Karman,
I can help you on this... I use the 5140's (older version of Espek's) for the front and rears of my HT. Hepl is right, you can bi-amp them, but it would need to be done passively (the crossovers still in the speaker and no active cards in the amps). I did this on my way to an active setup. Their is an improvement in bi-amping, the speakers open up a bit. Tri-amping does some more of this, though less than bi-amping. When you go active, you really free the speakers up! Yes, the bass extension noticeably improves, as does the ease of reproduction of these speakers!
I personally found it worth it as I did it slowly and it gave me time to play within a limited budget, you will need to decide for yourself if its worth it to you, but it sounds like you are where I was want good speakers and likely will upgrade.
If you go this route, I must warn you. The Linn active cards take a long time to burn in!!!! When I finished setting mine up after putting in the cards, it sounded worse! The highs where rough, bass somewhat boomy everything I had been avoiding in my stereo, as time went on, say ~200 hours the sound was so far superior to them in passive mode I could never convert them back! You must also know . Every time I have to break down and move this system I curse it! I currently have 7 amps for my 5.1 system! Thats a lot of ICs and SC to connect!
If you have any specific questions Ive not answered, feel free to Email me for more.
Ken
I can help you on this... I use the 5140's (older version of Espek's) for the front and rears of my HT. Hepl is right, you can bi-amp them, but it would need to be done passively (the crossovers still in the speaker and no active cards in the amps). I did this on my way to an active setup. Their is an improvement in bi-amping, the speakers open up a bit. Tri-amping does some more of this, though less than bi-amping. When you go active, you really free the speakers up! Yes, the bass extension noticeably improves, as does the ease of reproduction of these speakers!
I personally found it worth it as I did it slowly and it gave me time to play within a limited budget, you will need to decide for yourself if its worth it to you, but it sounds like you are where I was want good speakers and likely will upgrade.
If you go this route, I must warn you. The Linn active cards take a long time to burn in!!!! When I finished setting mine up after putting in the cards, it sounded worse! The highs where rough, bass somewhat boomy everything I had been avoiding in my stereo, as time went on, say ~200 hours the sound was so far superior to them in passive mode I could never convert them back! You must also know . Every time I have to break down and move this system I curse it! I currently have 7 amps for my 5.1 system! Thats a lot of ICs and SC to connect!
If you have any specific questions Ive not answered, feel free to Email me for more.
Ken