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Do I need bi amping?

Hello guys

I have a pair of power amps, one Line Magnetic LM-508 (300B-805 tube my favorite) and one Hypex NC500 class D.

I'm using today the tube amp, wich has more than enough power to drive my speakers at every volume level possible and the class D amp is in a closet.

As I have both amps and my speakers accept bi amping, I was wondering to try it out, using the tube amp for highs-mids and the class D amp for lows. 

Would you recomend bi amping? Have you tried it? 

I listen to all of my music streaming Tidal and my 2.2 system today sounds superb for me (I've heard some much more expensive ones sounding much worse). I also have pretty good hi end gear for the money and paid attention to every detail I could: AC dedicated line, AC filtering, cables, audiophile switch, digital signal processing, antivibration tweaks, speakers and subwoofers positioning, upgraded caps and resistors on my tube amp, better tubes, etc etc. I'm not looking for extra power, just better sound.

By the way, my Audio-gd Master 1 has RCA and XLR outputs to drive boths amps, but thr only caveat is that I need to match the gain of the outputs as they are different. 

If I do it right, would I get better sound?
plga

Showing 6 responses by georgehifi

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
If I connect one amp to the high frequencies binding posts and one to the low frequencies binding posts of the speakers, and both amps are "feeding" a full range signal, I believe it won’t damage the speakers as their crossover is filtering the full range signal to what's needed for each specific driver.
I mean, it will relieve the amps from amplifying the whole signal, but it won’t damage the speakers. Am I correct?
Correct, no damage to the speaker or amp/s, and the amp will only see the load of that driver and it's xover components, less taxing for each of the amps, all better all round for everything. But you will need the $49 Sys on the louder of the two amps to make them both equal.

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
I think your ok class-d to many only seems to have problems in the highs, I believe it’s because of the class-d’s output filters HF phase shift. Red trace. https://ibb.co/C16rpXx

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
If that’s correct, wouldnt that be a relief for the that amp?
Yes as it only sees the load of the tweeter and it's xover
Same for the bass amp 

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
My Audio-gd Master 1 has two outputs, one XLR and one RCA.

If it can drive both amps without problem

Yes, but you still need the $49 Schiit Sys on the input of the louder of the two amps as you need to equalize the gains of both. The you use you preamp as the master volume control.
Cheers George


georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
plga OP146 posts12-09-2020 6:25amThank you George
That’s a very good option to try. Thank you.

Have you tried some similar configuration or do you know someone who did it? Is it really a good upgrade un sound?


Yes many have, it’s quite simple when you look at it, all it cost is $49.
If you have amp/s like you have that are good in the bass and another that’s good in the mid/highs it’s the logical way to go. Like say a Schiit 20w Class-a Aegir and a Schiit 100w Class-a/b Vidar, a perfect combo for this configuration.
And what you have with the Sys, is that you can tune the sound a little, warm it up (more bass) or cool it down (less bass)

Cheers George

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

plgaDo I need bi amping?

Hello guys

I have a pair of power amps, one Line Magnetic LM-508 (300B-805 tube my favorite) and one Hypex NC500 class D.
If you have a "stereo" Hypex , then yes horizontal bi-amping would be great, use a $49 Schiit sys on the louder of the two amps to bring  down the level, as they won't have the same gain.
https://ibb.co/3SHB973

Cheers George

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