Bi-amping with "split mono-blocks"?

Thank you all for the encouragement. It looks like a second Premier 11A is on the shopping list now. And thanks for the terminology help. I wasn't aware of the term "vertical bi-amping".

Since I've tried bi-amping, I know I'll never go back to anything else. If you have very inefficient speakers, the change will be night and day if you bi-amp. More control, headroom and ease with which the music is delivered.

Everything got much better.

Big benefit to biamping; I've doubled everything, the speakers (Eminent Technology LFT8A's), the interconnects, speaker cables, amps...so it totals now 8 amps (using multichannel amps) driving the four Eminents. In order to accomplish it, had to get a preamp with dual main outs, then split those four outs! Rogue Magnum 66 has internally switchable tape out as second main. Works well.

Fabulous sound! Far, far outperforms the basic one speaker, one amp setup. Has put me into a different universe of sound.
If you don't stick with the same family of amps, you'll get into the never ending game of exchanging them, similar to interconnects. It'll just introduce another variable to drive you crazy.

You do have to pay attention to gain; one of my multichannels I use is 165/ch, the other 200/ch. The gain difference is noticeable, but I was able to combine them in such a way that it works incredibly well (used the 165/ch on bass, and supplemented with twin Vandersteen subs; much improved sound putting more watts to the panel speakers). But if you don't have matching amps, you could be asking for complications.

Hi,

I have the exact situation that you are describing. I use separate stero amps to power my bi-wire N802's. I use a spliter on the pre amp to give me two outputs for each channel. I use one side of the amp to power the bottom portion of the speaker and the remaining channel to do the top portion. I have found this arrangement to be very dynamic and provides a lot of headroom. My amps are capable of being switched to mono but the manufactor recommends running them in stero which gave me the idea of using one amp per speaker. I also have tried running them with one amp to power the left / right bottom and the other amp left / right top. Either configuration works I don't know if there is a sonic or performance benifit in either option.

Sean, good point about letting the amps ride in class A longer. I suspect this may have a lot to do with improving the sound with multiple amps.

I am using six stereo amps with all 12 channels actively driven. Each stereo amp is run as a mono-bloc though i.e. both channels of one amp sharing the load on the right bank of tweeters and both channels of an identical amp feeding the right bank of tweeters, etc... This same system using multiple other amps is utilized all the way down through the frequency range.

This approach increases channel separation by reducing crosstalk, improves dynamic range, increases headroom, increases control over the drivers via reduced sag in the power supply, improves sound quality by allowing the amps to stay in Class A longer due to the reduction in pull from any given channel via sharing the load, increases the damping factor by increasing the impedance that the amp would see as compared to only having one channel driving all of the drivers in that bank, etc...

In the future, i may end up going to a four way system, which will require two more stereo amplifiers and a crossover change. I think that this will give me even better performance, albeit at increased cost and complexity. Like anything else, the pursuit of excellence in any given category is met with diminishing returns and increased expense.

Other than that, you are on the right path and what you want to do should work out quite well. So long as you can find a way to gain match the individual amps to each other AND gain match the "hi" & "lo" channels of each amp, you should end up with the best of both worlds i.e. mono-bloc's that are voice-matched to your listening preferences through-out the frequency range. This is exactly what i did, but with the aid of an active crossover. Sean
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Your idea will work and sound great. I've been doing this for a couple of years and am now using two pairs of monoblocks to drive my Salons with. The extra headroom is a big plus and according to Kevin Voecks at Revel, even thought there is not and electronic crossover, by biamping this way, the amps do see the circuit differently and work more efficently in this configuration than with using one stereo amp. In my experience, it is better to use the exact same isolatoin, amps, interconnects, etc., for vertical biamping to sound its best. Otherwise with a high rez system, the bass midrange and treble sound differently and not as coherent. Good luck!
Steven

Sonds like an excellent idea to me, and also an excellent choise of amps--I too had 2. Go for it.
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What you are describing is vertical bi-amping. Theoreticaly you should get less interchannel cross talk and ergo better channel seperation. In addition you may somewhat limit each channel of each amp from covering as much of the frequency demands and ergo keeping each amp more stable. If there are sample to sample differences between amps they may be more readibly exposed. Doing this long term may put different demands on opposing channels of the same amp and the individual channels within the same amp may wear differently. When bi-amping in this manner you may have greater headroom at either end of the frequency extremes at the expense of straining the areas you may be more sensitive too. Your speakers will have a lot to do with many of these issues. Your amps may have a lot to do with these issues. This approach may allow for shorter cabling. The other approach would be horizontal bi-amping. Theoreticaly the amp(s) should have even more limited frequency demands and ergo be even more stable. Sample to sample differences between the amps may be less obvious. In this case the amps may wear differently from each other but are less likely to wear differently within from channel to channel. When bi-amping in this manner you may have more headroom in areas that you may be more sensitve too at the expense of less over all headroom. This approach may require longer cabling.Your speakers may have a lot to do with many of these issues. Your amps may have a lot to do with these issues. Mixing amps or tubes may be an advantage to compensate for different demands and allow for greater headroom in those areas that you may be more sensitive to at the expense of overall greater headroom. Mixing amps or tubes may cause muddling or discontinuance in the overall sound. Your speakers may have a lot to do with this. All in all there are pluses and minuses to all these approaches. It sure is worth a try. Cables may play a part in all this as well.