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Monoblocks vs Vertical bi-amping vs Horizontal bia

In attemps to raise the sonic bar of my system, I'm considering my options which includes using a single stereo amp, mono blocks, or 2 stereo amps in either a vertical or horizontal biamped configuration.

Q1: Who out there has experience in how each of the above scenarios differs from one another. If you read Dennis Had's article on vertical biamping at his Cary web site, you'd think that that is the way to go but how does this differ from monoblocks which accomplish the same thing (i.e. one amp used per channel for all frequencies)?

Q2: In which situations do the various amp scenarios best lend themselves (room size, listening levels, speaker sensitivity and ohm rating etc. etc.)?

Thanks for your input.

Kevinzoe
kevinzoe
snook2's avatar
snook2
620 posts
 
Thank You Chucker for clearing that up. Go vertical and use identical amps
rickmartin
8 posts
 
I have Snell Type Aii's and I have used both vertical and horizontal bi-amp through the years. I prefer and have used for many years a horizontal set-up with stereo SS on the low freq and a stereo tube on the high freq. I enjoy the snap and drive of the SS on the bass and the tube sound for the highs. I use an external cross-over for the low end. I have been thinking about a mono SS or monoblocks SS on the low freq.
hifiho
50 posts
 
Chucker--
Thanks for the correction, and making the explaination easier. I AM amplified horizontal. My explainations were backwards.

I had my 6 year-old son bouncing on my lap while responding to the post, while at the same time questioning me about how to get his GameCube to switch between 1 and 2 player mode..

I had a bit of a digital dillema, with all of those 1's and 2's bouncing around in my head. Can you say "binary code"? Add to that, caffeine "Jitter". Maybe I should convert to analog....

Hmmm.
Happy listening all!
snook2's avatar
snook2
620 posts
 
Check the Cary website. Dennis Had's expert analysis on vertical biamping compared to monoblocks is simplified
foreverhifi
229 posts
 
I dissagree with the "blanket stements" saying that verticle or horizontal, or whatever is the way to go. It depends on the situation largely. I can easily see where, at times, it would be better to possibly do one or the other.
One possiblity for people to STRONLY consider with full range speakers(especially 3 way speakers), is to biamp using an inexpensive(relatively) ss bass amp on the bottom(if covering mostly only bass down bellow 200hz), and whatever amp matches the sonics of your speakers up top!
For instance, Parasound makes SUPERB amps for bass!!! They've always had very very dyamic and authoritative/well controlled bass from these amps, and they come with a volume control to adjust gain as well!...this makes it perfect for biamping in my oppinion.! You can not only level match the two amps this way much easier, but you can take advantage of the excellent bass response from the amp, and let your midrange and top end be handled by a more "finess" amp up top...tube, SS or otherwise.
I've done Biamping in the past, and I like this option, functionally and cost wise, very much!
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