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B&W 800D2 - Bi-amping vs Bi-wiring

Hello folks,

I am looking for feedback on bi-amping these amazing speakers. I currently own a CA-2200 amp and it seems 200w per channel may not be adequate to realize full potential of 800D2. So i was thinking of bi-amping two classe ca-2200 for L/R speakers, thus feeding 400w each to Left and Right speakers. Or am i better off buying a pair of CA-M600 for each speaker? I would like to stick with Classe amps only... love the way they sound.

Next question is about bi-wiring. There seems to be bit of confusion (atleast in my head) on the best way to bi-wire speakers. The true shotgun cable is terminated with two split(+ and -)on amp end and 4 splits (2 + and 2 -)on speaker end. I have seen illustrations where bi-wiring is done with 2 identical runs of cables between dual binding posts on amp and speaker ends feeding seperate signal to LF and HF speaker inputs. I have read about the advantages of two single runs but my cable manufacturer doesn't seems to agree with this configuration. He is still recommending shotgun configuration.

I hope to gain some insight before i make an investment in a amp or new cables. I currently own a bi-wire cable in shotgun configuration.
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Showing 1 response by tls49

tls49's avatar
tls49
1,351 posts
 
Or am i better off buying a pair of CA-M600 for each speaker?
Do you mean four CA-M600's? I'm thinking no, as that would not be necessary. I do agree that you would benefit from having more power. Adding another CA-2200 will achieve this, and as Zd542 said, the vertical configuration will be best, however, a pair of CA-M600's, one per speaker makes better sense.

Kept in mind that the most demanding and power hungry part of that speaker is the woofers. The midrange and tweeter use far less power compared to the woofers. In the bi-amp scenario, you still just have 200w available to the woofers, although the vertical configuration gives you a little advantage having a entire stereo amp's power supply on a single speaker. Using the CA-M600's, you now have 600w available to power and control those woofers.

As far as bi-wiring, I agree with Kr4, and will not disturb that hornet's nest.
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