Success Bi-wiring RTi8s and other great speakers
SolidSqual
Posts: 5,218
I've been speaking with a number of people around this forum regarding the benefits of bi-wiring. Unfortunately, many of us our relatively new to the audiophile ring. I consider myself to be on the relative fringe (until I get a better job with a less limited income).
Anyway, can some of you veterans please share your experience with bi-wiring? Was it worth the extra time, money and cabling? Was there any difference in sound? Was the difference good? If you could do your whole system all over again, would you bi-wire?
Oh and yes, I know bi-amping is better, but not all of us can afford two Parasound HALO amps! So let's just keep this to bi-wiring. OK go . . . !
Anyway, can some of you veterans please share your experience with bi-wiring? Was it worth the extra time, money and cabling? Was there any difference in sound? Was the difference good? If you could do your whole system all over again, would you bi-wire?
Oh and yes, I know bi-amping is better, but not all of us can afford two Parasound HALO amps! So let's just keep this to bi-wiring. OK go . . . !
Post edited by SolidSqual on
Comments
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You might be best served to phone up BJC and place an order for eight banana plugs, some red/black heat shrink, and a foot of the 5000UE. Make your own jumpers and replace the stock brass one's. I noticed a difference, just nothing to write the parents about.
That being said..... I opt for bi-wire cables so as to avoid any "what-if?" scenarios...I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore -
I've tried bi-wiring a couple of times and it hasn't made a difference, although my experimentation was limited to the HT system. I think it should be considered as a final tweak once you've fully completed setting up your rig, but only if you have some extra cables laying around. There's plenty of lively debate out there on whether bi-wiring really matters.
Instead of bi-wiring, I'd recommend spending those few extra dollars on better speaker cables and/or interconnects.HT/2-channel Rig: Sony 50 LCD TV; Toshiba HD-A2 DVD player; Emotiva LMC-1 pre/pro; Rogue Audio M-120 monoblocks (modded); Placette RVC; Emotiva LPA-1 amp; Bada HD-22 tube CDP (modded); VMPS Tower II SE (fronts); DIY Clearwave Dynamic 4CC (center); Wharfedale Opus Tri-Surrounds (rear); and VMPS 215 sub
"God grooves with tubes." -
SolidSqual wrote:Anyway, can some of you veterans please share your experience with bi-wiring? Was it worth the extra time, money and cabling? Was there any difference in sound? Was the difference good? If you could do your whole system all over again, would you bi-wire?
Oh and yes, I know bi-amping is better, but not all of us can afford two Parasound HALO amps! So let's just keep this to bi-wiring. OK go . . . !
I tried a number of combinations- bi-amping using amp for low, receiver for high... amp for high and low (front)... and bi-wiring, allowing me to run all 5 channels from my amp.
I settled on bi-wiring. The evaluation process was not scientific, but bi-wiring was the clear favorite in my situation, as it allowed me to run all of my speakers from my amp. The difference, to me, is clear, as compared with single wiring and factory jumpers. Based on what I've read here, you may achieve the same gain by upgrading to some DIY jumpers.
Pick up some Canare 4S11 from BJC and some bananas from Parts Express and mess around. My guess is you'll see an improvement.
Good luck.Main Rig
Pioneer Elite SC-05, Rotel RMB-1075
RT800i, CS400i, RT35i, FXi50, Klipsch RSW-12
Pioneer Elite DV F-07, PS3, Wii
Monster HTS 3500 MKII
SC Analog 2, BJC Speaker Wire
Samsung HL61A650
2nd Rig
Pioneer Elite VSX-56txi, Pioneer Elite DV-47a
Cambridge Soundworks, MC150 (Center), MC100 x 4, Mirage LF-150
Office
Adcom GTP-400, Adcom GFA-535II, (need a quality CDP), RT55i -
I bi-wired my RTi8's using AudioQuest Type 8 speaker wire (single bi-wire config directly from them). This arrangement didn't make much difference to this noobs ear, however bi-amping the Rotel 985 (200 watts/RTi8 bi-amped) made quite a difference in 2 channel sound. Much of the brightness was tamed IMO. You can find the 985's on Ebay from time to time going for $400 to $500. There is one on there now if you're interested in giving that a shot.
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I did see an increase in the amount of cables running from my receiver to my speakers. I did not hear a difference when I bi-wired my 8's. As others mentioned I replaced the stock jumpers with speaker cable then when I was presented with the opportunity to purchase some XLO jumpers I did so. I used kimber 4pr until last week when I received my AQ type 2. I am not using the bi-wire method. I used both cables in one banana plug.
