Bi-wiring: the receiver

djvaldez

Hi. I'm new.

Ok, so I decided to try out bi-wiring. I have a bi-wire cable ready and my Polks are bi-wirable. But I have a question about my Onkyo txsr601. It doesnt have 2 separate positive and negative inputs. It only has one positive and one negative input for each speaker. I'm pretty sure you are supposed to hook both positives and both negatives into one positive or negative. However, how the heck am I supposed to do that? Do I just insert both cables raw wire into the binding post? Or should I make one banana plug and one spade???

Thanks, greatly appreciate it.

gatemplin

Welcome to Club Polk DJ,

"Do I just insert both cables raw wire into the binding post? Or should I make one banana plug and one spade???"

You can do any of the above or you can get bi-wire cables from Kimber or bettercables or blue jean cables etc.

marcpam

Look at the z2 biwires from monster. you have pos. and neg. on one side (amp side) and 2 pos. and 2 neg. on speaker side.

djvaldez

Ok. Thanks guys.

djvaldez

Wait.... I thought bi-wiring was for separate signals to the tweeter and the woofer, right? So the receiver should have a separate output for the high and the lows right? Or else bi-wiring won't make a difference.

No?

gatemplin

Since the tweeter circuit will not draw any low frequecy current (and vice versa for the woofer circuit), that will seperate the the currents for a longer time, for the different circuits. Whether or not it makes any difference is up to your ears. If the receiver filtered the signals for the highs and lows it would totally screw up the crossover.

McLoki

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Wait.... I thought bi-wiring was for separate signals to the tweeter and the woofer, right? So the receiver should have a separate output for the high and the lows right? Or else bi-wiring won't make a difference.
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You are thinking of bi-amping. (2 amps to different terminals on the same speaker. ) Bi-wiring is just a separate signal path for 1 amp to different terminals on the same speaker. I can see it if you use special wire for the highs or lows, but really don't understand the advantage for 2 identical wires (over just a short jumper between the speakers)

Michael

Willow

Don't waste (maybe a harsh word) on premade bi-wire cables.....try reg cables if it make a diff for you then buy pre-made ones if you think it really make a diff. if you don't go the bi-wire way just change your jumpers with a DIY set

F1nut

Upgrade the jumpers and don't worry about bi-wiring.

PolkWannabie

When biwiring, the SAME signal will be sent to upper and lower speaker terminals.

When biamping, the SAME signal will be sent to both upper and lower speaker terminals unless there is a high/low pass filter in one or more of the paths.

It's not about what the individual drivers DRAW although the x/o's in front of them may LIMIT the frequency range, it's about what the amp SENDS, which will be the entire frequency range unless something limits it's input.

John K.

DJ, you pretty much got it right at the end of your third post; no, since the same signals are obviously traveling along both wires, biwiring doesn't make a significant difference, other than the two wires being equivalent to one heavier one. As Jesse and some others have suggested or implied, don't bother. If you've already bought a special cable and can't return it you can connect two wires to each post on your 601. If they're too thick to fit easily, you can trim off enough strands at the ends so that they'll fit. Within reason it doesn't matter how thick the half inch of wire at each end is.

dbournival

I tried the homemade biwire but after 2 years I felt it did not sound as good as it should. I just replaced my homemade (14/16Ga) Biwire for the center with a regular cable from Cobalt. I put the standard jumpers back in place. The Cobalt single run is superior to the homemade biwire.