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Two different amps to horizontal bi amp?

I have Hales Designer Reference One speakers. They have three sets of post for speaker wire. I presently have one amp (Wingate 2000)class a amp. I have added a Sunfire signiture subwoofer to extend the lower registers but do not like the overall blending of the two. Here is my question / statement. I have an opportunity to purchase a Threshold S500 class a/b amp. I would use this to drive the woofers and use the Wingate to run the tweeter and mids. I feel the Threshold would elevate the bass performance and allow me to eliminate the sub woofer. Would this work? What kind of potential problems would or could I have?

Thanks
128x128bozo
sean
6,231 posts
 
The biggest potential problem that i see is that the amps might have different levels of gain. As such, applying the same drive level from your preamp to both amps at the same time may not result in equal output from each of them. This could result in a very noticable lack of continuity between the frequency ranges, shifts in imaging and soundstage, etc...

In order to do something like this without getting complicated, you really need to run identical amps that have been gain matched. Otherwise, you'll need some way to measure the output of each amp individually and adjust the drive levels accordingly. This can be done using some type of attenuation device between the preamp and highest gain amp of the two or via the use of an active crossover.

By the way, it's obvious that you are NOT a "Bozo". You have very nice taste in electronics : ) The speakers i'm not that familiar with. Sean
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hackmaster
102 posts
 
Sean is right - gain is one problem. Another is time and phase errors introduced by mixing and matching amps. Unless you use exactly the same amp (and I do mean the same model - not just the same manufacturer because some manufacturers are not consistent from model to model) you will introduce time and phase anomalies which will totally destroy the coherency of your speakers.
sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
The two prior posts raise excellent points. The third element that I think is relevant is that different amps can also have different audio "qualities" -- somewhat like the voices of people differing. I have bi-amped with two amps before, but I have always used amps of the same brand.
rives
953 posts
 
All of the above posts are correct and their warnings should be taken into consideration. However, I will tell you I horizontally bi-amp with Levinson Reference 20.0 (top) and Krell KMA 160 (bottom) on modified Martin Logan Monolith IIs with an external (active) cross over. It's almost impossible to use two different amps without the flexibility of an active cross over, but this combination has really worked well--it was not easy to find the right combination though due to the above mentioned concerns, but I was actually looking for slightly different amps in this application.
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