Anyone try, instead of the usual two connections to the low frequency posts, with jumpers to the high frequency posts, connecting the + side of the speaker wire to low frequency post and the - side of the speaker wire to the high frequency post? (With jumpers from LF to HF)
I tried this recently and like the results. I get a more balanced tonality and better soundstaging.
I was first alerted to this by this person: Diagonal Wiring Experiments With The SDA SRS 1.2TL — Polk Audio Forum
I heard of this once before but never tried it. Might have to give it a go after reading your positive results.
Did you change jumpers or use the same ones. Jumpers vs jumper plates were a great help with biwiring.
I considered this for my MF to HF connection when I bi-wired. Galen from Iconoclast @rower30 recommended jumpering from MF to HF where MF had first connection since the MF used more power. He might have an engineering consideration for crossing.
I had previously (about 3 years ago) changed my jumper plates for Nordost Norse Jumpers. This is how I have them hooked up now:
Those look like nice silver jumpers. I bet they improved on jumper plate sound.
Thanks, yes, they definitely did improve the sound.
When I had a Nordost loom, I used their jumpers in their preferred diagonal bi-wire application, but I can’t say that I A-B-ed with the more conventional vertical bi-wire approach where the speaker cables are run to the LF terminals and the jumpers to the HF terminals.
Now I use a Synergistic loom and their preferred speaker connection (they call it IFT) is to run the speaker cables to the HF terminals and the integrated jumpers to the LF terminals. Again, I have not compared it to the other options as it sounds really good to me…
OK, after 39 hours of trying my speakers wired diagonally, as suggested by Nordost, I am happy to say that I am experiencing many improvements, including improved soundstaging, imaging and clarity.
However, the best improvement of all is that the bass is tighter, cleaner, more detailed! Ever since buying my speakers, I have tried to tame the bass, which was often excessive and overpowering the tonal balance. I have tried a number of different things, but nothing really solved the problem. Until now. This is very very exciting! I now hear the mids and highs more clearly now that the bass is tightened up.
That looks like an excellent solution! I would be happy to try it myself but I was asked to consider trying two full cables to each speaker. I have Stealth Dream V18 cables to each mid to high input, and Stealth V16 Petites driving the woofers. It is most likely overkill but they were sent to my home on the hunch that I would enjoy them. I couldn’t refuse when I asked how much? It was a very pleasant surprise.
I am certain that if I as still using the Iconoclast SPTPC I would do double runs again.
I’ve always thought that double runs made the most sense, and I’ve been set up like that for 20+years. Back when AQ discontinued the “Earth Feature” line of speaker cables, I grabbed two 6-foot pairs of “Volcano” from MusicDirect at 50% off, and I haven’t ever considered replacing them. They were AQ’s best copper cable back in the day, exceeded only by “Everest”, which was god-awful expensive, even 15 years ago.
Just tried diagonal connections, and getting similar results, slightly better tonal balance, but noticably better soundstage, with more precise imaging.
Thanks for sharing your findings, much appreciated.
You’re welcome, Gary.
Can you tell me if you are using metal bar or wire jumpers?
Using Synergistic Research’s jumpers and speaker cables.
I couldn’t stop listening last night, it was the best my system has ever sounded. Amazing that such a simple and easy tweak made such a noticeable difference.
Thanks all for posting results. I will give it a go with MF and HF sections since I biwire my triwire capable speakers. I thought about triwire but not enough amp taps for same impedance. I don’t have to further define the bass but potential for better defined midrange should always be worth a no cost effort. Besides that retightening speaker connections is always a good thing.
Wow, that’s great to hear, Gary.
I asked because I am using Nordost’s Norse 2 jumpers, which are silver coated solid core copper cable. For this reason, and because of what my ears have been telling me since the switch, I suspect some burn in time is necessary until my system fully settles into its new sound.
Yesterday I did a ton of listening and at times the sound was edgy and harsh, but these periods alternated with periods in which my system sounded better than it ever has. Balanced tonality, superb imaging, realism, clarity, detail. These were things I expected since upgrading to Nordost cables a few years ago, but never fully realized in my system. So I am very excited as well!
The longer I listened last night, the more I became aware of an increase in realism and low level detail. The length of notes trailing off and decaying was noticeably longer, and the realism in vocals was giving me chills. This is significant, because vocals sounded amazing before, but now they were more life like, and in the room.
Cool, how about the bass? Do you hear any reduction in bass (or tightened up bass)?
Bass did sound a little tighter and more focused, but with no reduction in overall output. Again, a more convincing and realistic presentation of the music.
I should’ve mentioned that my speakers are a two way design, and that the speaker cables were originally connected to the high frequency terminals with jumpers to the lower frequencies.
So last night when I changed the speaker cables to diagonal connections, I noticed that the binding posts were a little loose, not the screw caps, but the posts themselves. I just now removed the binding post cups and tightened the nuts on all 8 posts. Holy moly, that significantly improved the transparency and attack! Those loose binding posts were much more susceptible to vibrations, and I’m sure caused a slight smearing of the signal, once again proving that everything matters.
