k horn bi-amp questions

[winchester21]

I am very close(95%) to buying 4 - 20 watt 300 B monobloc tube amps. I also have a deal working on a Peach- prreamp- old model. My k horns have the original AA crossovers. Is this combo compatible for this application? How do i hook it up? Will I gain anything over just one monobloc per channel?

I am clueless on this subject-zero- so all basic information is apreciated.

What have I got myself into now?

[Coytee]

The quick answer is no, it won't work given the parts you have.

You'd need to come out of the Peach into an active crossover, perhaps even a 3-way crossover unless others here explain how you can perhaps do a 2-way crossover with the bass section going directly to your bass bins and the HF section would be going to your passive, and the passive would then split 2 ways to midhorn & tweeter. (I don't know if the AA would do that without some changes?)

I'd say one step at a time.... if you get the amps, try them as they are...you might LOVE them as they are and have no desire for more complications. If you do have desire for more complications, then tackle that step at that time.

One benefit of biamping is, with an appropriate crossover, you can better time align your HF drivers relative to your bass bin...

What I think I've learned about that is, the speaker will sound better closer than by not having done that.

If you ever get back to my place, I can try to show you how I discovered that for myself but the long story short is, I had some extreme slope networks (Al K) and I accidetly discovered one day that my Khorns soudned better at my stairs, then in the room with them.

When I got the Jubilees, I went to same spot to hear how much better they also sounded there...and they sounded the same there, as they did while I was in the room. Took me a while to figure it out but the sound on the Jubilees came togther quicker (therefore closer to the speaker) than it did with the Khorns.

I think the AA's would also come together faster/closer on the Khorns than the steeper slopes would (but I don't 'know' that)

[Coytee]

Another thought... if you DID pursue triamping, if you ever get into crank it up mode, you could attach a wicked solid state to the LF section for that solid state punch, then put one tube amp on the midhorn and perhaps the other tube amp on the tweeter.

That might be an interesting mix of the best of the best?

[winchester21]

OK- said the trembling addict to the pusher man- what do i need to buy to use these 2 extra amps??? - and would they even work for what I need to do with an active crossover-How much?? The deal pretty much dictates buying both sets to make it worth anyone's trouble.

I have a sick feeling that this is gonna cost a lot.

Can I drive another set of amps with the Peach - at the same time- in another room or on the patio????

[Coytee]

Can I drive another set of amps with the Peach - at the same time- in another room or on the patio????

I'd speculate that if you put a "Y" adapter on the output of the Peach that you could do that... be aware though (don't ask me how I figured this out, cause I didn't... Mark Deneen did!)

Anyways, be aware... everything you have attached to one leg of the "Y" adapter is also attached to the OTHER leg.

I had some amps (small tube) that I was using in conjunction with another larger solid state amp. Long story short... if I had all turned on, everything was fine and I could flip my a/b switch between amps to (in my case) the same speakers. I could leave the tube amps on and turn the solid state off...all was fine.

If however, I turned the tube amps OFF and left the solid state amp on, it would kick into protection mode after 5 seconds or so... it took Mark a bit of deduction but he finally figured out that my little tube amps had a bit of DC current bleeding out of their inputs (which would have headed harmlessly back to a preamps outputs) when they were turned off. It was a miniscule amount but there none the less. Well, the "Y" adapter allowed that DC current, small though it was, to become part of the INPUT signal on my solid state amp and trust me, it did nottttttttttttttt like that taste.

So, as long as I never turned the tube amp off while at same time, keeping solid state on, this problem never happened. Meaning, now that I knew what caused it, I could avoid it... however, I ended up selling the tube amps for other reasons.

Seems you have to be careful when you try dual use setups.

I still can't help to think you are perhaps getting too complicated too fast.. I don't know... it's interesting and it's fun...but I don't know that it's necessary to jump like that so quickly?

having an active and mixing RCA/XLR wires and mixing "pro gear" (my active) with residential stuff.... has some bugs that need to be ironed out. Plugging and playing has some benefits!!

I'm sure if you decide to walk down the path of multiple amping your speakers, there are many here who can better guide you than me. Then again... maybe before you know it, we'll have you fitted with the latest pair of Jubilees....!!

[PrestonTom]

My friendly advice is don't do it, yet.

To do this properly, a number of things need to be considered. Some of these have been pointed out above. You need to do some research first. I would suggest searching the threads for the following topics:

Bi - amping

Fools bi-amping

time alignment

I think that after this research your questions will become more focused.

Good Luck!

[winchester21]

I just have these 2 extra amps and I am trying to find a way to use them- 4 mono amps into 2 speakers- which would justify keeping them.truth be known.

Another dumb question- can they be bridged together to produce more power?

[Coytee]

Another dumb question- can they be bridged together to produce more power?

I'd say no. My guess is biamping would be the closest you could come to "bridging" them together although as I understand it, when you bridge an amp, you actually increase its available power and if you were to biamp, you woudln't really increase your available power, you just spread the load between two amps.

In other words, you can bridge a 100 watt amp to become a 200 watt amp (just making up an example) and your speaker would now have 200 watts available to it. I'm sure doing this probably has other downsides that I'm simply ignorant of.

If you put two 100 watt amps onto a biamp situation, you still have essentially, a 100 watt system, NOT 200 watt... however, you have 100 watts available for the hungry part, the bass bins and 100 watts for the HF section. This allows both sections to have a bit more headroom since you are not splitting a single 100 watt amp on a 70/30 basis (just making up the numbers to make my point)

[CIGARBUM]

Chris, you can give them to me, if you have a use for them.

CB

[mark1101]

I agree with Tom. A lot to consider. IMHO the best thing you could do is buy another pair of speakers and have a second system, or sell the other amp. You are headed for an expensive experiment otherwise, and you could very possibly wind up with sound inferior to what you already have. Once you get the Peach and tubes setup with a known good passive network, there is not really too far to go beyond that without getting pricey. It should be very satisfying as is.