biamping

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  • swayback
    Member
    • Feb 2010
    • 38

    biamping

    Just received my 804's but have not hooked them up yet. I'm contemplating biamping them versus single wiring. Does anyone have an opinion on biamping? I've read in multiple posts that biwiring doesn't do much in terms of an audible difference but biamping can due to isolated current to the high and low frequencies. However, another question is whether B&W has active or passive crossover and will I HEAR a difference? Thanks for the input.
  • htsteve
    Super Senior Member
    • Sep 2004
    • 1216

    #2
    swayback,

    I've tried both biwiring and biamping. Biwiring for me has been a relatively good bang for the buck type of improvement.

    I've biamped 800 series B&W speakers before (N804's and 802D's). While I hear an improvement, the cost to get that improvement (more amp channels and cableing) was pretty high for the improvement gain, at least to me.

    In both cases, I upgraded from a multichannel amp I was bi-amping with to a dedicated stereo amp for the speakers. That was the better move. A stereo amp gives better performance compared to multichannel amps. They often will offer better current and will drive the speakers better. Better bass and soundstage were the immediate and obvious improvements.


    Hope this helps.

    Comment

    • mjb
      Super Senior Member
      • Mar 2005
      • 1483

      #3
      - Your new 804's have a passive crossover in them.
      - They deserve a decent quality 100-200 watt RMS amp.
      - You should use good heavy gauge speaker wire.

      Bi-amping: the improvement you might hear would probably have happened if you'd used a better/larger amp in the first place.

      Bi-wiring: the improvement you might hear would probably have happened if you'd used thicker wire in the first place.
      Last edited by mjb; 11 September 2010, 09:36 Saturday.
      - Mike

      Main System:
      B&W 802D, HTM2D, SCMS
      Classé SSP-800, CA-2200, CA-5100

      Comment

      • emig5m
        Senior Member
        • Aug 2008
        • 646

        #4
        Originally posted by mjb
        - Your new 804's have a passive crossover in them.
        - They deserve a decent quality 100-200 watt RMS amp.
        - You should use good heavy gauge speaker wire.

        Bi-amping: he improvement you might hear would probably have happened if you'd used a better/larger amp in the first place.

        Bi-wiring: the improvement you might hear would probably have happened if you'd used thicker wire in the first place.
        I like this guys advice! :T

        Comment

        • swayback
          Member
          • Feb 2010
          • 38

          #5
          Originally posted by emig5m
          I like this guys advice! :T
          Good point.

          Comment

          • theblue
            Senior Member
            • Dec 2009
            • 116

            #6
            yeah, if you're looking to buy an amp then just get a nice two channel, if you already have 4 channels sitting around needing a use then bipower for sure.
            Marantz SR5002 (music fed by apple airport express via optical)
            rotel RB-985 THX (4 channels bipowering fronts, 1 for the center)
            B&W - 683, CDM-CNT, CDS3 (sides), DM601 (rears)
            a combo of haveflex and audioquest cables.

            Comment

            • turnupthemetal
              Junior Member
              • Mar 2008
              • 11

              #7
              Bi-amping

              I have my 684's bi-amped with the surround back channels of my Denon amplifier. There was a noticeable difference in sound quality. I probably agree though that the improvement could also have been achieved via the purchase of a larger amplifier.

              Comment

              • Horacio
                Senior Member
                • Jan 2005
                • 142

                #8
                To add on to what has been said:

                Not sure if the original poster is clear about what biwiring and biamping is.

                Biwiring is using 2 sets of cables from the amp/s to the speaker vs. one set of speaker cables + jumper.

                Biamping has different options for implementation.
                1) A one-channel amp to drive all drivers from the left speaker and an identical amp to drive the right speaker. Often used and you don't need active crossovers - just use your speakers as you would do with stereo.

                2) A two channel amp to drive the left speaker, with channel A driving mids/trebble and channel B driving woofer/s, and identical amp for right speaker. Both amps and both channels have the exact same gain, so you don't NEED an active crossover, but there are very significant advantages from replacing the passive by an active crossover.

                3) A two channel amp for mids/trebble for right and left speakers and another 2-channel for right and left woofer/s. These amps won't necessarily have the same gain, so an active crossover might be needed to compensate for this. Many times a tube amp is used for the mid/trebble and a SS for woofer/s. Like in 2), significant improvements are to be gained by replacing the passive by an active crossover, but it is not easy to implement. For more about those improvements see http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm.

                I've toyed with 3)...maybe cogitated more than toyed, and ended up in HTSteve's camp: too much added investment for where my system is at now in terms of upgrade options. I've also looked hard into my 804S crossover and it would be painful to by-pass those crossovers with an active one (too tight a space). Maybe when the time comes for a speaker upgrade I will take this into consideration. For now I still use a stereo tube amp for both speakers and have a 200W SS amp sitting by. Doing 3) without the active crossover didn't work for me.

                Anyway, those are my two cents. I hope it helps.

                Comment

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