Bi-amping speakers - Vertical or Horizontal

I always have liked monoblocks. With 4 monoblocks you wouldnt have a problem with deciding which way to bi-amp and with 4 monoblocks you have all the advantages, both ways of biamping have to offer.

Tekunda: The trouble with that kind of bi-amping is that it is also bi-spending (at least). Nonetheless, I agree w/ you, one of the biggest improvements you can make.

I remain,

I firmly believe the ONLY good multiple amp situation is identically matched amps vertically bi-amped - and bi-wired. They should be as close as possible - same brand & model, with serial numbers closely matched. Any other method introduces the possibilty - no, make that the certainty - of timing errors. Tonality, rythym, and dynamics will suffer. I'm sure some people think they've heard good horizontal bi-amping, but did they ever try the same setup the other way 'round?

In a monoblock mood....
Ed.

Ed...I'm not sure I understand how timing errors could occur if, say, I use a 25-35wt P/P or SET amp on the woofers and a 2-8wt SET on the tweeters. Does it matter that I am listening pretty much in the nearfield, or are you not talking about acoustic timing problems? How could there be electronic timing errors from such a set up?

I have nothing to add except I am glad that Clueless is back - missed ya'

I'm vertical with MAC 7270 left and 7300 right on Snell XA90's. Left is 6' and right is 20' with top-line balanced MIT 750 Pro interconnect. MAC's are nice because I can control the Left (tweeters and mid's) and bass separately. I use different volume setting on CD vs DVD due to speaker set-up (as above - ahem, decorating problem).

There is a great article by Greg Weaver of Soundstage that explains the pros and cons of vertical vs horizontal.

http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm

Each amplifier design has a different output, even those with differing power ratings from the same manufacturer. They have a "sonic signature." Some are "fast," some are "euphonic," some are "bright"... you get my idea. If you send one type of sonic signature to the right channel woofers, for instance, and another type of sonic signature to the right channel mids or tweeters, the speakers response times will differ, making it impossible to acoustically align - unless you can move the individual speaker elements back and forth to compensate for the differences in timing. Listening to such a speaker - especially in nearfield - will produce exaggerated differences in acoustic output, thus making the total overall system response errors greater than the designer imagined. I'm sure that there are others on this list who can explain it better, but to try a test use two different amps on two identical side-by-side speakers. Listen to each (in mono) separately, and see whether you can hear a difference in the speakers. I think most on this list would agree that there probably would be a difference. Swap the amps & speaker leads to be sure it's not affecting your test. If you can define the difference, imagine if each amp were driving a different element within one of your speakers. Think it would affect the sound? Most people who have heard this agree that it can affect the sound we perceive.
I'd appreciate a more scientific opinion if someone has one, since I only base my judgements on what I've heard - and I'm certainly no engineer.