To Bi Amp or Add a Sub

[jcmusic]

I am doing some thinking here lately about which direction to go, normally I am using a 45 type amp (2wpc) in my system. My backup amp is (25wpc) and the difference is obvious in the bottom end. So I thought about bi amping so I could keep the magic midrange the 45 amp has and also keep the bottom end the backup amp has. Then I though maybe I could just intergrate a sub into my system and save me alot trouble and keep things simple, what do you guys think? Advice from expirence is prefered.

[JBryan]

I've personally never heard a sub or subs that integrate well with Khorns or most any speaker for that matter. They just sound too different - especially if they are chiming in above 40Hz. OTOH, biamping isn't as simple as adding amps and a xover. Integrating the drivers properly will require matching the amps and finding the right xover point among other things but biamping offers a lot of versatility and in the end you'll have a better-sounding system than just tagging on a couple of subs. Of course, if you're goal is to go below 30Hz or so, then I'd suggest just buying a better speaker.

[JBryan]

BTW, love that Korneff amp...I still regret selling mine.

[jcmusic]

BTW, love that Korneff amp...I still regret selling mine.

You see that's the thing the Korneff has the best midrange I ever heard, and the Baldwin has a great bottom end. that's why I thought of bi amping these two, then knowing the little I know about bi amping I thought if I could just improve the bottom end using the Korneff I would be happy.

[Guest " "]

I am doing some thinking here lately about which direction to go, normally I am using a 45 type amp (2wpc) in my system. My backup amp is (25wpc) and the difference is obvious in the bottom end. So I thought about bi amping so I could keep the magic midrange the 45 amp has and also keep the bottom end the backup amp has. Then I though maybe I could just intergrate a sub into my system and save me alot trouble and keep things simple, what do you guys think? Advice from expirence is prefered.

the Bi-amp approach is the way to go....BUT...I don't think using a 25WPC amp for the LF and a 2WPC for the HF would be best. The problem is the difference in gain. Fixable if you used an active crossover with gain control. Problematic if you used a passive crossover. I have a 4WPC SE amp which when used with Cornwalls will rive sound levels pretty high....much higher than my highest indoor listening level. So, if you have the opportunity to bi-amp with a lower power amp say 6 or 8 watts or so, it would sound more transparent and you would have less fiddling to do on balancing out the gain of the two amps.

[jcmusic]

I am doing some thinking here lately about which direction to go, normally I am using a 45 type amp (2wpc) in my system. My backup amp is (25wpc) and the difference is obvious in the bottom end. So I thought about bi amping so I could keep the magic midrange the 45 amp has and also keep the bottom end the backup amp has. Then I though maybe I could just intergrate a sub into my system and save me alot trouble and keep things simple, what do you guys think? Advice from expirence is prefered.

the Bi-amp approach is the way to go....BUT...I don't think using a 25WPC amp for the LF and a 2WPC for the HF would be best. The problem is the difference in gain. Fixable if you used an active crossover with gain control. Problematic if you used a passive crossover. I have a 4WPC SE amp which when used with Cornwalls will rive sound levels pretty high....much higher than my highest indoor listening level. So, if you have the opportunity to bi-amp with a lower power amp say 6 or 8 watts or so, it would sound more transparent and you would have less fiddling to do on balancing out the gain of the two amps.

Rick are you talking about the amp for the bottom end? I would be using a active xover on the amps and still use the passive xover on the mids and highs.

[tromprof]

I've personally never heard a sub or subs that integrate well with Khorns or most any speaker for that matter. They just sound too different - especially if they are chiming in above 40Hz. OTOH, biamping isn't as simple as adding amps and a xover. Integrating the drivers properly will require matching the amps and finding the right xover point among other things but biamping offers a lot of versatility and in the end you'll have a better-sounding system than just tagging on a couple of subs. Of course, if you're goal is to go below 30Hz or so, then I'd suggest just buying a better speaker.

I have built two horn subs, a "tuba table" and a Cinema F-20. The tuba table was originally built to go with a pair of La Scala and worked well for music as well as movies. The Cinema F-20 was built to go with K-horns. The K-horns didn't seem to need much bass help for music (I am using an 8 watt 300B amp), but there is a lot below their range in movies that I wanted to hear. I have the F-20 crossed over at 45 HZ or so, the tuba table at around 80 HZ with the La Scala. Both of these subs when dialed in correctly work very well with the big Klipsch and make a seamless transition, the only way to know they are providing extra bass oomph is to turn them off. I am still shocked at how much the F-20 (paired with K-horns) adds to bottom end on music. Again, they need to set up right, but for me they just add clean clear bass without sounding tonally different or adding distortion.