A little help with speaker cable please...

[EdB999]

Hi, I'm looking to up grade my speaker wire and interconnects and have gotten myself a little confused (doesn't take much ).
My set up is far from cutting edge stuff, even when new and I just worked out I bought my speakers and amp 13 years ago. However after having had a play in Richer sounds demo room last weekend I got back in and found it's still doesn't sound terrible Set up as follows-

Cambridge Audio A1 amplifier
Cambridge Audio D100 CD player
Apple IPod dock (for 160gb classic)
Mordaunt-Short ms20i pearl series speakers

The speakers are currently connected with unbranded figure 8 cable (although quite ‘chunky' stuff) and that is looking a little worse for where after being moved several times.
The speakers are bi-wireable (currently have a little bridging plate in them) but the amp is only two channels.
Am I still better off going for a bi-wired cable and just separating the speaker ends? (something like van damme bi-wire 4mm cable?) Or am I better leaving the bridging plate in place and using a decent quality speaker cable (recommendations appreciated). Its not like I'm going to need a huge amount, probably 3 or 4m total.

 

[Deleted member 30535]

For a two channel amp I wouldn't bother with bi-wiring. Keep the bridge in place and invest in some decent gauge (2.5 mm^2) cable. Van Damme Blue is often recommended.

 

[diablo]

If the system still sounds good to you then no point upgrading really. I looked up your speakers -

Review | Mordaunt-Short Pearl | Page*101 - August*1997 - Gramophone Archive

My parent's Castle speakers from about 1980 still sound good to me - though neither of them can listen to them now. Maybe the cable you have now needs the ends cutting off to get rid of corroded bits.

4mm bi-wire Van Damme won't cost too much for the length you state but I doubt if it will improve things too much. Might be worth cleaning up the phono sockets and getting some new interconnects though. Maybe some like these -

Fisual Install Series 2 x Phono to 2 x Phono Cable - 1m: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

[EdB999]

Thanks for the replies. I found some of the other threads on here questioning bi-wiring. I've ordered 3 meters of 2.5mm bi-wire vandamme... heck it only cost twelve quid, worth it just for a bit of an experiment with
Also just received a Mark Jones interconnect - quite expensive given the age & cost of my kit, but I can keep them if I upgrade in a couple years.
I know I had a couple Cambridge interconnect somewhere that got mislaid during one of my moves- must have a look for them!