Bi-wiring DOES work if you have external crossovers.

[Chris]

I would encourage all those who have external crossovers to place them as close as poss. to their amps and then run long(er) bi-wire cables out to their speakers.
I built my DIY speakers - World Audio Wd25TEx - with external crossovers and I have always positioned their respective crossovers in boxes under a bureau strategically placed between them via say 60cms of bi-wired cable and with 5m of underfloor single stereo cable from amp to crossovers.
Well fast forward to last month when I read a resurrected 10 year old thread on pfm DIY which included a post by Les Wolstenholme saying "the sooner you divide the signal into its frequency groups (Bi or Tri wire ) the clearer it all sounds", no explanation why but a few had done it and rated the results so I now have placed my crossovers just 30cms from my amp and run bi-wired cables to my speakers. Boy does it work.
Don´t know why and don´t care. I understand that in fact there is no change in the electrical circuit but I swear it´s like having a new, better amp.
Just do it if you get the chance.

[Stratmangler]

What you've described is not biwiring.
All you've done is connect the crossover with very long tails to the drivers.

[Chris]

Yes, of course. Bi-wiring has always been taken as beginning at the amp - in this case it begins at the crossover (inevitably) - The physical distance from amp to speaker is a constant but it does involve almost double the amount of cable which, I think, is what most of us refer to when talking about bi-wiring being a bit of a waste of time. It certainly did nothing for me in the traditional guise and now it certainly does..

[DSJR]

Better still if you have a pre-power that is suitable - place the power amps as close to the speakers as possible and use a very low capacitance cable from pre to power. Not really suitable for passive preamps, but many active preamps can drive several metres of interconnect with no issues (my old Croft hates it, but it's an exception).

[Simon_LDT]

I've just came from a bi-wired connection. Used to have 2x2.5mm Van Damme Blue but decided to try 4mm single wire (same VD Blue), with 4mm wire jumpers between the posts. I'm not hearing any difference at all. Then again my speakers have passive crossovers and from everything I've read on the subject, bi-wiring will only give benefits when using active crossovers (which makes sense).

[YNWaN]

There seems to be some confusion amongst contributors as to what constitute bi-wiring, bi-amping and (possibly) active operation.

However, to address the topic, I'm not sure what the actual technical difference is in moving the crossover in this manner. All the signal and return paths stay the same, the only thing that has changed is the cable that goes between the amplifier and the crossover becomes short and the cables from the crossover to the drive units becomes long.

In my own case I have three way speakers and the crossover is external. However, the tweeter and mid crossovers share no common paths (except at the amp) and are independently wired (bi-wired). To confuse the issue a bit more the speaker cable is relatively long compared to the umbilical joining the crossover to the speakers and the bass is actively driven from another amp completely, also via relatively long cable (five metres) but connected directly to just the bass drivers.

[YNWaN]

I've just came from a bi-wired connection. Used to have 2x2.5mm Van Damme Blue but decided to try 4mm single wire (same VD Blue), with 4mm wire jumpers between the posts. I'm not hearing any difference at all. Then again my speakers have passive crossovers and from everything I've read on the subject, bi-wiring will only give benefits when using active crossovers (which makes sense).

You can't bi-wire as such if you are using active crossovers but you must inherently use separate runs of cable for each drive unit.

[Barry]

There seems to be some confusion amongst contributors as to what constitute bi-wiring, bi-amping and (possibly) active operation.

However, to address the topic, I'm not sure what the actual technical difference is in moving the crossover in this manner. All the signal and return paths stay the same, the only thing that has changed is the cable that goes between the amplifier and the crossover becomes short and the cables from the crossover to the drive units becomes long.

In my own case I have three way speakers and the crossover is external. However, the tweeter and mid crossovers share no common paths (except at the amp) and are independently wired (bi-wired). To confuse the issue a bit more the speaker cable is relatively long compared to the umbilical joining the crossover to the speakers and the bass is actively driven from another amp completely, also via relatively long cable (five metres) but connected directly to just the bass drivers.

This might be of help: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...-and-Bi-wiring .

[Macca]

.

However, to address the topic, I'm not sure what the actual technical difference is in moving the crossover in this manner. All the signal and return paths stay the same, the only thing that has changed is the cable that goes between the amplifier and the crossover becomes short and the cables from the crossover to the drive units becomes long.

.

If there is a technical difference I don't know what it is. I doubt many have tried this for themselves as it is usual to place external crossovers next to the speakers. More to keep them out of the way than anything, I suppose.

[YNWaN]

Unfortunately it would involve a lot of custom cable making and a load of general 'dicking about' for me to achieve this mod. If I saw some logic to it I would be prepared to go to the effort (as I have all the necessary hardware) but without some technical persuasion (particularly given my non-standard wiring config) I am reluctant to experiment in this area. However, as ever, I remain open to persuasion.