BI AMP PARADIGM PRESTIGE Center channel


I just upgraded my monitor 7 paradigms with the Prestige 85f and the 45C center channel. I have my towers bi amped and see I can bi amp the center channel. What is the consensus on bi amping your center channel? I was thing the more power I can put to it the better it will sound? Thats what they say in the Paradigm manual.

Any advice or thoughts. thank you!!
ecooks1
Hey there, I used to have Paradigm 7 as well,  and I've also had the Signature S6 V2.  I've been curious about the Prestige line so I looked up the specs and it looks like the 45C will take 150 watts max, and a suitable amp range is up to 220 watts.

Of course one could employ a larger amp, just as long as your volume doesn't exceed around 150 watts.  The 45C is nice and efficient(90 db), so it'll get loud pretty fast.  The size of the room, how far back from the speakers you sit, and your preferred volume level all need to be taken into consideration. 

I'm not sure if you are familiar with what the 90 db spec means.  At one meter(or yard) distance from the speaker, it will achieve 90 decibels of volume with 1 watt of power.  That's pretty loud.  But for every extra meter distance, you deduct 3 decibels or thereabouts.  So if you sit 3 meters away from the speakers(about 10 feet), then you'd get about 81 decibels  of volume.  Doubling the power to 2 watts adds 3 decibels to the volume level.  So going from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8 watts, would add a total of 9 decibels.  

To bi amp your center, you'll need 2 channels of amp power.  I've never done this, and there is disagreement on whether bi amping in this manner would see any improvements, as long as one is using the speaker crossover, or a passive crossover.  An active crossover network that would have the signal crossed over before amplification may have more benefits, but that's getting pretty expensive.

If you've got the amp channels presently, I'd try both with material you are familiar with and see if you can hear any benefit.  
Thanks for the response. Great deal on the Paradigms now. Get a free 45c center channel with the purchase of the two 85f towers. I spoke with Paradigm after I posted this and they told me about 30% of the voice is coming through the center channel. Did not really recommend bi amping it. Said you are not going to see that much of a difference as compared to the towers. I guess that is why Yamaha really only gives you an option to bi amp the towers easily on the receive i have the 2070 advantage.