Details for bi-amping


I am going for a horizontal bi-amping of my system intending to use two tube monoblocs for the mids and the highs and two SS monoblocks for the lows. The issue is that I have to have the same gain of the Pre-amps driving all the four monos in order to avoid a difference. Some Pre-amps have a pair of outputs allowing them to drive two pairs of monoblocks. Would that be a good solution? Would that be a solution at all giving that the tube monos and the SS monos would most probably have different output power? Would the use of a single Pre-amp with two pairs of monos negatively affect the sound quality? Or I should go for two Pre-amps trying to match theeir gains? I will very much apreciate any hint. Tnx.
nikmilkov

Showing 2 responses by stanwal

You do not need two preamps. You can use Y connectors from a single set of outputs, that is what I did when I biamped. Use good quality Ys. It is not clear if you are using 2 matched pairs of amps or 4 different ones. In the first case you will need level controls for the pair of amps that is more sensitive, ie plays louder as a given preamp setting, so you can lower their output. Using mismached amps would require 3 level controls at least and be quite complicated to set up.
The sensitivity of an amp is how much voltage it requires to drive it to full output. For example my Meridian 605s require .5 volt for full output; my CJ 350 takes 2 volts. Since the tweeters will take much less power to drive than the bass section it will probably , but not certainly, be the tubes that need the volume control or attenuation.