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Biwire or not for Magneplanar 3.6?

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Hey guys, a friend has just got some used 3.6s and is buying some speaker cables for them. He asked me if he should get biwire or shotgun since theyre the same price. I decided to post here as I'm not really sure. Is biwire batter than shotgun for the 3.6s?

Follow Ups:

I have biwired for many years. So I have two sets of Kimber 8TC for my speakers. YES worth it - Elizabeth 18:34:28 09/14/12 (6)
With Maggies biwiring is helpful.
I have two separate sets of wires. So I have eight wires for each conduct or path. Nice as eight stripped bare wires just fit into the standard Maggie connectors.
Splitting one set which has multiple conductors is not as good
(like one Kimber 8TC with half(four conductors each) for bass, half for mid/treble.

The extra wires help with bass....
- RE: I have biwired for many years. So I have two sets of Kimber 8TC for my speakers. YES worth it - ahendler 21:14:33 09/14/12 (5)
  "With Maggies biwiring is helpful"
  I have never found this to be true with either my 1.6 or 3.6
  There is sometimes an initial reaction to the difference in sound but I ultimately return to a single cable. Currently using Tellurium Q Blue. The best I have ever heard my 3.6 speakers
  Alan
  - RE: I have biwired for many years. So I have two sets of Kimber 8TC for my speakers. YES worth it - D Domaster 18:15:07 09/15/12 (4)
    Sorry guys, think you got my question somewhat wrong. My friend has yet to buy the cables and has no chance to compare. Therefore, he's about to buy some Nordost cables which have a biwire or shotgun option for the same cost. Would it be smarter to take the biwire option?
    - RE: I have biwired for many years. So I have two sets of Kimber 8TC for my speakers. YES worth it - D Domaster 19:33:53 09/15/12 (3)
      Basically, what I'm asking is, is the biwire function in the Magneplanar 3.6R well designed enough, so that there will be a positive benefit in using a single biwire of the same cable versus a shotgun of the same cable plus the maggie jumpers?
      - No - sbrians 12:30:57 09/17/12 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I have biwired for many years. So I have two sets of Kimber 8TC for my speakers. YES worth it posted by D Domaster on September 15, 2012 at 19:33:53
        
        Based on a guess of how the wire may sound and its likely high gauge (higher resistance), if shotgunning cuts the resistance to the woofer, then I would expect that to give better bass, and therefore better sound overall.
        If the wires were say 8 gauge each, then Biwiring may be better.
        My main point is that, in my experience, feed the woofer plenty of current or the other stuff won't matter as much.
        
        RE: No - D Domaster 02:26:47 09/18/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: No posted by sbrians on September 17, 2012 at 12:30:57
        
        Okay, just to clarify bit more, hope you guys can give advice based on that. My friend is using a pair of W4S SX500 Monos, running 550 watts into 4ohms. The cable he is looking at is the Nordost Frey http://www.nordost.com/26/archived
        This cable is built with 4 "groups" of seven 28awg silver plated copper each. So, if biwire, think it means each positive or negative terminal on the speaker end will have seven 28 awg wires each. Given this situation, would biwiring the nordost frey's be worth it for him? Or should he go for shotgun and give fourteen 28 awg wires per positive/negative terminal?
      - Well basic thing is two extra links if shotgun in the crossover itself - Elizabeth 23:15:53 09/15/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: I have biwired for many years. So I have two sets of Kimber 8TC for my speakers. YES worth it posted by D Domaster on September 15, 2012 at 19:33:53
        
        To have both inside the crossover, the extra "U" shaped clip is installed in the biwire ports. It IS used as signal carrier.
        Also, the shotgun ports, have extra wires inside to go to the biwire first set of ports, which are what is the actual entry for the side.
        So that alone is two extra sets of junctions for shotgun.
        Biwire avoids both.
        
        Edits: 09/15/12
RE: Biwire or not for Magneplanar 3.6? - pictureguy 20:35:51 09/13/12 (7)
BiWire will make little or no difference.
This is my Opinion, so the next post will be from someone who noticed 'transcendent improvements with biwire'......

IOW,

Try it and see. No other way to tell.....for you.
Too much is never enough
- Yes. - sbrians 12:45:56 09/14/12 (0)
  I liked biwiring better than shotgun, but most important is to have large wire to the woofers to me; I like to get the full bass.
  
  Also, to me, biwiring may help a little, passive bi-amping helped a lot for dynamics, etc, and then active bi-amping helped a little more on realism and clarity.
- Agreed - grantv 07:15:30 09/14/12 (3)
  If you want a (significant) change, bi-amp.
  - RE: Agreed - ahendler 09:30:22 09/14/12 (2)
    Passive or active biamp. I have always found passive biamp to sound worse than a single good amp
    Alan
    - Active...! NT - grantv 09:44:01 09/14/12 (1)
      - RE: Active...! NT - pictureguy 10:01:32 09/14/12 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Active...! NT posted by grantv on September 14, 2012 at 09:44:01
        
        Biamp is an interesting, if somewhat expensive proposition.
        Ratio of amp power for hi/lo depends to a large extent on crossover frequency while other amp characteristics like what I call 'latency' can effect phase / delay which materially effects image and coherence of soundfield. I define latency as the time it takes an input signal to propogate thru the amp to the speaker outputs.
        For my .05$ I'd try to use either idential amps or amps from the same 'family' to avoid issues which you can have with, for example, SS on bottom and tube on top.
        
        A couple pair of Pass monos would be my starting point...soon after winning the lotto. For my 1.6s? I'd consider the 100watt 'a' amps from Pass.
        
        And yes, Active would be the goal for me, too. But that said, the starting point would be to mimic the STOCK crossover as closely as possible.
        You might also need some measuring instruments....a scope, signal generator and 2 or more DVMs, the right software and a couple cal'd microphones.....to start.
        Too much is never enough
- RE: Biwire or not for Magneplanar 3.6? - ahendler 20:42:22 09/13/12 (1)
  I also have found that a single cable on my 3.6's has always been better than my attempts at bi-wiring. But since he has the cables just experiment and use whatever sounds better. But give each hookup a good week or two of listening to determine what he likes
  Alan
  - RE: Biwire or not for Magneplanar 3.6? - josh358 16:29:35 09/14/12 (0)
    Biwiring can alter the amplitude response because it inserts a resistance between the two legs of the crossover. I've seen a paper on the effects and they could be audible, but that, of course, would depend on the specifics of the cables. I think it's best to assume absent evidence to the contrary that the designers knew what they were doing when they designed their crossovers, and that any change is more likely to be detrimental than beneficial. And agree with those who said that bi-amping is the way to go.

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