Nola Baby Grand Reference I

Carl is pretty emphatic that his speakers sound best with the ARC Ref75 using KT150 tubes. Of course that's no reason not to experiment but it should be kept in mind (especially given the relatively modest price of that amp).

i know that Carl has nothing against bi-amping per se, but i believe it's better done the way you are suggesting (different power amps for different frequencies) with electronic crossovers and separate subs.
or alternatively do what was suggested earlier and use two of the same power amp, rather than mixing valve and solid state power amps, even if driven by a valve amp.
if you are set on using both valve and solid state power amps i suggest you try VAC's phi300 as it has a gain control, which will allow you to compensate for differing amounts of gain
but my instinct is you will be better off using matching power amps

Thanks for your responses.
My problem was that I could not identify the terminals on the Baby Grand crossovers. Carl straighten that out for me and now I have the Baby Grand bi-amped. I am trying different amps to see what sound best to me.

Thanks again.

Problem solved!!!!!

I think that what Carl is saying is that the bass and the mid/treble drivers won't blend and sound as one unit. Every speaker designer who designs a multi-driver speaker system wants his or her speaker to sound as one voice across all the drivers when you listen, rather than hearing each driver separately. I think that Czarivey is essentially saying the same thing, and if you really want solid state bass his advice is good. I'd tend to say go with a top-tier tubed amp that can handle bass well (VAC or VTL, for example) along with the tubed preamp, as Nola voices their speakers using tubed amplifiers, but that's just my taste.

Yes, I will be using Tube amps for top end and Solid State amps for the bottom end. I have an electronic crossover built into my Mcintosh MEN220 room correction unit. I did contact Nola, but he said if I bi-amp the speakers they would not sound "Coherent". What that means I dont know. I know what the word mean, but not in this context. Moreover, everyone hears differently, that's why I like to listen for myself and not just to reviewers.

It's good experience to play, but single amp is always better unless you're planning to use electronic x-over.
Tonal balance with passive is only achievable at very limited volume levels. Even if you 'dial' a proper volume level, you will still have a chance to loose tonal balance on sophisticated music that requires large dynamic headroom.
It's always better to get the best out of single amp rather than getting the worst out of biamp.
If you truly want to have best of both worlds, you should use tube preamp and SS amp.

If there are indeed no connection designation markings or indicators on either the external crossovers or the speakers then you should definitely call Carl @ 631-738-2540.

I suggest calling Nola. They are very helpful answering questions and making suggestions.

Yes I do have all the equipment needed for bi-amping. I was bi-amping my Legacy audio Focus 20/20 before. The nola baby grand reference 1 have external crossovers with output connections to what seems to be for high, mid, and low. But none of the connection on the crossover or the speaker is labled so that is where I am lost. I dont want to do it incorrectly. Do you know anyone with these speakers and have the documentation? I can't find the one for mine.

Thanks. ?.

I have bi-amped my Alon 1's and Alon Lotus SE mk ll speakers with tubes on the mid/tweets and SS on the woofers with relatively good success. Assuming you will be using the internal passive crossovers on the Baby Grand's, you will need the ability to adjust the gain on each amp and for optimum results you will also need to have the ability to adjust the feedback on the tube amps.

While the results of bi-amping provided some additional headroom and very good musical qualities, I ultimately went back to using stereo tube amps as that provided the most coherent/musical match.

It is at least worth exploring though if you have all the
equipment/cabling on hand.