Bi amp pros out there I could use some help! First time Bi Amping...


Just picked up a BAT vk 200 for the bass and using my Pass Aleph 5 for the mids and tweets. Ive never played around with bi amping so I apologize in advance for any lame questions My speakers are Dunlavy SC3's original 5.5 nominal load. The pass is 90 wpc at 4 Ohm and the BAT is 200 wpc at 4 ohm so Im guessing around 75 wpc off the Pass Amp and 150 plus with the Bat Amp. My pre amp is a Aleph P and Im running the Single ended through a XLR adaptor (cause the Bat is Balanced inputs only) and the pass Aleph 5 off the XLR outputs of the pre and inputs of the Pass amp. The PASS Pre Amp manual says there is a 6db differential between the RCA and XLR outputs  two and both can be driven at the same time. So the RCA is 9db and the XLR is 15 db. Gain is within 2db on each amp. So whats the best way to do this? Get a custom XLR "Y" connector and drive both off the XLR output of the pre? Or is there a way better way to get the magic? This is past my "WORLD" Map and experience so Id thought Id ask for the smart people for advice. 

Thank you in advance!

-ALLGOOD
128x128haywood310

Showing 2 responses by mijostyn

If you do not have gain controls on at least one of the amps you have a problem. The major benefit of biamping is to be able to bypass the crossovers in the speakers and instead use an electronic cross over between the preamp and the amplifiers such as the DBx 223xs. This allows  you complete control of levels and cross overs. I do not know of any unit that gives you just gain control although you could rig a box with just potentiometers in it. 
I have bypassed quite a few cross overs although I can't say how many.
A good active crossover can pretty much compensate for anything. If it is a 3 way speaker you want to bypass only the woofer section leaving the midrange to tweeter cross alone.