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Passive and active biamp together

Hi guys, I have a question for those of you with experience in both passive and active biamp.

Preamble 1: I was using passive biamp with 4 identical monoblocks, but, especially after a fine tuning in room acoustics, found out I got no significant advantage, so I reverted to single amp, putting the extra pair of monos for sale.

Preamble 2: my loudspeakers have double inputs (binding posts) for lows and mid-highs (xover freq 350hz@24db/oct), but the xover network, for what I can read in the manufacurer user manual, is pretty complex, making its removal unfeasible for going active.

Question: somebody told me that putting an active xover between pre and power amps, would be of great advantage anyway, even though the passive xover is not removed, because the amps would only take care their part, and especially because there would be much less energy dissipated in the passive xover, of course provided the active one is set at the same freq and slope, and its quality matches the rest of the system.

Haven't sold the monos yet, do you guys think there could be a point in this, worth getting a, say, Marchand XM126 tube xover to try?

Thanks to all,
Marco
cptaz

Showing 1 response by poprhetor

poprhetor
61 posts
 
It's certainly a can of worms, Cptaz. I'm currently actively biamping. Before removing the passives, I implemented both active and passive as you described. It really did not sound right, as Ivan indicated. Removing the passives and going fully active yielded by far the most significant audible change in the system since I began messing with it. So, at the very least, it's interesting. I'm happy with the results but not yet satisfied.

I've been fearless mostly because none of my equipment is all that valuable. Your system? I dunno, man. I'll bet those speakers sound great as is. You might consider shooting an email to Marchand. Other members have reported that he is very helpful and willing to advise. As for myself, I'm currently using a cheapo Behringer CX3400, and I feel pretty good about moving forward eventually, probably Marchand's passive line level (XM-46).

If you end up communicating with Marchand, I do hope you'll share the experience.

Cheers,

Michael
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