Biwire cable layout

[Jim Smith]

I asked this on Audiogon with little response. Hopefully, some cable experts here can help:

I want to try bi-wiring to see if it is worthwhile in my system.

I have two pairs of unshielded Duelund speaker cables for bi-wiring my speakers. I have dual mono tube amps, full-range - no electronic xovers involved.

Assuming the 16 ga. treble pair & the 12 ga. bass/mid pair are both lightly twisted in one direction (or not), what to do with the 2 pairs in each channel?

FWIW - I do not mean combining left & right channel cables in a single run. Only the bass & treble cables within each channel.

Should I not twist them together, or twist them together as well?

Same direction (clockwise or anticlockwise) or reverse?

I've seen replies to this inquiry in the past, but nothing recent. Your input will be most appreciated.

 

[Speedskater]

Lets look at a Cat5 cable. It has 4 pairs of conductors, each twisted at a different rate. So lightly twist each pair at a different rate. Then even more lightly twist the 2 pairs together, maybe in the opposite direction. At audio frequencies and speaker impedances, crosstalk and interference pickup won't be big problems. It would be more of a mechanical, ease of construction thing.

 

[Jim Smith]

Thanks Speedskater!

That's close to what I thought, but the reply at Audio Asylum - the Cables forum, not Audiogon as I mistakenly posted above - was somewhat different (edited slightly, for relevance & grammar):

"I would keep the pairs for high and low separated. Less magnetic induction from the bass pair to the high pair. Parallel wires per pair is what I would do. Twisting can add capacitance. Twisting for noise cancellation is more useful on low level cabling. I doubt if you can hear the difference. Just test it. It also depends on the amp-speaker combination."

Any thoughts? Loudspeakers are Joseph Audio Perspective 2s, which come with the input connectors arranged for bi-wiring if the owner so chooses.

 

[Speedskater]

Don't worry about any of those things, they are over thinking stuff.

 

[Spock]

"I would keep the pairs for high and low separated. Less magnetic induction from the bass pair to the high pair. Parallel wires per pair is what I would do. Twisting can add capacitance. Twisting for noise cancellation is more useful on low level cabling. I doubt if you can hear the difference. Just test it. It also depends on the amp-speaker combination."

I agree.
From my experience I would never put unshielded cables close to each other.

 

[nicoff]

I agree.
From my experience I would never put unshielded cables close to each other.

And your background is??
(Just Asking because Speedskater shows in his tag that he has a background in audio and electronic engineering)

 

[Spock]

And your background is??
(Just Asking because Speedskater shows in his tag that he has a background in audio and electronic engineering)

I'm sorry, I didn't see at the entrance that the forum was restricted to engineers. My experience is really my practical experience of hours, weeks, months, or I must even say years because it is not over yet, making and undoing cables and experimenting ... and listening, and listening, and listening again...

 

[Jim Smith]

The

And your background is??
(Just Asking because Speedskater shows in his tag that he has a background in audio and electronic engineering)

I’m ultimately gonna have to listen for myself, but I truly appreciate anyone who has an opinion and who takes the time to offer it.

 

[Speedskater]

I agree.
From my experience I would never put unshielded cables close to each other.

Note that some pro audio people are sending 4 audio signals thru an unshielded Cat5 cable.

 

[W9TR]

Jum,
I’d start with the cables separated by a few inches just because it is easiest to do. If you want to twist them together for aesthetic reasons then go for it. I think the capacitive coupling will be de minimus because the two cables are essentially at the same potential with respect to each other. Since each pair is already twisted the inductive coupling between twisted pairs will be very low as well.

 

[Speedskater]

Yes Tom, this is about speaker cables. With the amp's output impedance is less than 1 Ohm and the speaker's impedance is maybe 8 Ohms. So capacitance, inductance and crosstalk won't be problems.