jumpers.

But unfortunately I don't think you'll have your second question answered from any Polk or any other employee. It's just too controversal of a topic, although it would be nice to have feedback from the great players at Polk. But I've heard mixed repors from users, some claim to hear increased clarity-otheres don't hear any difference. I guess you'll never know unless you try. If any of you guys would have a chance to do a comparison let us know!

rskarvan

Isn't bi-wiring really the same as installing a REALLY LONG jumper? Think about it. At the receiver, the back EMF would have the opportunity to just jump back into the long speaker wire going back to the tweeter. Personally, I think bi-amping can give you better sound. Bi-wiring is only recommended by the guys that sell speaker wire and end-connectors.

SONYTHEATER

I JUST WANT TO SAY ITS FUNNY EVERYONE IS CONCERED WITH WIRES AND JUMPERS:rolleyes: BUT NOBODY HAS SAID A THING ABOUT THE WIRES INSIDE YOUR SPEAKERS OR THE NETWORKING ON THE CROSSOVER... HAVE ANY OF YOU EVER SEEN THE SKIMPY WIRE INSIDE YOUR SPEAKERS (16AWG STANDERD JUNK).I HAVE THREE PAIRS OF RT55I AND A CS 400I ON MY SYSTEM AND I HAVE REWIRED ALL OF THEM INSIDE WITH MONSTER 14 AWG WIRE. ITS LIKE THEY SAY A CHAIN IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS WEAKEST LINK. IM JUST SURPISED THAT I HAVENT HEARD ANYONE MENTION THIS BEFORE SO I THOUGHT ID DROP MY TWO CENTS.:D

juice21

is it tough getting in there and having enough room to do all that??? i have contemplated getting 'inside' my speakers to see what's going on, guess i'm just afraid of messing something up...

SONYTHEATER

NO ITS NO HARD AT ALL TO REWIRE BUT YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE THE SPEAKERS AN THE REAR TERMINAL PLATE OUT TO DO EVERYTHING RIGHT. JUST TAKE YOUR TIME LOOK AT EVERYTHING REALLY GOOD BEFORE YOU UNHOOH ANY WIRES,MARE A DRAWING IF YOU NEED TO, YOU WILL NEED TO UN SOLDER YOUR WIRES AT THE CROSSOVER AND DISCONECT THEM AT THE SPEAKERS OF CORSE. USE YOUR OLD WIRES AS A COMPERASON FOR LENGTH BREAK OUT SOME SOLDER AN GO AT IT. YOU DO WONT TO BE CAREFULL ON THE BOARD THOUGH AS YOU PUSH THE NEW WIRE THROUGH IT CAN LIFT THE METAL FILM OFF THE GLASS IF YOU GET IT TO HOT WHEN YOU RESOLDER IT.
LIKE I SAID IF YOU TAKE YOUR TIME IS REALLY PRETTY EASY TO DO, HOPE THIS HELPS OUT AND GOOD LUCK IF YOU GO AT IT.:D

RuSsMaN

Stop yelling.

R

newsman

Nevermind yelling. Tell me more about the wiring inside the Polks. This topic conserned me for a while now, I was hopping that Polk uses at least Monster cable staff, I'm not even talking about cabling that Klipsch uses on all of their speakers (DH Labs). Polk have great drives, good cabinets - I can't believe they couldn't spear two meters of quality cable per unit. I paid my hard earned money for high quality component. Now i feel a bit cheated :mad: I don't believe cables make a huge difference compared to say better tweeter. But quality wiring is what adds final touch to the sound, and exploits the full potential of the drivers.

I feel sorry now that I replied to this topic in a first place. I always though I'm getting the very best bang for the buck with Polks, but now examining closely the finish of my speakers (there are spaces between the wood veneer , making it obious it's not real wood or a high dollar speaker) and now wiring...

juice21

thanks sonytheater, i may have a go at it when i get a free chance after the holidays! i too, am pretty dissapointed that it is 'crap' wire in there...

newsman

I've read my post and it sound like I'm whining. I'm not, just wanted to express some frustration that's all. I examined my speakers from the rear and I don't see how I'll be able to access its internals. Removing speaker posts alone won't give the access I need. I'm very critical to cosmetical outlook and don't really want to mess with the speakers. I would've been a lot easier for Polk to put good wiring in a first place.

Look at me, whining again. :rolleyes:

jcaut

While I'll agree that they could use better wire inside, and it might make those who open up the speakers and actually see the inside feel better, I seriously doubt that the quality of the wire inside hurts the sound. I mean, if there were 30 feet of wire inside, then maybe. We're talking a very short distance.

If you're really concerned about it, then replace it. It can't be that hard. I'd hate to go cutting and soldering on my speakers for the small improvement that better wire might produce, however.

I believe when Klipsch wires their speakers with whatever-it-is high-priced wire, they're mainly doing it for the marketing. They may be getting compensated by the manufacturer of that wire, as well. Besides that, is the "Klipsch sound" what we're striving for? Not me!

I'm all for tweaking and striving for the best from what I've got, but I sincerely believe that replacing the internal wiring would be a waste of effort.

Jason

BTW, That post from JayM on the benefits of bi-wiring was a great explanation of the theory behing bi-wiring. I've got my RT800i's bi-wired, and I think I can hear a difference. I'm with rskarvan, though. It seems the same as using a really long jumper.

LordSpeakaMinch

.

Jay M

Boy I don't know what to reply too first.

OK lets see
To answer the first question, replacing the jumper in my opinion would not make a difference. Please know that I have not tried, and tested this and I do not suggest anyone else replace his or her jumpers with aluminum or whatever metal. The jumpers are very conductive and give the opportunity to BI-wire.


Now onto the interior wiring. First I would like to state that the interior wiring is not
16 gauge junk
It is infact a oxygen free copper speaker wire that is very conductive,
If someone fells that there speaker will perform better or more efficiently by a name brand speaker wire or a larger gauge than you definitely have the option of replacing the wire in your speakers, HOWEVER the warranty will be void at that point.
I will diagree with the statement of junky speaker wire. Just because the gauge of the wire is not a brand name or a larger gauge, that does not determine the quality of that speaker wire. Here is one thing to consider when looking at speaker wire in general……the length of the wire run.

The length and the run of the speaker wire from the x-over to the tweeter and the driver. It really does not need to be a very large gauge just for the fact that it is not a long run. The length of the run should dictate the gauge of the wire.
Also the one more thingthe board will only accommodate 16 gauge wire. If you solder 14 gauge wire you risk tearing the copper off the circuit board.

There is always going to be a better cable, or a wire or something. I want everyone to understand me when I say these things, I am just stating the facts that may help some of you with Home Theater and speakers in general.
I hope this has been helpful and if anyone has any?’s please fell free to ask.

Jmelani@polkaudio.com

Jay

Jay M

By the way!! I forgot to mention this

I am glad to see that my post was helpful to everyone.

Everyone, Have a great Holiday!!!!!
J:D