Advice: spare channels for bi-wiring

Thanks for the responses. Looks like you guys are doing pretty much the same thing I'm doing. So even though I'm using the same amp (but 2 seperate channels) to wire my center speaker, I'm essentially "bi-amping"?

Same here. 2 channel amp for the mains. 5 channel amp for the surround/center/and subwoofer experiments) 1 and 2 of 5 biamp the center. 3 and 4 of 5 for the L/R surrounds. Thats leaves the fifth channel for whatever. I am currently messing around with passive subs.

I bought a DH LABs BL-1 1meter RCA Y cable from A 'gon member "Drubrew," nice cable, great price. I am pretty sure he still makes them.

I'm doing the same thing i.e. 2 channel amp for the mains and 5 channel amp for the center and surrounds. I'm using my two spare channels for subs, which works out great for me. If you don't have subs or the subs that you have are active ( built-in amps ), i would recommend bi-amping your mains with the two spare channels. So long as the amps are from the same manufacturer and share similar gain ratings, you should have no problems with this. I would be doing that myself, but my 2 channel amp driving the mains is already capable of 1200+ wpc, so i really don't need any more power there.

As to Lps2cd's comments about being able to combine channels, i agree that it is a nice feature. Depending on how this is being done though, there could be some differences in sonics involved. One would have to try it both ways to see if the added power was actually of benefit compared to the differences in sonics, if there were any. Sean
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Arcam AVR-300 receiver that comes with the feature of using the unused 6th and 7th channels (if you're only running a 5 ch. set-up) to bi-amp the L & R fronts. I looked around for any other Rcvr that had this feature but couldn't find one. I emailed B&K to see if this was possible with their 507 but I was emailed back that it is not possible (and not reccomended). I don't think this really addresses your situation but it's such a cool feature I thought I'd share.
Happy Listening!

I have a 7 channel amp, a pre/pro with dual center outs and a biwire center channel also. I bi-amped the center for awhile like you were planning. Did not really make a difference except make it play a little louder. I had to turn it down in the setup menu. Use the extra 2 channels for a second zone. Or, if the the amp can be bridged down to 3 channels, you could get some extra power to your surrounds.

Good luck,