I had bi-amped my JBL 4333’s which were originally designed with a bi-amp crossover (though I had built my own crossover using Nelson Pass design for mid/hi and used a Rane active to separate the low frequencies for my woofer). I used vintage amps with solid-state MAC 1750 on bottom and Dynaco tube on top. I thought it sounded good until my tube top end went out and I thought it was cheaper to just finish the passive crossover for the woofer Than repair my Dynaco. Wow! So much better with just the Mac powering everything.
Granted, I was using less-than-state-of-the-art equipment and I bet it would have sounded great if I had the flexibility to try multiple amps top and bottom until I found the perfect combo. But that would be a lot of money and a lot of experimentation.
If you’ve got the time and money, it can be fun to tweak, but for me, simplifying by getting rid of all the unnecessary hardware in the signal path gave me a much better sound. And Nelson Pass designs a pretty good passive crossover too. 🤓
Granted, I was using less-than-state-of-the-art equipment and I bet it would have sounded great if I had the flexibility to try multiple amps top and bottom until I found the perfect combo. But that would be a lot of money and a lot of experimentation.
If you’ve got the time and money, it can be fun to tweak, but for me, simplifying by getting rid of all the unnecessary hardware in the signal path gave me a much better sound. And Nelson Pass designs a pretty good passive crossover too. 🤓