OK, I have a pair of HR Shearwaters and also a pair of original early Kestrals (non-HR). - and no - sorry, I will never sell either pair. Even though the Kestrels are sitting in boxes in a closet, I do drag them out now and then and I am amazed.
For speaker wires, I have a bi-wired set from Coincident Speaker Technology (CST 1.0) that I use for the Shearwaters. (Copper).
For the Kestrels I have DH Labs Silver sonic "Q-10 signature." (not bi-wire, silver-plated copper)
I also happen to have some (what I think of as nice) copper interconnects, Acoustic Zen "Oscar Link"- (it's one of their former cheapie interconnects but I like them and I don't like spending too much $ on interconnects).
- and I also have some Silver Sonic BL-2 interconnects (silver coated copper again).
So it occurred to me, why not, (in may spare time try a great copper versus silver (coated copper) experiment?! (Using the Shearwaters).
Last week I bought some DH Labs banana jumpers as I was interested in doing this experiment...
The problem with the experiment is that I have no "control" and I can't be blinded... My day gig is actually writing about science. I respect and understand objectivity, and p-values, etc., but there was no way to do that in this case. I mean, my girlfriend wouldn't have the patience to keep me blindfolded (for this situation) and swap out wires. And besides, I wouldn't trust her to hook everything up the right way. She just appreciates when things sound nice. The other option is that we have a wonderful son in his late 20's living nearby, but I'd probably have to pay him..
So I did my own subjective listening. Nothing against either wire set, especially because it was obviously biased from the start. Copper bi-wire won over single silver with jumpers. I noticed compressed dynamic range with the single-run silver w/jumpers, (but also some nice broad/extended frequency response). Bottom line, the copper bi-wire seemed more pleasing than the silver-coated wires with jumpers. but that's not their fault. A Bi-wire set might have won.
WHICH BRINGS UP THE QUESTION: Actually two questions. Please bear with me because I'm not an EE...
Would there be any benefit to using my CST Bi-wire and also hook up the jumpers I recently purchased on the speakers? (Or would this just defeat the purpose?) Sorry for my naivety and ignorance.
Final most important question:
What do y'all think about using the copper bi-wires to the woofer and the silver coated wires to the tweeter? It would look a bit messy in the room but I think I could convince my better-half of how important it is if that winds up sounding better.
Thanks for any thoughts,
J
BTW - I love my system the way it sounds today, but just enjoy doing minor inexpensive tweaks in my spare time for the fun (and frustration) of it.
For speaker wires, I have a bi-wired set from Coincident Speaker Technology (CST 1.0) that I use for the Shearwaters. (Copper).
For the Kestrels I have DH Labs Silver sonic "Q-10 signature." (not bi-wire, silver-plated copper)
I also happen to have some (what I think of as nice) copper interconnects, Acoustic Zen "Oscar Link"- (it's one of their former cheapie interconnects but I like them and I don't like spending too much $ on interconnects).
- and I also have some Silver Sonic BL-2 interconnects (silver coated copper again).
So it occurred to me, why not, (in may spare time try a great copper versus silver (coated copper) experiment?! (Using the Shearwaters).
Last week I bought some DH Labs banana jumpers as I was interested in doing this experiment...
The problem with the experiment is that I have no "control" and I can't be blinded... My day gig is actually writing about science. I respect and understand objectivity, and p-values, etc., but there was no way to do that in this case. I mean, my girlfriend wouldn't have the patience to keep me blindfolded (for this situation) and swap out wires. And besides, I wouldn't trust her to hook everything up the right way. She just appreciates when things sound nice. The other option is that we have a wonderful son in his late 20's living nearby, but I'd probably have to pay him..
So I did my own subjective listening. Nothing against either wire set, especially because it was obviously biased from the start. Copper bi-wire won over single silver with jumpers. I noticed compressed dynamic range with the single-run silver w/jumpers, (but also some nice broad/extended frequency response). Bottom line, the copper bi-wire seemed more pleasing than the silver-coated wires with jumpers. but that's not their fault. A Bi-wire set might have won.
WHICH BRINGS UP THE QUESTION: Actually two questions. Please bear with me because I'm not an EE...
Would there be any benefit to using my CST Bi-wire and also hook up the jumpers I recently purchased on the speakers? (Or would this just defeat the purpose?) Sorry for my naivety and ignorance.
Final most important question:
What do y'all think about using the copper bi-wires to the woofer and the silver coated wires to the tweeter? It would look a bit messy in the room but I think I could convince my better-half of how important it is if that winds up sounding better.
Thanks for any thoughts,
J
BTW - I love my system the way it sounds today, but just enjoy doing minor inexpensive tweaks in my spare time for the fun (and frustration) of it.