dakayus Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Hi I'm curious to find out what bi-amping does, I suppose it's just enabling it to double the wattage, and how do you set it up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Hi I'm curious to find out what bi-amping does, I suppose it's just enabling it to double the wattage, and how do you set it up? Well its more than just doubling your power.There are other benifits.I run my LaScalas in a biamped configuration using an active(outboard x-over). Here is a great article explaining what its all about.It gets somewhat technical but overall the article is easy to understand. http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp2.htm If you have any questions send me a pm. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Try the SEARCH function. We've beat this one to death on the Forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakayus Posted April 24, 2006 Author Share Posted April 24, 2006 yes I did search for it. There were tons and tons of stuff about cross over or something about that. I couldn't understand it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Simply put, bi-amping puts the crossover ahead of the amplifiers, between the pre-amplifier and the drivers of the speaker. This crossover is an active control unit, with a faceplate and knobs, versus the passive caps and inductors that sit on a board between the amplifier and the drivers. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> What it can do is deliver 10 times more energy to the bass! This is important with cones that need an enormous amount of power to come close to the natural dynamics of big ole horns. Supposedly the super-high efficiency of horns makes this extra power unnecessary, but after listening to the VRDs on Mikes modified LaScalas, I wired my solid-state amplifier to the bass bin and let the $500 BottleHead 2A3 Paramour monoblocks (kit) drive the upper horns. The result is an amazingly powerful and solid bottom-end! I am afraid to try this at high-power, but it sure has me thinking. [*-)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 Yeah, forget about all the cross over posts, just concentrate on the BIAMP, not biwire ones. Here it is in a nutshell. You know how a speaker gets sounding better when you go from a single 8" cone to one with 12" woofer, midrange and tweeter? That's because each is specializing in some frequency range. When you biamp, as Colin described, you're dividing the duties of the amps too, generally one big one for bass on both channels and a smaller one for the mid/hi's. THis helps to keep things clearer, in pro systems keeps more bass from accidentally blowing up the tweeters, and gives a further degree of control over the adjustable crossover points and level control for each channel/amp/speaker segment. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turntable3 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 hi dakayus, yeah biamping is a widespread theme. But let me try to explain what it means. My former equipment was bi-amped. You must have 2 stereo-power amps and your speakers must have seperate inputs for mid/high and low. One stereo-power-amp is connected to the mid/high-input and the second stereo-power-amp is connected to the low-input of your speakers. You need two pairs of speakerwire to do this kind of connection. For this setup your pre-amp needs to have two main-outputs to feed your 2 stereo-power-amps or if it has only one main-output you can use an Y-adaptor which is easily available for xlr or rca connectors. You need two pairs of rca or xlr connector-cables to make this setup working. This setup is costly and it is not always better than single-amping. Some people dismount the crossover of the speakers and are using external crossovers. This is a benefit for the power-amps because each amp does not transmit the whole frequency-area but only the designated low-end or mid/high spectra depending on the settings of the crossover according to the speakers' low and mid/high requirements. This means for example you can use a heavy power-amp for the lows and a nice tube-amp for mid/high to design a system which fits your demands. Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 I've got an old DFH (70s vintage, I think) where PWK officially recommends not biamping the heritage line (as it's now known). I can dig it up and scan it if anybody's interested. -H2G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgeraci Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 By all means, please scan it. I've had some nice results biamping Heritage, but I always welcome a read on what PWK said about the subject. Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 I've got an old DFH (70s vintage, I think) where PWK officially recommends not biamping the heritage line (as it's now known). I can dig it up and scan it if anybody's interested. -H2G I would like to read that as well.I have had great sound biamping my Scala's! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 I simply took a few digital snapshots instead of scanning them; hope it suffices. -H2G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hmmmm....that's strange. I've posted pics before on here and they've worked out fine. Perhaps it's due to the file size on these current pics (circa 550k each)? Regardless...I just posted them to an image hosting site on the web. I'll post the links below: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Okay...the above links seem to work. When you click on the image it'll load to your computer...then make sure you click on the image AGAIN, **after** it loads on your browser...this will really blow-it-up / super-size it so you can read it easily. As always, the DFH makes for entertaining and informative reading. -H2G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Well,that was interesting,thanks. Now I dont know what to think?I know what I hear and it is better imo. I guess in my situation I have the benifit of great SET tube amps for the mids/highs and SS for everything below 400hz. I have listened toScala's for almost 20 yrs with one stereo amp and after biamping felt I was finally hearing the music for the first time.I would suggest one has to see for themselves before passing judgment. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 I think PWK hit the nail on the head with respect to the "audiophile" pie - a decent slice of it is composed of "audio-chondriacs"...the exact sort who, as PWK stated, are capable of rating a LIVE orchestra third, behind two artificial "playback systems" (i.e. amp, speakers, turntable, etc)!! But in the end, all that really matters is what sound you, the listener, enjoys most. If you can hear a difference from bi-amping and you like the sound, then why not simply continue to do it? -H2G <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 PWK dismissed a lot as BS, you have to take into account his VERY strong bang for the buck mentality. when something wnet above his personal metric he imeediately dismissed it. Let's also remember that PWK worked with Brook to develop a special amplifier that split taps of the output trannies and added circuitry to essentialy triamp klipschorns. just as we've posited benefits of steep slope crossovers and we can see differences between different drivers and the ideal power for those drivers (wattage, current draw and impedance) we should see some potential benefits of triamping, electronic crossovers, etc. IMHO of course. tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Greg, "Now I dont know what to think?I know what I hear and it is better imo." Then you know what the think. The Jubilee.... bi-amped..... Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamer Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Greg, "Now I dont know what to think?I know what I hear and it is better imo." Then you know what the think. The Jubilee.... bi-amped..... Shawn LOL,think I'll stick with what I have.Maybe some Altec 311/288G's in the future or maybe a pair of 203B's same driver.115 db sensitivity with my 45 amp,cant imagine ever getting out of the first watt! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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