You are correct... I am talking about #2. And thank you, this is exactly what I've been looking for. Unfortunately, as I read more and more about this topic, I'm forced to agree that this is probably a huge waste of time, but it also seems like a rather interesting intellectual/audio experiment. While shopping for speakers, it seems that most middle range speakers have terminals for bi-wiring, while the same manufacturers higher end models don't include them. I can't help but wonder if dual terminals is one of those "check box" items that costs little to add, and some buyers believe it better to have, even if they never use it. So it might prevent loss of a sale to a competitor that includes them.
For example, the French Speaker company Focal/JM Labs, includes dual terminals on the lower three lines of speakers. While the top line (Utopia) does not include them. Perhaps people buying $80,000 speakers have either listened to them, and want them anyway, or have never listened to them, but know they would look great in their $300k home theater. I read one interview (in Audiophile) http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/274/index2.html with the Focal president (Jacques Mahul), stating he only considers "bi-amplification" to be of use to fix defects in the drivers.
This seems to be another area of great audio contention, with little, or no scientific evidence to back it up. On the other hand, if I'd just spent $20,000 on two hunks of exotic wire for my speakers, you can bet that I'd hear a huge difference in the sound. Whether you would hear that difference or not, would be a more telling question.
