Tri-amping speakers - Which amps


I am seriously looking at running a tri-amped system with an active crossover and 6 channels of amplification (the speakers will not use passive crossovers). The speaker designer suggested 100-200 watts for the woofers.
With that in mind an obvious choice would be a 6 channel amp from someone like ATI or others. Another alternative would be to find 3 used stereo amps. Something like the B&K ST140 would seem like a readily available possibility, but that model is fairly old and repairs may be expensive. I guess I am 'testing the waters' with this setup and do not want to spend a fortune on amplification. I can always sell the active crossover and have the passive crossovers hooked up in the speakers, but a 6 channel amp would be hard to find other than new and I don't think the demand would be great to try and sell used. Any sugggestions/
cnut

Showing 1 response by aponter4

Hi guys,

I just came onto this thread and find it excellent. I am also considering a tri-amp set-up with an open baffle dipole speaker system using a DSP to provide x-over, eq. and in-room correction. As i understand it from the manufacturer, i have great flexibility in the amplifier and cable selection and set up for the system. As the DSP can adjust gains for differences in amplifier input impedances, one can use different amps and by re-adjustment, change amps in the future if one wishes. I have listened to a prototype of this speakers in a non-treated room and the sound was impressive using mid-fi amplification and cabling. The one drawback, in theory, that i see is that, all inputs into the DSP is digitized so that this may not work for those that need their all analog domain intact eg. vinyl. Also, one is limited to the quality of the digital conversion of the input signal in the DSP and this may also add and additional A to D and D to A conversion depending on whether the digital front end source is inputted directly or analog converted prior to the DSP. But, at the proverbial end-of-the-day, what really counts is the sound coming out of the speakers in your room and to your ears and the rest is just that... theory.

Rafael