Help with bi-amping


Can some of you help me to understand bi-amping?
I'm considering bi-amping my speakers, but I would like to know more about what's involved. Obviously, my speakers are bi-ampable, so my question is surrounding the amps. If I have 2 100w stereo amps, one for each speaker, does each speaker then get 200w of power, since I'm feeding one speaker with both channels? And what about the preamp/amp - does the amp have to be a "biampable" amp, or will any amplifier be capable of doing this, and does my preamp have to be biampable? Right now, my preamp only has 1 pair of front outputs - do I need 2 pairs? And lastly, do any of you have experience with both bi-amping and bi-wiring, and how do they compare, musically, logistically, financially, etc.
Thanks for any help with this topic.
ktsteamer

Showing 2 responses by blues_man

I tried vertical bi-amping, by borrowing a VT-200 to match with my VT-100. It didn't fare that well. I suspect it was due to the lack of an active crossover to balance the signals. Who makes good crossovers? Has anyone done a real comparison? That is not 2 amps against your old amp but 2 amps against one amp which is the equivalent of the 2. Have you compared 2 100 watt amps against a similar 200 watt model?
Many experts will disagree with that. That's why I said you need to compare 2 100 Watt amps to a 200 watt amp. John Dunlavy believes that the 200 watt amp will win all the time. (SET's not included). A lot of people claim bi-amping is better, but nobody ever wants to do a valid comparison. Two 100 watt amps vs a single 100 is not a valid comparison.