Bi-amp with same sort of amp?


Talked to a man today about my loudspeaker project(that never gets ready).He ment that it´s preferable to use the
same type of amps for the subs and the rest of the system.
According to him, using different types of amps, with different slew-rates ("speed" -if you want) often ends up in a mess.
I use Volt 12" woofers, in separate enclosures, and I will run them up to about 65 Hz,only, using a VMPS electronic crossover(only low-pass filtering). I will use a 8" and two 3.5" Accutone ceramic drivers and an Eton ER 4 tweeter per channel.
Having built some speakers in my days, this is my first time
using an electronic crossover for Hi-Fi.(I used the word bi-amp for convenience, in the title).
Any opinions are welcome!

Regards
Håkan in Sweden
dinos

Showing 2 responses by jmcgrogan2

I think it depends on whether you are biamping vertically or horizontally. For vertical biamping (bridging amp to mono) I would recommend staying with the exact same amps. If you are talking horizontal biamping, one amp fo bass the other for the mids and highs, I disagree. I have found that using amps from different manufacturers with different slew rates and different power outputs to not be a problem. I've used less expensive, more powerful amps like an Adcom (200wpc)on the bass, then driven the mids/highs with a lower powered Classe/ Counterpoint (100wpc) or such with very good results. I hope this helps.
I forgot to mention the crossover. This probably plays a big factor in whether the biamp will sound good or not. Some speakers bass crosses over to the mids at 200 or 300 hz. This might be too high, where the difference in amps is more audible. I think the lower the crossover frequency the less impact using different amps will have. For the record the speakers I were biamping have the crossover set at 120 hz. From this point down I think it's okay. The higher frequencies will start to enter lower midrange area where you might notice the amps not matching more easily.