Balanced speaker wires

[Mad Bomber]

How can you make regular speaker wire to be balanced like the XLR wires. I will make wires same length from left to right. TIA Eric

[lorenmjones]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

How can you make regular speaker wire to be balanced like the XLR wires. I will make wires same length from left to right. TIA Eric

No

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

How can you make regular speaker wire to be balanced like the XLR wires. I will make wires same length from left to right. TIA Eric

You can't, and there's no reason to do so. The reason why balanced transmission between components is used is contained here:

http://www.rane.com/note110.html

There is no need to have speaker cables the same length either.

[Mad Bomber]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

So what is the best speaker wire for medium to high end system? System will bi- amp speakers. I've got 3 sets of B&W's 600's series with 2 subs in a 18X24 room

[djg]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

:eek: Prepare for the onslaught.

[Face]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/index.htm

[jinjuku]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

Belden, Canare, Liberty, Gepco, Parts-Express, Monoprice, Monster if you can find a reasonable price.

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

So what is the best speaker wire for medium to high end system? System will bi- amp speakers. I've got 3 sets of B&W's 600's series with 2 subs in a 18X24 room

Pure copper, of adequate gauge. Use this to determine gauge requirements:

http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

There is nothing to be gained in spending one penny more than you have to.
BTW, there is also nothing to be gained by either bi-wiring or so-called 'passive' bi-amping. If you're not using an electronic crossover to separately amplify the high and low frequencies and the passive crossovers in the speakers are not bypassed you're not bi-amping.

[isaeagle4031]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

bill I would like to agree with your last statement but can't. I use a separate amp for lows and mid/highs. passive crossovers in full. there is a huge audible difference than using a single amp. I tested and had another set of ears that confirmed. as far as wiring I concur but 2 amps made a world of difference to me.

[craigk]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

I agree with chuck. I use a pair of Jeff Rowland mono amps on top, and Spectral 250 on the bottom and there is a large difference in sound over just using one amp in the system. not that I do not like the Spectral to drive the speakers, I just prefer the Rowlands warmer top end on most music. if I am looking for a little more detail, less warmth, I take the Rowlands out of the loop. I agree that using one amp with 2 channels and bi wiring will not get you much. I also will have any one that does not think that there is a difference in the sound of good amps to come over and listen. amps have a sound.

[johnk...]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

Pure copper, of adequate gauge. Use this to determine gauge requirements:

http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

There is nothing to be gained in spending one penny more than you have to.
BTW, there is also nothing to be gained by either bi-wiring or so-called 'passive' bi-amping. If you're not using an electronic crossover to separately amplify the high and low frequencies and the passive crossovers in the speakers are not bypassed you're not bi-amping.

Bill, I have to disagree. There are advantages to both passive bi-wiring and passive bi-amping. You are thinking only about the voltage signal reaching the speaker. You have to consider the current and also how each section of the crossover is terminated when passively bi-w'ed or bi-a'ed.

[billfitzmaurice]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

bill I would like to agree with your last statement but can't. I use a separate amp for lows and mid/highs. passive crossovers in full. there is a huge audible difference than using a single amp. I tested and had another set of ears that confirmed. as far as wiring I concur but 2 amps made a world of difference to me.

If you separately amplify the separate band widths there is reduced IMD, but IME that alone isn't enough of a reason to bi-amp. And if the passive had inadequate slope to protect the HF drivers from over-excursion the resulting lower THD would be audible. But I've always found that if you don't yank the passives you're not getting anywhere near what you should for overall results. Of course with the so-called passive bi-amping offered in AVRs there is no bandwidth splitting, the amps both get a full range signal, so you don't get any benefit.

[Alien_Shore]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

bill I would like to agree with your last statement but can't. I use a separate amp for lows and mid/highs. passive crossovers in full. there is a huge audible difference than using a single amp. I tested and had another set of ears that confirmed. as far as wiring I concur but 2 amps made a world of difference to me.

Would that imply that the single amp is underpowered?

[dthomas]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

Would that imply that the single amp is underpowered?

maybe every instance can be different. But you can have an advantage when you seperate the HP and LP networks. The overall load on dual amps when bi wired becomes less reactive. But to put a finger on when and where the advantages are is dependent on the individual cases. But most amps behave better when presented with a less reactive load.

[Jim Griffin]

Re: Balanced speaker wires

If you are planning to bi-amp, then I suggest Canare 4S11 cable as a possible cable. The 4S11 cable consists of 4 separate 14 AWG conductors in one envelope so you can use it for a bi-amp situation.

Normally, I use 4S11 for stereo and connect it in star quad configuration which ties the two red conductors and two white conductors together at each end so that an 11 AWG cable is attained with noise rejecting properties.

I would add Speakon connectors to your speakers so that connections are solid and more trouble free via Speakon terminations. The bi-amp pair of 4 total conductors can be conducted down a single cable and kept separate if you use Canare 4S11.