Bi Amping Klipsch Speakers

[milwaukeebill]

Does bi amping any Klipsch speakers make them sound better?Meaning,in terms of sound staging,bass response,etc.Given the high sensitivity of these speakers,would this be amplifier overkill?

[Alexander]

 

There is a lot more to the answer - but most say yes. If you have the means try it.

 

 

[Chris A]

21 hours ago, milwaukeebill said:

Does bi-amping any Klipsch speakers make them sound better? Meaning in terms of sound staging, bass response, etc.

There are at least five issues with the sound quality of mono-amping using passive crossovers that you can directly address by using a DSP crossover*:

1. The back-EMF of the woofer significantly affects the sound quality of the midrange/tweeter--the louder you play the loudspeakers--the worse it gets (disproportionately).  [Direct radiating woofers will have problems that start at least 20 dB lower in SPL than horn-loaded woofers due to modulation distortion and 5 times higher cone movement for the same output SPL as compared to the same woofer used in horn-loaded fashion.]
2. The reactance of the passive crossover components (i.e., capacitors and inductors) as well as attenuation of the amplifier power (i.e., from the resistors in the passive crossover network) lower the effective power from the amplifier output, making the amplifiers seem to lack the power that they are actually producing, and making the dynamic response of the drivers "mushy" due to the reactance stored energy in the circuit. 
3. You're also driving all drivers using the same amplifier--subdividing its output by a factor or two or three for each driver.
4. The passive crossover introduces phase/time misalignments in the lower frequency drivers, causing them to lag the higher frequency drivers by at least 90 degrees of phase at the crossover points (first order crossover circuit) and as bad as a full 360 degrees (fourth order crossover circuit).  This affects the perception of the loudspeaker's bass response and its midrange and tweeter soundstage. 
5. Most passive networks do not correct for the SPL response ("frequency response") of the loudspeakers in-room, whose SPL response is strongly affected by the placement of the loudspeakers in-room.  Usually "room correction software" can correct for this, but most stereo setups do not take advantage of SPL response correction, and it is expensive and difficult to do using passive crossover networks, also affecting item #2 performance above.

Anytime that you can isolate the woofer/bass bin from the other drivers/horns, you're improving the sound because you're not only isolating the back-EMF of the woofer from the other drivers (which is probably 50-90% of the difference in sound in my experience), but you're also able to directly couple to the woofer (at least) to the (bass channel) amplifier output.  This means that you get a net increase in available power to the bass channel.  The other audible effect is the ability to time align the woofer to the other drivers--assuming you're using a DSP crossover--not analog (passive or active) that can't correct this time misalignment. 

 

If you tri-amp and time align three-way loudspeakers using a DSP crossover, then you can isolate the midrange back-EMF from the tweeter channel, and (if using DSP crossover), you can time align all three drivers and EQ.  You also are devoting all the power of the amplifier output channel to one driver, and eliminating the "mushy" reactance of the passive crossover circuit elements.

 

So the answer to your question is "it always can improve the performance of the loudspeakers". 

 

All you need to do is measure the output of the loudspeaker in order to properly setup the crossover and flatten the SPL and phase response of the loudspeakers.  The amounts to $95 for a calibrated USB microphone, some freeware (Room EQ Wizard), and a little of your time--once--to set it up. 

 

* If you are only talking about bi-amping by splitting the passive crossover input (provided by Klipsch on the back of the loudspeaker), then the only items that you're improving are items #1 (eliminating back-EMF) and #3 (eliminating mono-amping of all drivers using but one amplifier), above.  You've still got items #2 (reactance and attenuation via resistors in the signal path), #4 (time misalignments), and #5 (SPL and phase response) not being corrected.

 

Chris

[rebuy]

5 hours ago, milwaukeebill said:

Does bi amping any Klipsch speakers make them sound better?Meaning,in terms of sound staging,bass response,etc.Given the high sensitivity of these speakers,would this be amplifier overkill?

 

I Do Not Bi amp my Speakers.

You're right, they're very efficient so when I 

Single Wire mine, I plug my wire into the "Top Post",

Tweeter direct, and send Lower signal through the jumpers.

[Alexander]

18 hours ago, rebuy said:

 

I Do Not Bi amp my Speakers.

You're right, they're very efficient so when I 

Single Wire mine, I plug my wire into the "Top Post",

Tweeter direct, and send Lower signal through the jumpers.

 

Would it really make a difference which set of posts one connect to? I mean as long as the jumpers were capable of handling all power requirements? I my case I connect to the LF terminals with the mindset that there is a greater power demand than the MF & HF drivers. But in actual reality I can not hear any difference which post set I use.

 

 

[rebuy]

15 minutes ago, Alexander said:

 

Would it really make a difference which set of posts one connect to? I mean as long as the jumpers were capable of handling all power requirements? I my case I connect to the LF terminals with the mindset that there is a greater power demand than the MF & HF drivers. But in actual reality I can not hear any difference which post set I use.

 

 

 

IDK if it makes a difference but Deang, who did my crossovers,

recommended this to me so I do it that way.  

[Alexander]

4 hours ago, rebuy said:

 

IDK if it makes a difference but Deang, who did my crossovers,

recommended this to me so I do it that way.  

 

Hmm, wonder what Deang's reasoning is?

 

 

[Panelhead]

      Let Dean explain it. 

      I always bi-wire. In theory it reduces the effects of back EMF. The woofer can generate back EMF as it settles. Having both cables connected to the amplifier output ramps or absorbs the speaker generated voltage.