Has anyone tried 2 amps in stereo mode?


I currently have a rotel 200W amp bi-wired to my speakers.
I'm wondering if I would get any sonic improvements by
hooking up a second(200W Rotel) amp? I would have one amp per speaker using them in stereo mode (not bridged),one channel will power the lower driver and the other the tweeter.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks.
greg_lett

Showing 1 response by walkelin

Neil,

I have tried vertical bi-amping and using my two stero amps (crown DCA300's) which can be switched to mono in a true bi amp setup. As stated above vertical bi-amping will certainly improve your system. There are two ways of doing it if your speakers support bi-amping. You could dedicate one amp to each speaker and using a Y cable from your pre you feed the same channel to both theleft and right side of your amp which would supply he top and bottom of one speaker. You could also use one amp to drive the bottom of your speakers while the second amp would drive the top portion with either configuration you need could Y splitter cables. With either setup all cables should match and your amps must be exactly the same. The third option if your amps are capable of being switched from stereo to mono would be to use one amp to drive each speaker in a true mono setup. Chances are when you switch your amps to mono you will be doubling the wattage so check that your speakers can handle the additional power which usually isn't a problem if you have decent speakers. The only draw back to using a stereo amp in mono modes is that when a stereo amp switches to mono it couples the positive side from both channels by inverting the signal. Some feel that it compremises the sound of the amp, it also may require altering your speaker cables depending on how far apart the post are separated. In any eveent I have tried mines both ways and settled on using two amps one driving the low range and the other driving the top range of my speakers. I have to add that I didn't go out and buy another amp I had it from another system. If I was buying I would just go with two true mono amps an the best cable I could aford with jumpers between the top and bottom. I think that is what most audiophiles and manufactors would recommend. As usual just my experience your results may vary. Happy listening.