bi amp imrpoving?

The question Psag poses could be taken, or rephrased, either of two ways: 1) Is there any advantage in going to biamping (by doubling up on identical amplifiers) if the single amp already in use is high-powered to begin with and the speakers are of average difficulty to drive (and let's also stipulate that the room size and listening volumes desired are around average)? Or, it could be taken to say: Is there any advantage to biamping (using identical amps) over just single-amping using a similar model (let's say from the same manufacturer) but whose construction and output specs are nominally twice that of the smaller amps?

Or put most simply: For an average system and listener, is there nearly always an advantage (in absolute terms and cost-effectiveness aside) in biamping where the power is doubled, regardless of how high it was to start with -- and is there an advantage in biamping where the power remains constant?

Putting aside for the moment the additional and important questions of whether we are talking about "passive" or "active" biamping (and assuming we don't screw it up if it's the latter), and also whether the amps are stereo or monoblocks (not to mention whether the cables in the starting condition are single- or bi-wired), based on my experience (again, limited!) I'd say the answer in the first instance would probably be yes -- even if the original amp or amps are high-powered to begin with and the demands are average, there may very well be an absolute advantage to be gained by doubling-up (amps + power). But then again, I'm an advocate for the notion that, other things being equal (which they won't necessarily always be), more power is better.

The second instance I can't address from experience, but I'd hypothesize that yes, even though the total power doesn't increase, there could still be some advantage to be gained in divvying up the duties so that the HF amp or amps don't 'see' the LF driver(s) -- much the same way most audiophiles believe that a pair of monoblocks can exceed a similar stereo amp of equivalent power per channel in part because an amp dedicated to each channel doesn't 'see' the demands of the other channel.

So, my opinion taken to its logical conclusion: In a multiway system, the best scenario would be to have an independent mono amp dedicated to each driver (I personally don't, and likely won't, have this), and you basically can't have too much total power, even with 'average' speakers and room/listening demands. Fire away...

Hello Psag,

#1
"Would the use of a single amplifier with megawatt output, used with medium-efficiency speakers, negate any possible additional benefit of biamping? "

Already been answered by Irvronisnon i.e. "In almost every case, yes "

#2
"...the benefit of biamping is to lower distortion, by providing enough power to each driver, regardless of its impedance. I believe that the goal of a company like Spectron is to build an amp with enough power to do that, obviating the need for biamping "

Various people claim various advatages/disadvantages of bi-ampling and I cannot go into all possible variations. Let me answer your question with your own equipment. I believe you have Coltrane speakers and two Spectron amplifiers which you use in nonoblock configuration.

a) Advantages of monoblocks over biamping.
----------------------------------------
Spectron amplifier when used as monoblock is configured as FULLY balanced amplfier (i.e. it is two amps with positive and negative signals each). Due to the fact that it has very, very high part tolerance (and you paid for it !!!) and few more "small" things - practically ALL DISTORTIONS produced by each channel of amplification is canceled upon arrival at speakers. In other words you practically have distortion-free music. Most interesting is that it does not matter what design is used: tube, solid state class A or A/B, class D etc - almost all distortions caused by the amplfiier (regardless how different they will look on the scope) will be gone....and for that provilage you pay twice

b) Advantages of biampling over monoblocks.
----------------------------------------

If your speakers have extremely difficult impedance behaivor, say in low bass area, then all kind of distortions will appear. Now, if you use monoblocks then these distortions will be spreaded over entire bandwidth and your ear is particualrly sensitive in midrange - so they will irritate you !
If you use bi-ampling then distortions due to poor impedance, as we use in the example, in low bass will be concentrated only in bass frequencies and your ear is substantially less sensitive in that area. this bi-ampling allows you to hear no distortion midrange and overall you will like sound much more.

Of course if you have active crossover then you have no choce as to use bi-ampling using two or three or four amplifiers as many do e.g. stereo at the top, two monoblocks at the bottom.

Simon

Thank you, and sorry for railroading this thread.
Hello Simon,
For an amplifier with two outputs on each side (such as the Spectron), is there a theoretical or actual advantage to using one output for the low frequency drivers and the other output for the high frequency drivers?

"Hello Simon,
For an amplifier with two outputs on each side (such as the Spectron), is there a theoretical or actual advantage to using one output for the low frequency drivers and the other output for the high frequency drivers?"

I'm not Simon, but there's no way the answer to your question would be yes. That's just bi-wiring, and if you are using a single cable of sufficient gauge there's no advantage to bi-wiring. (Apologies to those that believe otherwise.)

I tend to agree with Irvrobinson ...again but I would not be that categorical.

From my experience with developmet of latest Spectron and Elrod manufactured Remote Sense cables: there was no audible advantage of bi-wiring versus single wire and jumber (from hifreq -to low freq drivers) made of the same wire as the cable. May be in some circumstances it will be different but I suspect it will be rare

Simon