Bi Amping - Past Experiences or knowledge

[Harry Tuttle]

I have read two conflicting arguements on the best way to bi amp your system.

The first is that the amps should be matched (same brand and similar power), and the second that the amps should match the speaker driver.
Both make sense to me, yet how do you achieve both?

I have been thinking about biamping my system with the AV receiver for the L-C-R tweeters and single wire the surrounds and use my 3 channel power amp to drive the L-C-R midrange speakers. The receiver (5x55W)and power amp (3x100W) are different brands and the system is never played at anything approaching `ear-bleeding' levels.

Has anyone ever experimented with using different brand amps for the speaker drivers? Is there anything I should be on the lookout for before I start the dis and re-assembly of the system?

I know my ears will tell me if it is worthwhile after it had been done, but I would hate to do the process :cry: :cry: and convert back to the current arrangement with someone knowing beforehand that it a waste of time :LOL: :roll: :LOL: .

Thanks




Harry

[clm811]

Dear friend,
I had tried something very similar to what you propose. I tried using a Denon 3300 5ch receiver for the tweeters and a Parasound HCA855 for the bass-midranges on my MTM("D'Appolito") speakers; however I found better sound when using the Denon's L,C,R "pre-amp outputs" connected to the Parasound amp driving the speakers in a bi-wire configuration(while still driving the surround speakers with the receiver). I seems that the treble, as well as midrange, quality(and control) of the better amp were quite audible -more so than any improvement wrought by separating the frequency bands using separate amps driving the passive crossover sections.
Use of an active crossover may or may not solve this dilemma(remember that the acoustic crossover depends as much upon the speakers individual driver responses as it does upon the order and type of electrical filter) In layman's terms, the electronic cossover is no "silver bullet".
There is one excellent (albeit more expensive) solution, used for years for two-channel systems: "Vertical Biamping", which entails using multiple identical (high quality) stereo amps, one for each louspeaker. Chanel A feeding the tweeter circuit, and channel B feeding the bass-midrange. The improvements in imaging and soundstaging through reduced crosstalk are easily audible. Again, however, the concerns about passive vs active biamping apply. -cm

[Harry Tuttle]

Thx cm,

But unfortunately your post was a little late.

I tried it last weekend. Just didn't like the sound produced. Not sure that the speakers (B&W DM602 S3) will even benefit from bi-amping.

Is it just me, or has anyone else noted that the British compulsion to bi-wire everything.

Harry




Harry