Bi-wiring and bi-polars

aodh_rua

Two quick questions to help me with my new speakers...

I've a set of bi-wired fronts - what's the easiest way to wire them into my av reciever (it's got screw connectors - Marantz SR4400). Is the easiest way to feed both cables into the one output on the 4400 and then feed them seperately into the speakers? Or should I just treat them like regular speakers and just supply one set of terminals on the rear - will I notice much of a difference.

Second thing - anyone got some advice on where to place bi-polar rears. The manufacturer says in line with the seating position and up on the wall.

The speakers are Gale 3040 floorstanders and 3060 rears.

Much obliged!

robbie1876

The right way is to feed the cables into the output of the 4400 as you describe. The idea behind it is that the bass and treble frequencies travel seperately down the cable once the signal leaves the amp. This is because at the other end, the crossover restricts what frequencies can be pulled in each input, so they are seperated in the cable. In reality however, this doesn't make any noticable difference to what you hear. You need to go to a bi-amp situation before you hear any real benefit, but I wouldn't worry about this.

The right place for your bi-poles are indeed in line for the seating position, but make sure you wire them as bi-poles (in phase) rather than di-poles (out of phase).

Robbie

aodh_rua

robbie1876 wrote:

The right place for your bi-poles are indeed in line for the seating position, but make sure you wire them as bi-poles (in phase) rather than di-poles (out of phase).

Does that mean taking care with which terminal on the amp goes to which terminal on the speaker?

Cheers for the other advice on the bi-wiring.

robbie1876

Yeah, if you have bi-wire coming from your amp, you'll have two positive wires and two negative wires. on your speakers, remove any bridging posts there may be between the two sets of terminals. Then connect the positive cables to positive terminals, and negative cables to the negative terminals!

If you were di-poling the speakers, you would connect one set of terminals in phase (+ to + and - to -) and the other set out of phase (+ to - and - to +). You should try this anyway, so you know what the difference sounds like.

Whatever you do, don't connect the positve and negative wires together when the amp is on. This will trip out your amp and may short it, causing damage. Double check all your connections before you switch the amp on.

Robbie

aodh_rua

Cheers Robbie - I'll let you know how I get on.

robbie1876

Sorry, I've led you astray then! If the rears only have one set of terminals, then obviously you just use the one cable with +/- connections. Those Gale bipolars can't be used as dipoles, so you don't need to worry about any of that in my last post.

Regarding the front bi-wire speakers, yes they are the ones to be a little careful with when biwiring. You just need to be careful you don't connect the positive and negative wires together to short the amp out. This is true if you are wiring normal speakers too.

If you wire to one pair of terminals on the speaker and you have the 'bridging posts' in place, that will work fine. Without the bridging posts, wiring to one set will only get you either the woofer or the tweeter working, not both, so it will sound a bit odd to say the least.

Overall, I'd recommend that you just sinlge wire to the front speakers and use the bridging posts, it's easier and you won't hear the difference tbh. Sorry for the confusion!

Robbie