One RB-1090 or Two Rb-1080's

[BWLover]

Just wondering which would have a greater benefit. One RB-1090 or two 1080's for bi amping?

[htsteve]

One 1090. Current, current, current. And can drive just about anything on the planet.



Hope this helps.

[BWLover]

any other opinions?

[Alaric]

It depends greatly on what speakers you're driving , but an RB1080 dedicated to the high end may be overkill. Most of an amp's juice is used reproducing the low frequencies , and a RB1090 has enough reserve power to feed the mids and tweeters with the leftovers. The wpc is about equal , but the amperage delivered by the RB1090 should have the edge. Having two RB1080s would inspire me to have two very good systems-one RB1090 would inspire me to have one great system. IMO

[Kevin D]

Nope, that's pretty much the right answer in this situation.

Bi-amping two 1080's will give the woofer a possible 200 watts and the high-end a possible 200 watts. A single 1090 gives each speaker (or the sum of speakers) a possible 390 watts.

Unless you listen to pink noise, the chances of both the high end and the low end needing 390 watts at the same time is pretty low. The chances that the low end or the high end would need over 200 watts at one time are pretty good.

Kevin D.

[Alaric]

My speakers have a unique crossover design. The mid and woofer are on the same leg , and the tweeters are all alone. From what mine do , my Class A amp seems to attenuate the reputation for "brightness" my speakers have , and provide a decently crisp and fast low freq. response with a very nice mid and high presentation. I was going from my experience , and the fact that 200 freakin' watts can cook a tweeter pretty fast if you're not careful. Rotels are fairly adept at supplying driver control , and with the requirements of a tweeter a 30 watt Rotel can probably deliver the goods.

[DL86]

The tweeter will struggle to use up that 200w, unless its a compression driver with a 4" voice coil and a 2" exit that weighs about 10kg. Usually the tweeter is more efficient than the woofer section requiring less power.

[BWLover]

what about the power supplies? haveing one PS on each speaker sounds better to me I think. My dealers set up is the 802D bi amped with 2 CA-M400's (on each speaker) so there's 400 watts on the mid/tweet. comments?

[Alaric]

Didn't say it wasn't possible , just said it wasn't necessary. There are definite benefits to bi-amping . I'm not sure two RB1080s are a far enough step up over one RB1090 to be a real improvement. As for power supplies , the transformer in the 1090 is probably sufficient for light welding. YMMV

[Kevin D]

what about the power supplies? haveing one PS on each speaker sounds better to me I think. My dealers set up is the 802D bi amped with 2 CA-M400's (on each speaker) so there's 400 watts on the mid/tweet. comments?

Yes, two RB-1090's would be better then one. Of course that's not the question.

Kevin D.

[wkhanna]

One 1090. Current, current, current. And can drive just about anything on the planet..........

I get childish grin every time my 1090 powers up and the lights in the house dim for a few seconds :B

I really should have a dedicated 20 amp circuit for my system ops:

[htsteve]

what about the power supplies? haveing one PS on each speaker sounds better to me I think. My dealers set up is the 802D bi amped with 2 CA-M400's (on each speaker) so there's 400 watts on the mid/tweet. comments?

The 1090 is a twin mono set-up in one chassis. There is a dedicated large PS for each channel. This is one of the main reasons the 1090 is such a beast and top performer.

[A.M.]

Is the 1090 still available as a new product? or is it a legacy product?

[PewterTA]

Only gonna find it used somewhere.

[BWLover]

i reads that the 1090 is dual mono sharing one power supply

[htsteve]

i reads that the 1090 is dual mono sharing one power supply

4th paragraph under 'Description and Design'. Also, I had the 1095 amp. It had two power supplies stacked on each other for the 5 channels. In the same chassis as the 1090. Very easy to have a stereo amp with that size chassis.

http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/100rotel/