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Idiotic Vertical Biamping Question

I've read a couple of detailed articles on the various kinds of biamping.

I understand vertical biamping to be: amp1 uses left and right outputs to speaker1 (we'll say that's the right speaker); one channel to woofer and one to tweeter; and amp2 does the same, but to the left speaker.

We're assuming a two-way speaker.

Now, I assume that each amp still "thinks" it is sending full-range signals out of both channels. So for amp1, let's say the right output channel feeds the woofer while the left output channel feeds the tweeter. The amp is sending information meant for the left speaker to the tweeter of the right speaker. Same problem occurs in amp2 (but possibly with reversed content going to woofer instead of tweeter, depending on whether the channels are wired identically or in reverse of amp1).

It seems to me this would cause tremendous problems in imaging. So there *must* be something I'm missing; can anyone help me out?

Also, every article I've read discourages bridging stereo amps to make them monoblocks, though the reasons vary. What are your experiences with such a setup? I was specifically thinking of getting another McCormack DNA-.0.5 and having Steve convert both amps to monoblocks, thinking this would be the best performance I could get, but maybe that is not the case?

Thanks for the insight, all.

HC
aggielaw

Showing 3 responses by eldartford

eldartford
4,262 posts
 
I object to the term "biamping" when the amps are not fed hi and lo frequency signals from an electronic crossover!! How about "dualamping".

My experience with bridging has been good. When you bridge a stereo amp one channel is using an out of phase signal, which evens out the draw from the DC power supply. One "specmanship" trick of power amp manufacturers is to cite continuous power with both channels driven...and in very small type, if at all "out of phase".
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Jeffreybehr...I always heard that connecting two power amp outputs in parallel was a NO-NO. Frankly, I never tried it, as the caution seems reasonable.

Creeper...The "industry standard" when I started biamping in the mid 50's always involved a low level crossover, and I think this terminology remained for many years. Only lately have I heard about using two power amps with passive crosovers. Indeed, until fairly recently loudspeakers did not come with separate terminals for woofer and tweeter (a feature intended to facilitate bi-wiring).

Aggielaw...A low level electronic crossover has far less "personality" than a passive crossover. Of course, the "personality" of the passive crossover may be deliberate, to overcome certain known deficiencies of the drivers.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Creeper...If everyone agreed about everything all the time the discussion would become very boring. How can you get so worked up about semantics? Resort to personal insults usually results from a weak argument.
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