Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Bi amplification

After 38 years of using hi-end equipment and being immersed in hifi using some systems that included bi & tri-amping, bi & tri-wiring and megabuck cables - I will go on line stating that in double blind listening tests (with millisecond A/B switiching +/- 0.5dB) there is NO IMPROVEMENT WHAT SO EVER, MEASURABLE OR AUDIBLE achieved by simply using more wire UNLESS you are using wire that is too thin for your speaker run in the first place.
In electronically measurable terms (and even audible ones) biwiring is simply not going to improve your set-up one iota. It may assuage an advertising-riddled mind; it may impress the less knowledgeable audiophile, but the actual results are that you will pay money for nothing at all. Nada, Nyet, Bupkus. Biwiring money is better spent in many other areas (more music for example).

Bi-amping is a different kettle of fish and some speakers (none of Axioms in my tests M22, MP 60 or MP 80) may do better with them but it is a very difficult road to travel with the need for perfectly matching amplifiers as the only surefire way to achieve good results.

The Axioms I use in two fo my four systems simply will not benefit from either bi-wiring or biamping unless your amplifiers are very anemic or you desire enough dynamics and volume to have yourself arrested for making a disturbance in any neigbourhood except a farm house in the middle of nowhere. All the Axioms I have tried and bought are plenty loud to the point of being able to cause your eardrums to distort under the SPL and cause dmage to the one thing that all things stereo cannot be purchased or repaired - your ears!

If you want to improve the sound on the cheap start by getting the best speakers you can afford; ones that your existing pre and amp (if its specs are good and you'ŗe happy with it) can power. Next buy a great source component. Spend a bit on the best CD palyer you have read or heard about in a price range that you can cope with. There is some stunning gear coming from China these days that takes a backseat to no one. You can also throw out all the cheap (or otherwise) analogue RCA interconnects you have and contact someone like Cable Solutions to have sets of perfectly shielded digital coaxial cables made for you. These can be used on all analogue signal runs but do an audibly better job at 1/10 the price I have foolishly spent in the past on exotic cables from MIT, NBS etc.

Good luck and happy listening,
Dr. A. Venkmann

I agree with everything you said up to buying the best CD player. I say take that extra money and go to the next level up on a receiver or pre/pro, and get an every-day DVD/Blu-ray player. Ditch the analog interconnects for a digital connection. Now all the player has to do is get the bits off the disc without error, and the receiver does the rest.

I'm lucky to be poor enough that I was able become educated before I dropped money on "Transparent Cable" which I thought would be the best thing ever. Sorry to hear you were able to go down the MIT road.

And welcome to the board!

I bought transparent cable once. Kept tripping over it though...

I accidentally unplugged the transparent cable that powered my invisible fence and my invisible dog ran off. I put posters everywhere. No one has seen him.

I covered your invisible posters with my missing 10 dollar bill poster. No one seems to have seen my money either.

I thank everyone for their thoughtful and intelligent responses to my question.
Speaking about improving the sound of my audio systom,I am definitely not a believer in all the snake oil cures promoted by many in the high end crowd.However I recently purchased a Music Fidelity V Dac which has been highly reviewed in the audio media.Even though I was inclined to be skeptical as to whether there would be any imrovement in sound to my system but purchased it on impulse for $299.I hooked it up to my Sony 2000ES SACD player and lo and behold the sound that emerged from my M80's made them sound like some very high end speakers i've audioned in the salons.
I have over 2000 red book classical cd's as well as over 200 SACD's and the sound of my cd's was of a much higher quality then that of the SACD's.I was truely astounded.
The only downside is that I can't use the Sony for SACD's on my Sony because of the V DAC.I now use a Oppo 970 as my source for them.I would like to reiterate that the improvement in sound was not minimal but highly discernible not only by myself but many others.
Disclaimer:I have no vested connection with Musical Fidelity in any way or form.

"Cable Solutions...perfectly shielded digital coaxial cables made for you. These can be used on all analogue signal runs"
Just to clarify, are you recommending using their coaxial shielded digital cable for analog signal transfer?

I agree with your general statement about starting out with the best speakers one can afford (as high as 65-70% of the budget). I did not think a CD player could make much difference, except recently, but this could be colored by my expectations and psychological bias.

I have recently asked Alan at Axiom about biamping M80s and his response was very similar to that from johnk; i.e., need for active external cross-over and likely no audible improvement. He added that large, concert venues with multi-driver arrays were a different situation where multi-amping with carefully set active cross-overs would make a lot of difference.

That is what he was recommending. Using the digital cables which are capable of handling frequencies in the MHz range; makes for very nice analog interconnects. Except for one thing: Digital, and video interconnects are designed for a 75 Ohm impedance match. The sending and receiving jacks on analog audio equipment are not matched, so throwing out that 75 Ohm requirement allows one to change the geometry of the cable, and achieve lower capacitance, which can improve the high-frequency roll-off. Blue Jeans Cables has done just this with their LC-1 cabling.

How is your CD player connected to your receiver? If it is by digital I'd say there is some placebo effect possible. But there can be an improvement from one model to another when using the analog output stage.

If I had a million dollars,
And a very big room...

Chris, The CD player is connected by analog output to the preamplifier. I use BJ cables (they seem to be passing the electrons just fine ) Placebo effect still possible.

If bi-amping or bi-wiring M80s makes no difference, then I suspect the dual sets of binding posts are included for those who believe there is a difference.