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"Polyamping" A Look to the Future or Fancy Fad?

In a recent quest for information regarding DIY speaker designs, I was referred to the Linkwitz Orion Project. These speakers employ active crossovers and it is suggested to give each driver its own, separate amplification (actually one for each woofer and one for the tweet/mid - three per speaker). Linkwitz recommends the ATI AT6012, a twelve channel, six zone amp (60W/ch). I am not sure about the merits of the ATI amp but, regardless of amp, does anyone think this will be a "growing" design. I mean I have heard the benefits of biamping and have heard tell of triamping but, in this case, "sextamping"? Octamping would seem to be next. All accounts say that the Orions sound fabulous. Perhaps I am just behind the curve. What so you learned folks think of this direction in audio?
4yanx

Showing 1 response by russbutton

russbutton's avatar
russbutton
410 posts
 
Linkwitz doesn't require that you run the ATI amp to drive
his Orion loudspeaker system. What he requires is that you
use 8 identical channels of amplification. His bass
drivers are mounted on an open baffle, so they can't handle
a lot of power. 60 watts per driver is about it. And you
certainly don't need to use more than that for a tweeter!

I'm planning to build a pair of the Orions and have cheaped
out by picking up 4 Hafler P1000, pro-style amps. They're
50 wpc and are 1U high rackmount pancakes. I've gone to an
all rackmounted system and these things mount in there with
plenty of room. I picked 'em up on EBay for an average of
about $140 each, so for a bit less than $600 got the
amplification I need.

Russ
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