Single-wired rather than Fully-wired - results of an ABA comparison

[Warren]

I've just compared (and gone) single-wired with my 242s!

This is quite a statement, as I've passionately pioneered quinwiring ever since my first post on this forum! Gasp. Shock. Horror.

So what has happened?

After two recent PMs from pdcman suggesting I try bi-wiring, and someone else posting that they preferred a non-quinwired approach a few years ago, I thought I'd give it another try. Especially as I was reminded, during my recent Tiger Paw visit to Cymbiosis recently, of the importance of doing ABA comparisons; listen to A, then listen to B, then listen to A again, as we notice improvements more than what's missing.

Unfortunately when I originally went quinwired I didn't do an ABA. Why? For several reasons: multiwiring is just generally considered good, I'd bought the K400 by this stage (rather than doing a trial run by quinwiring one speaker with both runs of K600) and also messing around with lots of strips was fiddly and not something I was used to doing.

I originally learned the importance of doing an ABA with the original Trampolin and a friend. Initially when the Trampolin was removed I thought the hifi sounded better as I heard more timing information, however, when the Trampolin was refitted I discovered all the extra timing information was still there, it just had a naturalness of timing (as I've written about several times since) that I'd never before heard from a hifi and so wasn't used to hearing. I was used to something that sounded much more metronome like, not real and organic. This is a great illustration of what Gilad said at the Cara 4 vs 9 comparison, we change every time we listen.

So what to compare?

I decided to compare single-wired vs fully quin-wired. I originally started tri-wired with my 242s, and pdcman talked about being bi-wired. I did think about trying triwiring and biwiring, using K600 and what I've decided to call K4000 (K600 using the outer cables only, perhaps not the best idea); however these approaches are a mix of two philosophies; if single-wiring is better, surely it is just better. I might play with bi- and tri-wiring later.

This is a hifi review, so as usual, various pieces of music were used that you've probably never heard of and don't have in your collection. Here is what I put into my playlist - and why:

* 2nd and 3rd Double from Partita No 1 BWV 1002, Rachel Podger, Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, CD - heard Rachel play this live a few years ago, as well as having heard her live about 50 times, mostly playing this violin, I've also used the 2nd Double in comparisons before, I added the 3rd Double to add something fresh and it's short

* 1st movement of BWV 1042, Rachel Podger & Brecon Baroque Ensemble, Bach Violin Concertos, 24/192k - have several instruments interacting, plus high resolution

* 1st movement of Beethoven's 5th, Benjamin Zanders & Philharmonia Orchestra of London, CD - much more complex, plus I've heard them do it live

* Holiday, Green Day, American Idiot, CD - something familiar that gets the foot tapping

* Country House, Blur, Best of, CD - something less familiar that gets the foot tapping, haven't heard this for a while, then it got played the other day when I had my Hit Songs playlist on shuffle

* Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 & Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd, The Wall, CD - some very familiar classics

* Hotel California & The Last Resort, The Eagles, Hotel California, 24/192k

The first thing I noticed was just how good my system is. This is mainly due to me doing lots more background listening than serious listening recently, especially since moving into my new home. Thus I'm still noticing how good my system sounds now the various signal and power cables are separated. This enabled me to also notice just how good my system is now I've a Twin, especially the solo violin work that hasn't been played much since this amp upgrade.

Having listened to music for about half an hour, I then spent 8 minutes single-wiring the system: unplugging the Twin's power plug (just to be safe), unplugging the speaker cables from the speakers, putting the 5-way strips on, and finally wiring the speakers using my K600 (as its plugged directly into the Twin) using the outer pair of cables that were used on the supertweeters (and previously AV5140 tweeters); this was done using Philbo's positive-treble-negative-bass configuration, and making sure the spare cables don't touch.

Back on with the second Double and I soon notice the sound is sweeter. Also instruments are clearer, thus making tune-deming easier, especially in the mid-band rather than extra treble and bass detail (the key thing I noticed when going from tri- to quad- to quinwired). There is a loss of hifi detail as pdcman had mentioned. However, I don't really miss anything, though I will go back after a week living with this.

Overall I find I enjoy the music more, even if it is slightly detail and frequency range clipped compared with what I've been used to for several years.

By the time I got to the Blur song again, I didn't want to listen to The Wall yet again, and I couldn't resist myself, so I songcasted some Sian Winstanley, starting with the promo video (before playing The Wall and Hotel California tracks again). Wow, here her voice had a realism, a visceral coherency about it, just as her voice does live, that I've never had at home before.

K600 for sale anyone, though after I've gone back and forth over a few weeks, just to make sure.

It has occurred to me that in my system, with 2m of speaker cable, the amp is driving more cable than coils. Though I'm also wondering what results one would get with much shorter cable runs, such as when each Solo is next to its speaker.

The realism of Sian's voice has pretty much sold me on single-wiring. Though, as said, there is more testing to do; one (thorough) test is worth a thousand expert opinions.

[pdcman]

Great write up, as usual Warren.
Hope you now enjoy your system even more.....
Phil

[Briain]

Hi

Have you tried feeding the 3K Array (wired as Phil suggests) with one pair and feeding the bass units with another pair (or even doing that, then feeding the bass units with a pair each)?

My reason for asking is that when I tried various experiments with my 212's, the first thing I did was to split the bass unit and 3K Array (as described above), and I noticed that on voice and high frequency content, it sounded better even when there was no bass content present. I'm no expert, but my initial assumption about single wiring was always that the back EMF from the high bass currents (and perhaps also intermodulation products resulting from that activity) could be 'upsetting' the 3K Array, but after hearing the above, I now suspect that the non-bass signals (i.e. the in-band 3K Array signals) or their back EMF's (from the 3K Array plus its crossover sections) are interacting with the bass crossover and bass unit section, so separating these two sections improves the sound of the 3K Array even when there is almost no bass content playing. In other words, there's probably a lot more going on (or wrong) than I at first assumed.

It'd be interesting to hear what Phil has to say about that thought, but I reckon it might be worth your while trying that setup before flogging any of your Betty Grables on the big, bad Bay of e's!

Bri

[Ben Webster]

Hi Warren,

Have you also tried bi-wiring (one for 3k, one for the two bass-chassis)? My experience with the Komri is, that sometimes it is more musical when the 3k is on one cable. (I still prefer my Komri with quad-wiring, maybe it depends on the cross-over).

I don't own a 242 so I can't try the tri-wiring option (one for 3k, one for each bass-chassis).

KR Ben


P.S. Any comments from the Linn guys?

[Briain]

Hi Ben

Looks like we were both thinking that exact same thought and typing it down simultaneously!

[Ben Webster]

(2012-08-11 10:04)Briain Wrote:  Hi Ben

Looks like we were both thinking that exact same thought and typing it down simultaneously!

Yes, spooky. Or are we the same person with different accounts

[Briain]

(2012-08-11 10:09)Ben Webster Wrote:  Yes, spooky. Or are we the same person with different accounts

I'm a psycho, so would that make it three of us?

[sunbeamgls]

Thanks for the report. Just out of interest, have you checked all the connections in your quin-wire to make sure they're all still solid?

[Warren]

Yes, when I set up my system five weeks ago.

[sunbeamgls]

:-) good to hear that's not a factor.