I have a very vague recollection of seeing something about this connection method a long time ago but didn't pay too much attention because my audio speakers have never been biwirable.'
Pim mentions not being able to notice a difference because of the fraction of a second in time difference involved with the connection method and I think that's right. If the jumpers are 6" long, the difference in time involved for a 6" difference in path length is roughly 1/2200 sec of the signal travels at the speed of sound over the signal wire. My understanding is that electrical signals travel at much faster speeds, up to 80-90% light speed according to one cable ad I read, and the jumpers may be shorter than 6" so we're looking at an even smaller difference in time than 1/2200 sec.
But why think that any difference is related to signal path length? The vague recollection I have was that it had something to do with the crossover design. Looking at the diagram the first thing I notice is that for 3 way or hybrid panel speakers both cable connections are to the treble terminals. It's only for the 2 way terminals that the negative cable is connected to the bass and the positive to the treble. I can't see that making a difference if the tweeter and the mid-woofer are connected in phase but if they're connected out of phase in the crossover then the treble cable is going to be connected to the negative lead for the tweeter so I suspect this may reverse the phase of the tweeter for tweeters that are wired out of phase with the mid-woofer. That may actually make a difference but I have no idea whether it's going to be a desirable difference. If you're running a biwirable 2 way then you could try it and see, the idea has been around for a long time and I've never seen a mention of it causing harm to a speaker, but if the speaker designer has done their job well and wired the tweeter out of phase for good reasons then I wouldn't expect the result to be desirable but there's going to be an element of personal taste involved and some people may like it.
Edit: I got the phase thing wrong, the wiring change doesn't change the phase of the connections to an out of phase tweeter. What it does do though is introduce a length difference in the lengths of the positive and negative paths to each driver. It's way too small a difference in length to affect our perception of arrival time but it may be enough of a difference to make a difference in the phase response of the tweeter at high frequencies relative to the woofer. That's the only thing I can think of and it may make a slight difference in high frequency response.
The reason it's probably not recommended for 3 ways and hybrids is that on a 3 way it will reverse the phase of both the mid and the tweeter relative to the bass driver and on a panel hybrid it's going to reverse the phase of the panel which also has a power connection as well as a signal connection, and the woofer. I suspect neither of those outcomes are desirable.
So, there may be something to the idea but whether or not it's worthwhile may depend on the speaker and on the listener's tastes.
Pim mentions not being able to notice a difference because of the fraction of a second in time difference involved with the connection method and I think that's right. If the jumpers are 6" long, the difference in time involved for a 6" difference in path length is roughly 1/2200 sec of the signal travels at the speed of sound over the signal wire. My understanding is that electrical signals travel at much faster speeds, up to 80-90% light speed according to one cable ad I read, and the jumpers may be shorter than 6" so we're looking at an even smaller difference in time than 1/2200 sec.
But why think that any difference is related to signal path length? The vague recollection I have was that it had something to do with the crossover design. Looking at the diagram the first thing I notice is that for 3 way or hybrid panel speakers both cable connections are to the treble terminals. It's only for the 2 way terminals that the negative cable is connected to the bass and the positive to the treble. I can't see that making a difference if the tweeter and the mid-woofer are connected in phase but if they're connected out of phase in the crossover then the treble cable is going to be connected to the negative lead for the tweeter so I suspect this may reverse the phase of the tweeter for tweeters that are wired out of phase with the mid-woofer. That may actually make a difference but I have no idea whether it's going to be a desirable difference. If you're running a biwirable 2 way then you could try it and see, the idea has been around for a long time and I've never seen a mention of it causing harm to a speaker, but if the speaker designer has done their job well and wired the tweeter out of phase for good reasons then I wouldn't expect the result to be desirable but there's going to be an element of personal taste involved and some people may like it.
Edit: I got the phase thing wrong, the wiring change doesn't change the phase of the connections to an out of phase tweeter. What it does do though is introduce a length difference in the lengths of the positive and negative paths to each driver. It's way too small a difference in length to affect our perception of arrival time but it may be enough of a difference to make a difference in the phase response of the tweeter at high frequencies relative to the woofer. That's the only thing I can think of and it may make a slight difference in high frequency response.
The reason it's probably not recommended for 3 ways and hybrids is that on a 3 way it will reverse the phase of both the mid and the tweeter relative to the bass driver and on a panel hybrid it's going to reverse the phase of the panel which also has a power connection as well as a signal connection, and the woofer. I suspect neither of those outcomes are desirable.
So, there may be something to the idea but whether or not it's worthwhile may depend on the speaker and on the listener's tastes.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
