2. amps-preamps
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Need advice on bi-amping

Hello,
I am thinking about bi-amping my front towers. First I will list the components I currently have or will soon have in my system that will be relevant to the question.

Onkyo PR-SC 5507 Pre/Pro( on the way)
Rotel RMB-1575 (5 channel - 250w per channel)
B&W 804D towers
(second amp not yet purchased)

At the moment I am using this system as my 5.1 home theater/2-channel music setup. The rotel amp only has 5 outputs so, they are all used in this 5.1 configuration. I have the B&W 804d connected to the rotel amp with a single cable. What I am thinking about doing is purchasing another amp so I can bi-amp my towers. The onkyo processor has the option to re-assign two of the surround outputs for bi-amp ability. I would then use the rotel amp to power my front towers and buy another amp to run my center and surrounds. This will be a passive bi-amp setup because I am leaving the stock crossover network installed. What I am trying to achieve is tighter, more powerful mid bass response and more detailed highs.

If I do passive bi-amp my towers, would I gain more power and amp headroom this way? It seems like it would work as the woofer section is seperated from the mid/high. This way each section is getting a full 250w feed and not splitting it. I could be totally wrong about this. If so, somebody please explain how this works.

In your opinion, do you think this would provide an increase in sound quality? I know there are some of you out there that are running your speakers in this configuration. What are the pro's and con's of doing this? Thanks in advance.

Andy

andyprice44

Showing 1 response by gregm

gregm
3,414 posts
 
Going a bit against the grani:
The onkyo processor has the option to re-assign two of the surround outputs for bi-amp ability.
IF the amp allows you to choose frequency as well, so much the better. Anyway, why not borrow a cheap 2 channel amp and try it out. Since you use a 5 channel Rotel, try to find a used 2-channel from the same company.
You will get some sonic improvement which usually translates into slightly "clearer" sound -- i.e. you get the impression there is better separation between instruments and voices. You have more power on tap because you have added two extra channels -- you are just relieving some of the strain put on your present amp...

I used to passively tri-amp simply because I happened to have amps lying around that happened to have identical input sensitivity. The result was not stellar -- but improvement there was.
Of course, as these things go, active bi/ multi amping is in another league altogether!
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