Two things here, one, "technically," as far as "power" goes, you can not bi-amp with a single amp, but, two, as far as a speaker is concerned, if you have two sources of power, whether they’re A + B speaker connections off the same amp, or simply one set of speaker connections off two amps, the speaker doesn’t know the difference. All the speaker knows is that you have removed the speaker terminal connecting band and it is getting separate power to each set of terminals.
So, I’ve gathered that to some, you could have 1, 2 or even 3 different sets of speaker terminals on a stereo amplifier, and "technically" speaking, even if you use 2, or more sets of those terminals to "bi-amp" your speakers, it is their opinion that the speakers still haven’t been bi-amped because that’s simply splitting the power off the same amp. This I understand completely, in theory, since I do have a BA in Electrical Engineering, although retired, but as to the "term," bi-amping, it simply refers to a specific way to hook a speaker up. It doesn’t refer to where the power comes from or how much there is. It only references removing the speaker terminal connecting bands and powering the speaker with two separate sets of power.
But, is that really so much better? is the power at the speaker terminals sensed on the inside of the speaker really so much different using the speaker terminal connecting band than it is to remove it and bi-amp the speakers?
What I have come to understand is, that the woofers take 70% of the power powering a speaker, and that by separating the power to the terminals and bi-amping it to give the tweeter it’s own power, the sound has more detail because the speaker woofers aren’t eating up all the power before it gets to the tweeter.
OK... so that brings me back to my initial question, keeping in mind that bi-amping theoretically sounds better, no matter if it’s splitting the power off the same amp with multiple sets of speaker terminals...
..."then is it better to find an amp with 2 sets of R, L speaker terminals instead of just 1?"
Yes, I realize the Parasound Halo only has 1 set. That’s what sparked off this question. That’s why I hesitate to buy one. I’m currently powering my Bowers & Wilkins CM-10’s in the front room with the new Yamaha Aventage RX-A3080, which I can bi-amp with and am doing, but a home theater receiver isn’t the best for 2 channel listening, that’s not what it was designed for, but the Aventage does have R, L, XLR outputs, so I have thought of adding an amp for when I occasionally listen to music. Mainly because the B&W do love power.
