bi-amping can be great but it depends on the application. there really are not many disadvantages for speaker makers except the slight expense to add the additional wiring, binding posts and jumpers.
the advantages are the ability to have a more dynamic presentation through increased amplifier power, the ability to isolate the tweeters and midrange drivers from the woofer amplifier which may clip at higher volumes. the clipping of the woofer amp basically becomes inaudible because it is subject to the woofer's crossover. The midrange / tweeter amp will never clip because of the reduced demand on the amplifier to play those frequencies.
the ampfliers need to have the same gain or the ability to be level matched. doing so will not affect the voicing of the crossovers.
i had an incredibly dynamic powerful sounding system with PSB tower speakers seeing 150 watts on the woofers and 100 watts at the tweeter / midrange, amplifier gain was identical. the system was able to play much louder and had no audible sense of strain, compression or distortion.
the advantages are the ability to have a more dynamic presentation through increased amplifier power, the ability to isolate the tweeters and midrange drivers from the woofer amplifier which may clip at higher volumes. the clipping of the woofer amp basically becomes inaudible because it is subject to the woofer's crossover. The midrange / tweeter amp will never clip because of the reduced demand on the amplifier to play those frequencies.
the ampfliers need to have the same gain or the ability to be level matched. doing so will not affect the voicing of the crossovers.
i had an incredibly dynamic powerful sounding system with PSB tower speakers seeing 150 watts on the woofers and 100 watts at the tweeter / midrange, amplifier gain was identical. the system was able to play much louder and had no audible sense of strain, compression or distortion.