bi amp imrpoving?

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.
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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.
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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

My tests with double runs of cable vs. various types of jumpers lead me to agree that one of the main (but often glossed-over) benefits of biwiring lies simply in the elimination of jumpers which are inferior to the cable being used. (FWIW, I never used to biwire before I started experimenting with biamping, and wouldn't call myself an advocate of it.) Another variable when single-wiring with jumpers can be which set of binding posts to connect to the amp -- right now I own two sets of speakers whose manufacturers recommend the opposite connections to the amplifier, one to the woofer binding posts and one to the tweeter, and my findings have confirmed that both are right for their own speakers and wrong for the other.

BTW, though I've never used or even heard a Spectron, my own amplifiers (both mooblock and stereo) do happen to be of fully-balanced/bridged topology (and are fed via balanced connections from a fully balanced preamp and DAC). These amps are always in this mode regardless of whether I'm biamping or single-amping, and I still find benefits in biamping.