replace jumper straps with speaker wire ?

begbie

I heard claims that sound quality improved when high quality speaker wire was used in its place. Plus I think some of us have experimented with this.

I was wondering how good is that stock jumper that comes with Polk's bi-wireable speakers? It's just a thin piece of gold plated metal of some sort.

I replaced them with some 12ga. wire I had left over and initially there seemed to be some minor improvements in clarity and an open air-ness.

Certainly there hasn't been any loss in quality but back to the initial question- how good are those stock jumpers and how much of a role do any jumpers play (if any) in sound quality?

Frank Z

Well I think that this really goes back to the whole bi-wire issue. Some people hear a difference, others don't. I don't think replacing the straps with wire makes any difference at all, but that's me. Others may hear a dramatic change. Basically let your ears be your guide.

begbie

Thanks Frank, actually this is a spinoff of a thread i was inquiring on bi-wiring and sleeve-jackets.

Just tweaking and experimenting that's all.

Still there must be some sort of differences in jumper straps. In terms of grade, material, cost of.

Let's say you used any of the following - cheap copper jumpers, non-gold-plated jumpers, gold plated ones , high quality speaker wire or very cheap speaker wire.
There has to be some performance differences between them all ? Maybe there is but non-audible? Just throwing ideas, theories out that's all.

fireshoes

I feel there is definitely a difference using speaker wire instead of the jumpers. Try it out and let us know what you think.

RuSsMaN

I heard a subtle difference when I had my RT800's. I tried it with B&W 601s2's, subtle difference again, tried it with Monitor Audio Bronze 2's, didn't notice much.

Funny thing, on my old KEF Cresta 2's, I thought they actually sounded better with the straps.

Try it, and see. Placebo affect can play a part here, logic says it *should* sound better. WAY back in the day, when I upgraded my TV from a 19" to a 27", I could SWEAR it made the HT rig *sound* better.

Cheers,
Russ

fireshoes

Your 27" must have filled a null or something.

I just replaced one speaker jumper and changed balance. Then I switched sides and the better sound followed. I also had other people listen without telling them what to listen for, they were also able to pick it out.

gidrah

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
I tried it with Monitor Audio Bronze 2's, didn't notice much.

Cheers,
Russ

Using these speakers I noticed a considerable improvement when I removed the jumpers and connected my speaker wires to both terminals. It may have been partially due to the removal of the gold plated connected as I was using silver plated wire. Too many platings if you know what I mean.

Some people have heard a difference connecting their speaker wire to the top terminals (everybody assumes to use the bottom) and leaving the jumpers in place. This may be worth a try, but the replacement of the jumper with a multi-strand copper of even 22 AWG will most likely be noticable. Not major or awe inspiring, but subtle and refined. Even if it remains the same to everybody else, knowing that you did it will make it sound better to you.

scottvamp

27" tv!!!!!!!!!

RuSsMaN

Originally posted by scottvamp
27" tv!!!!!!!!!

Hey man, I had to have SOME money left over for Goth Boots and Eddie Rabbit lp's....

elfboy

Ive seen that advertising which claims the stock biwire jumpers on biwireable speakers are junk and destroy the sound qaulity etc etc. LOL. If this was true no speaker would ever get a very good review unless reviwing company used biwire speaker cable on em and removed the jumpers. Lets concider the reality. Even the heavy hitter sound magazines like Absolute sound, and What Hi Fi use very good speaker cable as their reference cables when testing speakers. These tests are most often done with the jumper plates in place. And high end speakers wether top of line Polks or otherwise get there reviews based on the sound thus.

Ok, so none misunderstands what single cable with 2 connctions on amp end and 4 on speaker end does. In most cases, I'll use upper end audioquest biwire cable as example. The total speaker gauge feeding lower terminals (bass) is heavier then that feeding the upper terminals (treble). The claims are that the maker has optimized each to best feed the resulting part of speaker from a regular amp rather then two seperate ones. In most cases when you remove the jumpers and use this type of speaker cable you will notice some increase in treble responce and little less in bass or vice versa. Why? Mainly cause your now useing less total gauge wire to feed the speakers bass terminals. This can result in more perceived upper end detail and even bass articulation.

