dave@z-cars.fsnet.co.uk
"Ok, i've tried Vertical bi-amping with 1 amp for each speaker, and the sound was much fuller, and the mid-range was a lot stronger, i think my wife described it as been more 'in your face' (she's a violinist), so though i'd swap things around to horizontal bi-amping with one amp for hi's and the other for lo's, and with her fine-tuned ear she was saying that there's less mid-range but you can make out all the instruments and a lot more detail and colour (not coloured, as in valve amp, but sparkle and life), but not as much force....."
This statement re-enforces the point of that you have better power reserve for the midbass and bass when verticle bi-amping, but the sharing of one power supply in one amp for your Mids and highs in Horizontal config. seems to prove that the more rolled off sound occurs and a little less punch on the bottom. Thanks |
Been listening to my CDs for hours now since I did my experiment of running the tweeter/mid drivers using the Mcintosh 402 and the bass drivers using the Bryston 7B-SSTs on the B&W 802Ds. I have been VERY pleasently surprized and VERY happy with the results. The issue I had after "upgrading" the digital cable from my MVD861 to the MX135 with a GREEN HORNET digital IC (for the purpose of increasing detail), was that the detailed was greatly improved but the music became more bright/harsh. So, I tried bi-amping using the Bryston amps to drive the bass and the mcintosh to drive the high/mids. The music has become (to my ears) more natural. The highs and mids are very detailed but without the brightness and the bass just continued to fantastic!. I'm sure there are folks who will not agree with this set up for one reason or another but as with all things audio, you need to try it to see if you like it regardless of what you believe to be true or correct. |
Has anyone tried bi-amping using different amps ie. one ss amp that has great bass and one ss amp that has great highs and mids? Are there any issues running different amps that have different power output 600 watt amp for the bass and 200 watt amp for the mids/highs |
Ok, i've tried Vertical bi-amping with 1 amp for each speaker, and the sound was much fuller, and the mid-range was a lot stronger, i think my wife described it as been more 'in your face' (she's a violinist), so though i'd swap things around to horizontal bi-amping with one amp for hi's and the other for lo's, and with her fine-tuned ear she was saying that there's less mid-range but you can make out all the instruments and a lot more detail and colour (not coloured, as in valve amp, but sparkle and life), but not as much force.....
so looks like for my setup then Horizontal bi-amping works best.... was it worth the extra bit of cable here and there, and also a 2nd hand identical amp.... Yep!
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Cool let us know the difference between the vert and horiz.. Thanks |
thought i'd let u all know how the biamping went, all my cables and things have come, also the 2nd identical amp (Marantz PM6010OSE)....
well i setup the system in vertical mode, with one amp for left speaker driving both hi/lo and other amp for right speaker ditto, and i just split the source to both amps, with left split into l/r on amp1 and right split into l/r on amp2.... so the results.... Brilliant!!!, the musical depth is much improved, the defenition in each speaker is a big step-up, the sound-stage is much the same, there is a good deal more bass, all in all the music is a lot more alive than before. I'm lacking real detail but thats more down to my very old CD source (Marantz CD54), i've got a Sony SCD-BX940 coming soon to have a play with, so will drop in the odd SACD to see how it sounds, but at the mo. all in all very happy, i'll have a play at changing to horizontal bi-amping with one amp for Hi's and one for Lo's just to see the difference, just more of a faff getting the balance right on the two amp volume control.
anyway, off to pour a beer and have a listen.... |
Sure, Oz. Purist Audio, Nordost, etc., all make y-adapters. I used a pair from Cobalt Cables, perhaps not the best but they did work. |
What if you are using Balanced interconnects? Are they any quality Balanced spliiters ? |
dave@z-cars.fsnet.co.uk, Yes just simply dedicate One amp to each speaker... Run both the channels with the same signal into the speaker, for example use the Left channel of the amp to into the Low section and the right channel of the amp into the top section... ONe amp running one speaker, and the other speaker gets the other whole amps 2 channels dedicated to it. Use your splitter or jumper to give the same signal to both channels on the amp... So you take your preout of the preamp left channel and feed both the stereo channels on that amp,, and same for the right preout dedicated to your other stereo amp. |
I belive you've got it right. I do think it is the best way if you are using 2 stereo amps.
Enjoy,
Dan |
ok, have i understood right, if i try vertical then i... split the left signal from source and feed into l/r input on amp1, and right signal from source into l/r input on amp2, then amp1 has left and right channel into hi & lo of speaker1 and amp2 will take left and right channel into hi & lo of speaker2?
am i about there, i've orded some extra interconnects and x2 phone splitter adaptors, so hopefully can have a fiddle next few days. |
Run one stereo amp per speaker.. In otherwords dedicate one amp to run your left channel using the left or right channel to power the woofers and the other open channel to run the mids and highs.... This is verticle bi-amping, reason this could work out better than Horizontal bi-amping is that you can use a little longer interconnect and set the amp closer to each speaker with shorter speaker cables..
However, this is not the main reason for doing this, it is because especially if each AMP has a single power supply or transformer in it which most do unless specified as a Dual mono, than you are now Splitting the power supply with about 20 % to the mids and highs, and 80% left over to run your bass. Why? Because if you run one amps in the horizontal config for both Bass drivers in both speakers than you are now splitting the signal with less power available to the bass drive at 50% each.
Your mids and highs do not take much power at all, even if not the most efficient speaker, its normally the bass load that will cause the draw from an amps caps and transformer, so now in a verticle config you are not wasting one whole stereo amp seperating that power supply to just run both channels of mids and highs? Sorry if this is hard to understand but its as basic and graphic as I can explain on the internet.
Good luck, just think about it and it makes sense, do you want to dedicate one amp to taking on both Bass units? Or have a bigger reserve for bass current simply just talking a stereo amp per channel, by the way then you just need a basic jumper to connect the left and right channel RCA's right together on the same amp with the same signal, and you get less crosstalk as well cause you are now just running all one channel thru one amp instead of splitting it. |
You're talking about horizontal bi-amping. Does work pretty good. Back when I was running a similar configuration I found that vertical bi-amping did offer some improvements. For that, you only need the one set of outputs from your CD and run a single cable to each amp. Then use a good quality splitter at the amp to drive both inputs on each amp. You would then attach one channel on each amp to the low end on each speaker and the other channel on each amp to the high end on each speaker.
Good luck,
Dan |
That should work. let us know how it does. |
