No, You Cannot Bi-Amp

Relative power needed is almost entirely governed by crossover point.

If you crossed over at 10khz, you could make due with a 30 watt tube amp on top of a 300 watt SS.

Than, other issues would come to the fore.

01-20-12: Magfan
Relative power needed is almost entirely governed by crossover point.
If you crossed over at 10khz, you could make due with a 30 watt tube amp on top of a 300 watt SS. Than, other issues would come to the fore.

Right! A major "other issue," if the two amps are being used in a passive biamp arrangement (i.e., without an active crossover ahead of the power amps) being that some number approaching 270 watts of the 300 watt capability of the SS amp could not be utilized, without clipping the 30W amp. Essentially the 300 watt amp would be reduced to not much more than a 30 watt amp in that scenario (the exact value depending on the voltage swing capability of the 30 watt amp). Which was exactly my point.

Best regards,
-- Al

01-20-12: Magfan
Relative power needed is almost entirely governed by crossover point.

If you crossed over at 10khz, you could make due with a 30 watt tube amp on top of a 300 watt SS.

Than, other issues would come to the fore.

Right! A major "other issue," if the two amps are being used in a passive biamp arrangement (i.e., without an active crossover ahead of the power amps) being that some number approaching 270 watts of the 300 watt capability of the SS amp could not be utilized, without clipping the 30W amp. Essentially the 300 watt amp would be reduced to not much more than a 30 watt amp in that scenario (the exact value depending on the voltage swing capability of the 30 watt amp). Which was exactly my point.

Best regards,
-- Al

if you are going to use the in-cabinet speaker x-overs as-is then the best way to do passive biamping is the method done by member 'jefferybehr' - he's used 4 identical amps that are driven by his preamp. Take a look at his system pix.

I'm sorry, but the power relative power needed IS governed by the crossover frequency. At least for music with a 'normal' distribution of frequencies.

With the crossover at 10khz, per my example, you really would need more than 90% of the power below crossover, with only 10% above.

http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm

The 50:50 point is about 350hz. I don't know that active or passive makes much of a difference. The amp will only have to produce power for those frequencies for which the speaker has a need.

The 'other' factors I was thinking about would be amp latency. How long it takes a siganl to pass thru the amp.
Also, gain and how linear the gain is will play a part in freq. balance thruout the volume range.

I have a straightforward question for Elizabeth...

... who has a most strong negative opinion of actively bi-amping, e.g. Magnepans, and seems to have an even stronger negative opinion of the people ("adolescents") who engage in the practice:

Has she ever actually heard a pair of Magnepans, e.g. the 3.5s, 3.6s, or 20.1s, that were bi-amped with two excellent amps and an excellent line-level external active crossover, e.g. a Pass Labs XVR-1?

Has she ever done anything close to an A/B comparison of a pair of Magnepans thusly bi-amped and the same pair single-amped with the stock, or even a "Gunned," passive crossover?

If so, what did she hear to cause her to demean so vehemently active bi-amping?

If not, where does she get her confidence in such an ungrounded opinion?

Respectfully (up to a point),
David Zimmerman