Ok, so I got curious and tried a few upper end speaker cable substitutes for the jumper plates on my speakers (Monitor Audio bronze 5's). With audioquest 16/4 speaker cable made up for two wires per terminal giving average gauge of 13, I got more treble and perceived imaging buit sound was more analytically enjoyed rather then just fun get up and dance enjoyed. So I tried some analysis plus 14 gauge speaker cable instead. Better, more fun sound to me. So it supported the reason why I swirtched from audioquest rocket 33 speaker cable to Analysis plus oval 12. So then I tried it with the jumper plates back in place and the analysus plus jumpers also still in place. Liked that even better. Is appears the analysus plus jumpers added a bit of treble detail which added to imaging, while the stock brass jumpers simply increased total gauge of the electrical signal connection allowing bit fuller sound.

So in the end, as we all know when we use common sense not clouded by hoopla, the stock jumpers on most birewireable speakers are good but may lack a little bit of treble clarity in the upper end area of overtones etc. Useing and added jumper of your fave speaker cable or its next lower gauge if cost is an issue can create a small yet noticeable improvement in articulation and indiviudal note details like overtones etc. If however the speaker cable your useing lacks such detail in sound, your not gonna notice nothing are you?

btw I also found that useing bare wire rather then terminations gave best small sound improvement for imaging. I had tried the created jumpers with monster banana and soft pins so that could experiment with the added jumpers and bounce back and forth between biwire cable and non without haveing to unscrew the terminal posts each time. Terminations of course simply added another circuit sound must go thru. But are needed for some connections when useing real heavy gauge cable such as 12 gauge or cables that use solid rather then stranded cable (such as most of audioquest).

The stock metal plate jumpers that come with biwireable speakers are the equivalent of 10 gauge or thicker wire. So the findings that useing just replacement wire jumpers results in thinner sound make sense. Unless you use at least 12 gauge replacement jumpers. Most jumoers are gold plated, very good conduit. But higher grade oxygen free etc copper can convey upper treble details better which can affect heard overtones etc too and imaging somewhat. So imo best thing is add a wire jumper between the terminals of your fave speaker cable and leave the stock jumpers in place. Too improve details making it to the midrange/tweeter part of speaker. This results in less noticeable change to the down then had when removing the stock jumpers, but more enjoyable sound tweak. Since your just giving a sound tweek that makes up for the little struggle the stock jumper has with sound details.

Was I able to create some fairly dramatic sound changes in my experiments? Yes. But when listening to the different setups for several minutes each rather then just real short term, the more dramatic sound change setups became less enjoyable and detracted from the sound qaulitites that caused me to buy the speakers in the first place. We all, like most pro reviewers do our listening tests for write up or purchase decision, do this based on how the speakers sound stock with the stock jumpers in place. Polk like many other companies make nice speakers that have decent qaulity jumpers soncs wise. Otherwise buying decisions would be based on which speakers sound less terrible. And since lotsa upper end speakers sound supurb when we buy them, the stock metal metgals must be pretty good overall mustnt they? Lol.

So end the end my take on the subject is this? If you use spendy speaker cable cause you appreciate the sound imporovement it gives your speakers, then adding a second jumper of same or comprable sepakwer cable to the biwire posts can give a small yet appreciated increase in sound details and enjoyment. If your very analytical in your lsitening enjoyment removing the stock jumpers and replaceing with heavy gauge jumpers (I tried 3 sixteen gauge audioquest to give more like 10-12 gauge equivalent total also) may be more to your liking.

In high end audio theres often talk about how some speakers sound very detailed and accurate yet lack aliveness enjoyment. Whereas some speakers sound very alive yet not as accurate in comparrison. Stock metal jumpers on upper end speakers fit into more the fun yet not as accurate (little details of sound) catagory. Adding a 2nd jumper helped those details without sacrificing the fun factor for me.

My main equiptment is Denon DRA-297 receiver, Denon dvd-1940CI dvd/cd player, audioquest diamondback interconnects, Monitor Audio Bronze 5 speakers, Analysis plus oval 12 nonbiwire speaker cable. Had previously used audioquest rocket 33 biwire speaker cable which to me sounded better with the speakers stock jumpers in place which of course let all the wires in the speaker cable go to both bass and treble terminals giving greatest gauge feed to them. But switched to the analysis plus oval 12 speaker cable cause its more fun sounding to me.

