If you have very inefficient woofers like some big speakers do have it makes sense to have bi or tri amp.why does mcintosh xrt 2k have tri amp even thier xrt 30 have multiple amp capabilities. Maybe they just want to sell more amps or they cater to some demand from customers. I love big kw amps as my krell comes to mind 750 mcx. The mcintosh 1.25 put out 200 amps with those big tranformers.enjoy the music. Power wakes some speakers up and let them hit close to x max.
Bi-wiring and Bi-amping for Dummies (Well, One dummy amyways)
Thanks to fellow list member here I’ve learned recently some about my new equipment. Now about hooking it all up.....
Most of the new gear is pretty simple but there’s a couple of new twists I have no experience with. Bi-wiring and bi-amping.
Bi-wiring. I purchased a pair of Cambridge Audio Edge M monoblocks and a pair of
KEF R11 Meta speakers. The speakers will take normal wiring or bi-wiring I now understand. I was lucky enough to contact Morrow Audio before they shipped out my new SP6 speaker cables and have the speaker ends changed to bi-wiring.
The amplifier cable ends will have the normal two connectors while the speaker ends will now have 4. Pretty straightforward or am I missing something?
Bi-amping. Well, this will take another pair of monoblocks. That’s not in this year’s budget but maybe next year if it offers that much improvement. Does it add much improvement? Even when using monoblocks? Will it make the cables I just ordered obsolete? Will I need additional cables? Anything else I need to know?
I’m sure bi-wiring and bi-amping are covered in the forums elsewhere but I’m trying to be specific for the brands of equipment I purchased.
Your polite comments and opinions are valued, thank you.
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@kirkwallace Yes, the gauge of the cables is reduced but only for about the last 6 inches. It's not halved either from what I've read. I larger percentage goes to the lower frequency connection since it would theoretically use more power. As we've recently learned though, it's all hogwash. @roadcykler Yes, I see that now thanks to the video link provided by ditusa. That's why asked about all of this, to learn about it. Bi-wiring has no real benefit to the consumer, just the producer. @shooter41 I would be curious as to why Greg from Volti Audio recommends bi-wiring. Again, I'm learning here so my assumptions may be wrong. I would guess the only benefit to running an entire set of cables would be if you only had a smaller gauge than you needed laying around and wanted to use them anyways. Or maybe you have speakers that demand so much power that even the largest cables aren't sufficient. @mark200mph The video is very informative, especially for those would want to understand the mechanics of bi-wiring. I don't recall the speakers being named in the video but the power was coming from an integrated. @dekay It can be hard to find a good image online for the rear side of a KEF R11 Meta. There's one at: https://australiahifi.com.au/products/kef-r11-meta-floorstanding-speakers I see what you're talking about now and Googled it. This is the way to go apparently for the cleanest signal. Wish they would have mentioned that on the website when I bought them! Thank you dekay! |
Another loudspeaker designer/manufacturer who recommends bi-wiring is Richard Vandersteen.
As for bi-amping, one major benefit of doing it requires the removal of low frequencies from the signal sent to the amp(s) powering the midrange and tweeter drivers. It may be done passively (just a single capacitor installed on the amp’s input jacks to create a 1st-order filter: 6dB/octave) or actively (for higher-order crossover filters). A power amp freed from having to reproduce low frequencies sounds better, and plays louder. And the tubes last longer.
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