Is it ok to Bi-amp using different Brand/model of


amps or is it best to use the identical model for muliti-amping? I like to add another SS stereo amp, to get more snap, quickness, detail, and more power to the sound.

Currently I’m horizontally bi-amping my Hales Concept 5 speakers, which are a 3-way, with a pair of BAT VK-60s. One amp is driving the mid-tweeter (passive XO still being used here) section of the main speakers and the second VK-60 amp is directly powering the woofers. A Marchand active XO has the woofers set between 80-550Hz. A pair of self-powered sub-woofers handles below 80 hz.

The VK-60s can easily become monoblocs. As monoblocs, each amp will drive each speaker’s mid-tweeter section and a third amp, stereo, used to power the woofers.


On the BAT website, specifications for solid-state & tube amps such as; input sensitivity, frequency response, THD.... are all different. Will these differences in specs harm the sound if I were to join SS & valve amps together in the same system? Will timing and coherency be affected? Thank you for your inputs.
128x128norm

Showing 4 responses by stewie

Norm,
Thanks for the link.
Here's the thread started by Albert von S. over on the audiocircle board about bi-amping.
My two cents: I've bi-amped using a 170 wpc ss power amp (with volume control; but an attenuator would work as well) on the bass cabinets, and a pair Dynaco 60 wpc monoblocs on the mids and highs. They're run through a Juicy music peach ii preamp, which has a setting for "low" impedence. Anyway, with the pots on the ss amp turned back to about 4, the set up sounds great from low volume to high. Best of both worlds, with the possibility of adjusting the bass/mid-treble ratio to taste with particular kinds of music.
Hi Norm,

I've not tried active crossovers, so you may be right. My speaks are Von Schweikert vr4 gen iiis (with separate posts for bass and mids/tweets) and Albert himself suggested to me that that crossovers in the speakers were all that's needed. I've never been clear on why bi-amping suddenly requires active crossovers; it's not as if, say, the bass drivers know that they're being bi-amped, right? Or maybe they do.