Face

Brass jumpers=junk. I use 14ga pure copper foil from an unrolled Goertz foil inductor.

BlueFox

On my 4 LSi15s in the HT I left the jumpers on, and added 12 guage wire jumpers.

TECHNOKID

BlueFox wrote: »

On my 4 LSi15s in the HT I left the jumpers on, and added 12 guage wire jumpers.

Makes sense, gives you thicker gage by doing so. I'd say most jumpers are junk, replacing with some of higher quality conductor definitely be an upgrade. Furthermore, we also have to consider that the least junctions in the connections the better it is therefore if you were to simply strip your bare cable a little longer in order to do a straight jump from one terminal post to the other, it would make a better connection, leaving the jumper over that should simply create a larger gage connection.

Zeros

Do you really think there is a difference though? I hate to play the devil's advocate here, but its a very small piece of metal/wire/jumper. I would agree if it were a longer wire, but...

kevhed72

It worth a try considering it will cost you nothing if you already some extra wire. I pulled mine off my A9s last night and replaced with the thick, 10 AWG cables about 8" in length I had from an old set of RT1000p's. I need to do some more "back and forth" tests before I am completely convince, but my B]initial impression was my music was imaging in space better than before.
(I also had to plug the cables from the AVR into the top set of terminals to make room for the 8" cables...).

I am surprised nobody (that I know of) is selling super-thick, high-end jumpers...

Face

Sonic Craft sells high end jumpers from Cardas and Alpha Core.

Willow

I use these on my rti8...

kevhed72

Willow wrote: »

I use these on my rti8...

Them are purty...the cables I hooked up are more or less same idea.
What type of difference did these make for you?

Willow

I couldn't tell a difference except they look prettier. Mind you I have never done any comparing.

F1nut

MIT sells very nice jumpers.

kawizx9r

Just wanted to say that, I'm definitely a cable believer but not sure exactly when it comes to jumpers from a bi-ampable set of speakers. To each his/her own but if there was to be any "subtle" differences I would assume that it would be in regards to the bass drivers if said speaker cable was connected to a top set of terminals (usually powering the tweeter/midbass drivers). Has anyone here that has heard that "difference" replace the wires/upgraded jumper to the stock jumper and ran their speaker wire to the bottom set of terminals instead? I bet it would sound the same as opposed to running better quality wire/jumpers and having the wire connected to the top set. Thicker/better quality wire, once again in my experience, slightly improved my bass/lower frequencies but never anything else. I would guess that some hearing a difference are possibly experiencing a placebo effect, or hearing what I had described above. Again, its just my theory...I can't hear things the way everyone else hears them, just as long as you enjoy the music

PSOVLSK

I've never seen a 6 year old thread get revived with such active participation:D

From the length of the post, elfboy may have begun composing it 6 years ago.

TECHNOKID

Willow wrote: »

I use these on my rti8...

You made those your self, aren't those pieces of coat hangers with crimped on lugs

Joke aside, the jumpers are actually more than cabling, it is an extra link in the chain and the more links the more potential drop in SQ, right?

Cheers!
TK

TECHNOKID

PSOVLSK wrote: »

I've never seen a 6 year old thread get revived with such active participation:D

From the length of the post, elfboy may have begun composing it 6 years ago.

WOW, never realize that thread was this old! That's a long time to find the right answer

Cheers!
TK

Willow

TECHNOKID wrote: »

You made those your self, aren't those pieces of coat hangers with crimped on lugs

Joke aside, the jumpers are actually more than cabling, it is an extra link in the chain and the more links the more potential drop in SQ, right?

Cheers!
TK

Those ones in the pic are not mine per say...Mine are much better looking! I was at working typing that and didn't have pics so I found these as an example of mine. I'd say there are no more connections using these as opposed to using the metal bars that come with the speakers. If I can get around to taking pics of mine I will. I did have them posted a while back...a very long time ago here.