Speakers. Jumper wires instead of supplied plates. Any sonic benefits?

My original jumpers were lost long ago, I had used a couple scraps of 18 ga. lamp cord to get me by. I recently replaced them with custom jumpers made with QED XT-400. The siblance issue I had with a couple recording seems to be resolved...I can enjoy them again.

 

I was already using XT40 speaker cable & when I added the XT40 jumpers I had a marked lessening of occasional sibilance too, sibilance didn't dissapear, but a very good improvement.

 

So if I´m reading most correctly here. If we have some kind of metal jumper thingy, never mind what; changing that rather randomly to another metal jumper thingy, never mind what; it will sound better?

 

Thought of that, but that'd require changing the termination (bananas to spades) on my cabling. Don’t want to strip it back to a bare wire either. My previous amp (Marantz PM 8003) had two sets of speaker terminals so i was running A+B. As you rightly guessed. The improvement the new amp brought to my system rendered any previous bi-wiring benefits almost insignificant. Just wondered if the supplied speaker jumpers are the remaining bottleneck or I shouldn't bother at all.

Based on the majority of responses from forum members I am now committed to make those jumpers from the same speaker wire I’m using. The cost is not going to break the bank.


Regards

 

I got my jumpers free from my local dealer. They came off the end of a reel. Therefore, perhaps, find a kind-hearted dealer with just a metre left of the same cable as you current use.

Then there is the question of which set of terminals to plug the main speaker cables into......

 

That's easy. Diagonal.

Cheers

 

Curious as to why a change in jumper wires/material never results in SQ getting worse?

Always seems to stay the same or get better.

Only ratchets in one direction.

.

 

I see what you did there

 

Anyone here believe that, when using jumpers, if you connect the main speaker wire to the HF terminals you get better top end definition, and if you connect the main speaker wire to the LF terminals you get better low end?

 

Yes, if we for some reason run out of free electrons.

 

Believing is hearing...

 

My personal experience concurs with these posts. Even the plates I've gotten on a pair of speakers many would consider to be pretty serious business are best removed and replaced with good jumpers to optimize performance. And having tried different jumpers on said speakers, I agree that there are audible differences between them so I would suggest trying some different options if you can. The end result I ended up liking the best with my stuff was using jumpers which were the same brand and series as the speaker cables. My entire system is actually single-ream now cable-wise.

D.D.

 

Again, strictly speaking from my own experience, changing between different jumpers results in audible changes but not necessarily in audible improvements. What constitutes an improvement is largely subjective, though. If I went back from the jumpers I'm using now to what I've tried previously, IMO the sound quality would indeed be degraded so no, it does ratchet both ways. Where it has only ratcheted in one direction in my experience is when you change from the nasty little straps that your speaker manufacturer has supplied to a decent jumper. This move has always been progress in my experience. I would think that says more about the sonic degradation inflicted by the straps, even on spendy speakers where you get such "improvements " as silver-plating on the straps, than it says about anything else. The straps seem consistently problematic / inferior.

D.D.

 

What is the quality of cabling like inside most speakers?

 

Can't speak for most speakers.

 

I mean, if the quality of the cabling inside is "normal", is it really worthwhile experimenting with different strands of jumper wire?

 

I guess it will partly depend on how serious the designer is. If you are serious it´s just a wire of some sort.

 

If a person has one leg shorter than the other, is it still worth treating them for a gunshot wound ?

D.D.

 

Any 14 Ga to 10 Ga wire will trump any plate. It's not worth wasting $ on brand name jumpers. You can make them yourself & terminate them with spades or banana plugs, whichever works best for your app. Bear in mind were talking about 6" to possibly 1 ft terminated.

 

This could be the subject of its own thread. I wouldn't recommend that configuration. I believe the OP recommends diagonal or "Z' wiring. I tried it and prefer the standard speaker wire to low frequency terminal and jumper up to high frequency.
All these configurations result in noticeably different sound reproductions!

 

I did the same once on my Pioneer reciver and the volume dropped A LOT

 

What if the supplied jumper plates are of high quality. Would removing them for jumper wires make any difference?

Bill

 

Bi-Wire Jumpers »

 

I'll have to look but I think my Salk 1801TLs have Cardas bi-wire terminals and jumpers. I'll have to check. Either way the terminals look to be brass or copper and by appearance look to be very well made.

Bill

 

Even after a gazillion hour burn in, nothing wears out. Too bad many of the cos aren't in the shoe biz. They'd really clean up.