B&W 704 fronts with Marantz SR5001 bi-amp setup

[swams]

I was previously borrowing a Marantz SR7000 from a friend hooked up to my B&W 704 speakers. He needed it back, so I went out and bought a new Marantz SR5001, because I didn't want to spend the money on something like a Rotel RSX-1057. At first I was really disappointed with the SR5001... it sounded more tinny and the bass was looser. It would really lose control with a little volume and a more complex recording.

My dealer suggested to bi-amp... and the SR5001 supported it, so I gave it a try. WOW!!!! It sounds even better then the SR7000, and maybe even the Rotel RA-1062 the dealer let me try. It has great control over the entire dynamic range, lots of punch, giving the music much more drama at all volumes. The highs stay stable and crystal clear even with a full band playing... and the lows are very solid and tight now.

I'd definitely recommend this if you are like me, just getting started, and wanted to put more money into speakers, but not have to make a big amp investment.

[beden1]

Could you give me some detail as to what you did to bi-amp your set-up. I'm not clear on what needs to be done, but I'd like to learn. I have the same 704 speakers as you in my FL home, along with the HTM7 center channel, ASW 750 sub, and a Pioneer Elite 82 receiver. This receiver has bi-amp capabilities as well.

[swams]

The Marantz SR5001 has a physical toggle switch in the back of the amp that switches the rear surround left and right channels to output identically to the front left and right channels. This is called "Speaker C" setup on the Marantz unit. So after flipping that switch, I connected 2 extra cables, 1 from the left rear surround to the 2nd input on the 704 left speaker, and 1 from the right rear surround to the 2nd input on the 704 right speaker. You must make sure to remove the 2 metal jumpers on each 704 that connects the two inputs for + and -.

Hope that helps!

[beden1]

Thanks for your help. In your set-up (bi-amp), and by hooking essentially two channels/speaker connections from your receiver to each speaker . . . are you then sending 2 X 130 watts (my receiver has 130 watts per channel) to each speaker?

Do you have rear speaker surrounds hooked-up, or are you primarily using left and right front speakers? I'm interested, as in my set-up in this house, I am unable to hook-up rear channel speakers (can't run the wires to the speakers due to tiled floors, etc)

[swams]

I only have 2 speakers right now. I plan to get surround speakers in the future, but will probably never get rear surround.

From what I understand, it wouldn't really be 2x130W going to each speaker, because you're running it in parallel to 2 different transducers within the speaker. This gets kind of technical, but here's my understanding. When your amp pumps out 130W to a single channel, that is across the entire frequency range. Usually, both drivers in the speaker are sharing it. Each driver within the speaker only uses the portion of the 130W that is for it's frequency range. With bi-amping, each driver gets a dedicated 130W feed, but it will still filter out the unneeded frequencies and take only a % of the 130W... the rest is just not used, instead of being shared with the other driver. The fact that they don't have to share allows the amp to handle the more limited speaker load for that single channel with much more control.

[beden1]

As my receiver has 7 channels, and while watching a movie for example with dolby digital/7 channel sterio setting, does each channel send out different signals/information? Like different information to the surrounds for example. When you bi-amp, are the main speakers then getting the main channel signals/information, as well as the surround signals/information . . . or are they getting 2X the main channel signals/information? When setting up the programming for your speakers within the receiver, what settings did you use for those channels to be in sync/phase? Or, does the receiver know to send the same information in phase when you selected the bi amp setting?

I really appreciate your help with this.

[swams]

I all I had to do was flip that switch to enable bi-amp mode. Yes, usually when playing something encoded with multiple channels, your receiver is sending a different signal to each speaker. The bi-amp mode configures it so that the rear surround channels are sent exactly the same info as the front channels. I wouldn't be able to tell you how to set it up on a Pioneer though.

[swams]

I found this FAQ on B&W's website that explains bi-wiring and bi-amping in some technical detail. They focus more on bi-wiring though, which I actually think makes far less of a difference then bi-amping, especially when using relatively weak amps.

http://www.bwspeakers.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/local.faq/ObjectID/F5CA2E9F-3D20-11D4-A67F00D0B7473B37

[beden1]

Thanks. I was doing some searching last night and came across numerous sites on this issue. Some were very detailed, and some were more straight forward.
Detailed: http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm

Straight Forward: http://www.fluance.com/wiring.html, http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm,

http://www.whathifi.com/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=59&newssectionID=3

Then I read my Pioneer Elite 82 series receiver operating manual. I'm glad I waited until I first read the articles in the links. My receiver has some really great features for bi-amping. You have (5) dedicated speaker/pre-outs (cable connections) so you can drive (5) individual speaker amps, and the receiver sends the appropriate signals to each speaker as per norm. You can also use the rear surround channel speaker connections as dedicated bi-amping for the front (main) speakers (then you just select the option in the receiver on screen settings and you're done). Pretty Sweet! I"m going to use this option in my Florida set-up as I don't have rear surrounds. Then, I think I'll bi-wire my center channel speaker (unless I can figure out how to bi-amp that as well without using an external amp.