Speaker experts needed here, please.
Some speakers having bi-wiring capability too many come with cheap brass jumpers. One option is to buy expensive jumpers if you are not going to bi-wire.
My question is this. What would be wrong with disconnecting the leads connecting to the tweeter's terminals and soldering them directly to the terminal that was designated for the low end? Would that not achieve the same goal as when using the jumpers, but without any deterioration that cheap jumpers add to the sound?
One never knows unless you ask first.
Thanks...
Some speakers having bi-wiring capability too many come with cheap brass jumpers. One option is to buy expensive jumpers if you are not going to bi-wire.
My question is this. What would be wrong with disconnecting the leads connecting to the tweeter's terminals and soldering them directly to the terminal that was designated for the low end? Would that not achieve the same goal as when using the jumpers, but without any deterioration that cheap jumpers add to the sound?
One never knows unless you ask first.
Thanks...
Chalk up another one saying leave well alone. If it really, really bothers you, you could make up a set of your own jumpers, using whatever expensive snake-oil speaker wire you can get your hands on. Job-jibbed. It's unlikely to make any difference whatsoever in low sensitivity systems (as in < 100dB 1m/2.83v), since connection losses etc. tend to be completely swamped. Higher efficiency designs? Possibly (possibly) a minor difference.
Looks like .. Marketing drives what sounds good to us - strikes again.
But, still I do think those clunky brass strips do not do the tweeters justice. I have seen them on other speakers that are not ultra high end.
These are relatively inexpensive speakers (Cambridge S30's) that so happen to come with a first order crossover. Just discontinued. I picked them up dirt cheap, and they have held an excellent reputation with a good number of audiophiles.
Thanks. I may just use a short run of wire and be done with it.
Gene
But, still I do think those clunky brass strips do not do the tweeters justice. I have seen them on other speakers that are not ultra high end.
These are relatively inexpensive speakers (Cambridge S30's) that so happen to come with a first order crossover. Just discontinued. I picked them up dirt cheap, and they have held an excellent reputation with a good number of audiophiles.
Thanks. I may just use a short run of wire and be done with it.
Gene
Makes one wonder. Click to enlarge. I would rather have copper or silver vs brass, for the tonality alone. But, I will give the stock a try first -as is.
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I don't buy into the 'tonality' of a very short piece of brass.
Many speaker connectors are nickel-plated brass. Some are gold-plated brass.
Looks like yours are brass. Why would a short piece of copper or silver make the slightest bit of difference in the 'tonality' of the speaker?
I think that you are buying into some audio myths.
Many speaker connectors are nickel-plated brass. Some are gold-plated brass.
Looks like yours are brass. Why would a short piece of copper or silver make the slightest bit of difference in the 'tonality' of the speaker?
I think that you are buying into some audio myths.
"Buy" is the key word here. This type of nonsense is the only thing keeping the retail high end industry alive.
Long before I worried about the jumpers, I'd worry about the connection those binding posts make to the speaker cable wires after some time has passed. My experience is that the copper wire cold-flows and the connection loosens. The loose connection is bad news for resistance, and for getting oxidation products in the joint. A solution I use is ring terminals crimped and soldered to the cable ends, with copper crush washers to keep the assembly airtight. That assumes the post nuts come off. If they don't, spade terminals work fine.
Years ago I did some experiments.. At the time I bi-wired the B&W 805's with Kimber 4TC driven by a JRDG model 2.
For fun I took a single run of Kimber 4TC and connected it to the 805's on the woofer posts. Listened for a couple of days. Then I landed the Kimber on the tweeter posts for a few days. My wife "who could care less about my stereo" asked what I changed.. I asked why and she said the treble was "clearer"...
I never heard a difference but I was looking for a change..
Now I have fully active speakers.
For fun I took a single run of Kimber 4TC and connected it to the 805's on the woofer posts. Listened for a couple of days. Then I landed the Kimber on the tweeter posts for a few days. My wife "who could care less about my stereo" asked what I changed.. I asked why and she said the treble was "clearer"...
I never heard a difference but I was looking for a change..
Now I have fully active speakers.
Not really buying into anything. Just keeping an open mind. Some things I have learned about over the years seemed semi plausible when first learning about.
If its no major expense? I figure, why not find out? The thought of bypassing the who mess by simply making one set of terminals work for both drivers seemed like a good way to put it to rest. That's what I wanted to find out about. Is there any reason not to make one set of terminals the one for connection.
Resale of the speakers I am not concerned about. Got these dirt cheap. New, but now discontinued.
Of course there is no reason that you shouldn't test your idea.
As an audiophile and a PhD electronics engineer with many years of design experience, I can only give you my advice.
As a side note, one thing that I learned many years ago, if you are going to connect a wire to a screw terminal or a binding post (as on your loudspeakers), do not use solder to tin the wires. The solder, being quite soft, will compress and the connection will become loose within a short time. I learned this the hard way.
As an audiophile and a PhD electronics engineer with many years of design experience, I can only give you my advice.
As a side note, one thing that I learned many years ago, if you are going to connect a wire to a screw terminal or a binding post (as on your loudspeakers), do not use solder to tin the wires. The solder, being quite soft, will compress and the connection will become loose within a short time. I learned this the hard way.
In order for those metals to have a tonality would require them to have frequency-specific resistance in the audio band.
Thing is they don't.
There's about 5 metres of copper in every inductor, so don't think that 2cms of copper on the biwire terminal will make a scrap of difference. 
But there's something for keeping all interconnects clean and regularly tightened. Be aware most drive units use much flimsier crimp connectors from the crossover. Those ARE iffy, IMO. But hard soldering them is slightly risky.
But there's something for keeping all interconnects clean and regularly tightened. Be aware most drive units use much flimsier crimp connectors from the crossover. Those ARE iffy, IMO. But hard soldering them is slightly risky.
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