Anyone ever tried 2x100Watt Bi-Amp Vs 200 Watt

I run the front r/l speakers in my home theater vertically biamped using 2 Electron Kinetics Eagle 4 amps (they're 2 ch @125 w/c). This configuration is far better than any other I've tried (and all other amps too. (see my system page "media room for one"). The speaker designer (Albert Von Schweikert) recommended this over using one higher power amp.

The only extra cabling it cost me is a "Y" adapter on the I/C. Even when I didn't run biamp, I still had bi-wire shotgun runs because my speakers require it.

The main reason is not so much a power issue but that of driver modulation. A woofer that moves like a jackhammer to make any bass will generate a fair amount of back EMF, the result of inertia causing it to behave differently than the input signal; biwiring does remove some of the back EMF from feeding back and modulating the mid and tweeter but not as much as a biamp configuration.

given that you are considering a decent amp, and not one from walmart--

My advice is that if your speakers have only one set of terminals on the back to go with the 200w amp instead of the 2x100w. you have a greater chance of degrading the signal or introducing a problem than to recieve benefit. if your speakers have two sets of terminals (that are bridged, you remove the bridge when you bi-wire/biamp) then two amps would increase your chances for a non-negative result. giving you greater control over how much amp goes to the highs and what goes to the lows... Don't forget that many amps are bridgable, so you could wire two 100w amp channels to the same speaker to get 200w that way too.

Wow. Lots of opinions. IMHO, a good 200w is superior in terms of power availability. The reason is that most of the power is utilized in the bass and with 2x100, the woofer/LF will still see only 100w. One can argue that bass stress will not affect the HF with 2x100 but by doubling the power to the LF, such stress is minimized.

Also, bridging is different from 2x100 and requires a phase inversion device. The result is usually more than 200w but places limitations on the impedance sensitivity.

Biamping was very effective back in the days when power amps had high IM distortion, and watts were expensive. The only valid reason to biamp today is to get rid of the passive crossover.