Experimenting bi-wiring Wharfedale Dentons

This afternoon I decided to experiment bi-wiring my Wharfedale Dentons and was surprised by the results.


My current system consists of:


Project Debut Carbon DC with acrylic platter and 2m Blue

Schiit Mani

Yamaha AS501

Audioquest Evergreen and Tower interconnects

Monoprice 12 gauge speaker wire


Until today I have been running a run of monoprice 12 gauge wire to each Denton and removed the terminal links for homemade jumpers of monoprice wire. Overall, I was happy with things but tinkering is half the fun of hifi so I decided to biwire the speakers with a little extra wire I had laying around.


I A/Bed several tracks and was amazed by the difference the extra wire made. Agitation from Miles Davis’ ESP took on a while new life. The opening drum solo was so much more vibrant. The detail the drum tones took on was really something. Also Ron Carters bass was cleaner and had more detail and separation. I could not hear his fingers on the strings... The horns also seemed to have more going on as well. I then put on Jeff Tweedy’s Together at Last (an album that I think has great sound) and Tweedy’s voice and acoustic guitar seemed to be fuller and more nuanced.


That being said, I have a couple questions:


I dont’t have enough speaker wire to biwire my normal configuration. So I need to either buy more monoprice so I can run 2 sets of wire to each speaker and the A and B terminals on my amp or I can buy some blue jean cables that have 4 inputs on one end and 2 on the other and just use speaker A. Is there a chance this would not sound as good as using 4 separate wires into multiple terminals (wharfedale’s manual says it shouldn’t) or should that make no difference? I’d save about $100 just getting more monoprice and putting my own banana plugs on versus buying the pre-terminated blue jeans cables. I guess the blue jeans cables I’ll be less messy as well.

 

Why not get some Audioquest speaker cable to match your interconnects?

 

I’d spend about the same on audioquest raw speaker wire as I would on the BJC. It’s an option though. I always feel like I cut off too much too much copper by accident when I strip it to put banana plugs on.

 

I've found that bi-wiring with these Yamaha amps makes a notable improvement with most speakers, but be sure to leave the impedance switch at 8 ohms at all times. Switching to 4 ohms only starves the power for certification purposes.

BJC does sell a Canaire cable that is 4 conductors in a single conduit, not unlike the type 4 AQ cable, but a much larger gauge. If you go the BJC route, make sure they terminate each conductor separately instead of doubling up on the amp end as they normally do with their bi-wire option.

 

I’ve found these to be excellent:

GearIT 12AWG Premium Heavy Duty Braided Speaker Wire (10 Feet) with Dual Gold Plated Banana Plug Tips - Oxygen-free Copper (OFC) Construction, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071L37VMR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Y6FIAbBZ0DTTC

Not sure if they do them for bi-wiring. Can you bi-amp?

 

You think it would be better to do separate runs to A and B instead of the 4 to 2 BJC that would just use terminal A?

 

That's the method Yamaha describes in the manual and the method I use. The only added expense is an additional pair of bananas.

 

“More warp speed..yea!”

 

Interesting, I'll have to try it out with my old Yamaha RX-V2090. I think I can without blowing anything.

 

Ok. I think I am going to do my own banana plugs to save money. So the question is do I buy just a little more Monoprice and add an additional run to my preexisting cable or start from scratch with raw BJC Belden and buy enough to do 2 runs to each speaker?

 

Unless you're on a tight budget, I'd just go BJC and have them terminated with the locking bananas. I have some of the Monoprice bananas and I think they're garbage. If you're going DIY, at least spring for the better connectors or just run bare wire.

 

I have 2 BJC cables running from my 801 to each of my Denton's. I would recommend 2 runs to each speaker. I have been very happy with this configuration.

 

As much as I’d like to have BJC terminate for me it would be about $200 all in. I can get 50 feet of Belden for $32 and terminate it myself for fairly cheap. I was going to use monoprice banana plugs but if anyone has a better recommendation I’d love to hear.

I appreciate all the help everyone!

 

The price is definitely right

 

In the name of saving money, is it an option to forgo the banana plugs? I'm considering bi-wiring my speakers as well. I have a pair of Monitor Audio 300's. My manual also specifies 2 sets of wires to the speakers from one connection on the amp. Once connected, I don't anticipate the need to disconnect the cables. I agree banana plugs provides a cleaner look.

 

i will be bi wiring my wharfedale diamond 225s and plan on making up my own cables, these banana plugs look pretty good to me and are the ones i will be using

(link)https://sewelldirect.com/hometheater/bananaplugs(/link)

 

your weblink leads to a 404 error. which cables will you be using? I haven't had time yet to compare the sound of my speakers bi-wired versus normal.

 

sorry about that, let's try again,,,,,,Banana Plugs - SewellDirect.com

the plugs are nice and short so hopefully they won't interfere with each other on the back of the speaker and if i can save enough $$ i will use this speaker cable

Canare 4S11 (Star Quad cable, 14 AWG)

 

Pardon my ignorance, but when you say "terminate each conductor separately" what exactly do you mean?

How'd this work out for you?

 

I just want to say that I don’t know what you are talking about half the time, but I appreciate how often you are on the Audio Hardware forum unselfishly offering your advice and expertise. I always learn something from you. Thanks man.

 

When bi-wiring one can run speaker cables separately from the A and B binding posts on the amp or in a shotgun configuration from the A or B posts. Some believe running the cables separately makes a difference. In my experience it doesn't.

Sewell banana plugs are about as piss poor as they come. Study the construction and materials used of the banana plugs on the market. You do get what you pay for.

 

Thanks you Dan. Sometimes it almost feels like I get paid to be on here, as I work from home and set my own hours. That may change in near future as I've got some more challenging endeavors in the works.

 

I'm afraid I still don't understand, but I appreciate your efforts. By shotgun configuration, do you mean two connectors at the amp for each speaker being spliced out to four connectors at the speaker end as opposed to four connectors at the amp and four at the speaker?

 

You got it

 

This is what I'm using... Canare 4S11 with bananas. This seller has them available in different lengths. They sound terrific and the price is low!