Vandersteen Audio SEVEN Operation Manual - page 4
C
ONNECTING
T
HE
S
PEAKER
C
ABLES
Research has demonstrated that the speaker cables
must be considered an integral part of the music system.
Each brand and model of cable has its own sonic charac-
teristics and contributes to the overall presentation of the
music as much as any active component. The Model
Seven easily passes the amount of information required
to hear these differences between cables.
There is no one best cable to use with the Model
Sevens. To assure that they were sonically neutral, the
Model Sevens were developed using a direct-coupled
laboratory amplifier connection loaded by precision re-
sistors to simulate cable resistance. With neutral speak-
ers, the factors that determine the best cables for your
system are your personal taste, the characteristics of your
listening room, and the associated equipment. The only
person familiar enough with your taste and room charac-
teristics to assist you in selecting cables is someone from
your local dealer who has visited your room and sat
through listening sessions with you. No one else can ade-
quately evaluate two of the three factors (taste and
room).
If you wait to select the cables until the other compo-
nents in the system are set, you can fine-tune the system
with your cable choice. As you evaluate different cables
in your system, remember that the dielectric in most
quality cables takes several hours to fully form. These
cables may not reach their full potential or exhibit their
true sonic characteristics until they have been in the sys-
tem for a week or more.
It is very important to keep the speaker cables as short
as possible. In repeated trials, short runs of inexpensive
to moderately priced cable consistently outperformed
long runs of the same cable as well as much more expen-
sive cables. If you must place your speakers a long dis-
tance from your electronics, you should consider posi-
tioning the amplifier between the speakers and using
long interconnect cables with short speaker cables. With
comparable lengths and quality, long interconnect cables
seem to compromise the sound of a system less than long
speaker cables. An additional advantage is that a given
length of interconnect cable will usually cost less than
the same length of bi-wired speaker cable. An amplifier
placed between the speakers can easily be concealed by a
plant or placed in a decorative piece of furniture.
B
I
-W
IRING
The Model Sevens are optimized for true bi-wiring
using two separate speaker cables to connect each
speaker to the amplifier. The speaker’s internal crossover
presents different electrical characteristics to each cable
so that one cable carries the signal going to the woofers
while the other cable carries the signal going to the mid-
range and tweeter. The improvements offered by bi-
wiring versus a conventional single run of cable are
substantial. Often, a bi-wire set of moderately priced cables
will sound better than a single run of far more expensive
cables.
All the speaker cables in a bi-wire set should be the
same type. While it is tempting to use a cable known for
good bass response on the low frequencies and a different
cable known for good treble response on the midrange and
tweeter, the differing sonic characteristics of the two cables
can affect the blending between the midbass and midrange
drivers and compromise imaging, transparency, and detail.
Different cables should only be used after you audition
them in your system and verify that they do not affect the
midbass to midrange blending and that you like their sonic
characteristics.
Our research revealed that much of bi-wiring’s benefit
comes from the physical separation of the low frequency
cable from the midrange/tweeter cable. Internal bi-wire
cables that combine all the wires together in one sheath do
not offer all the advantages of true bi-wiring. These multi-
ple conductor cables are the only recommended method of
mono-wiring the speakers, but should not be considered the
equivalent of dual cable bi-wiring.
B
I
-A
MPLIFICATION
The Model Sevens can only be bi-amplified passively
with two identical stereo amplifiers in a vertical configura-
tion. (One stereo amplifier per speaker.) Since a single,
higher quality amplifier will usually sound better than two
lesser amplifiers, we only recommend bi-amplification
when every component in the system is the best available
and there is no other path to improving the system. Cau-
tion should be used when bi-amping as some amplifiers
will oscillate on transients resulting in speaker failure es-
pecially the tweeter.
When vertically bi-amplifying, the speaker’s internal
passive crossover will divide the signal between the mid-
bass and the midrange/tweeter by presenting different elec-
trical characteristics at different frequencies to each chan-
nel of the amplifier. Above approximately 200Hz, this type
of passive filter is the most transparent method of dividing
the signal between the drivers. The internal passive cross-
over between the midbass and midrange can not be by-
passed so an electronic crossover can not be used to bi-
amplify the Model Sevens. Two crossovers in series with
each other (electronic and passive) cause severe phase shift
and response non-linearities.
The Model Sevens should not be bi-amped with two
different amplifier models in a horizontal mode. (One am-
plifier driving the low frequencies and the other amplifier
driving the midrange and tweeter.) When half of the
speaker is driven by a different amplifier model than the
other half - and in these cases, usually by amplifiers chosen
V
ANDERSTEEN
A
UDIO
4
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ELECTING
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PEAKER
C
ABLES