Thanks for the response(s) guys. In the course of arranging to have my amps upgraded, I have had several long talks with Steve McCormack. There are four (main) options:
1. Upgrade, and use, only one amp.
2. Upgrade both amps and vertical biamp.
3. Upgrade both amps and convert to monoblocs.
4. Bi-amp with no up-grade (no matching either)-- but I consider matching very important, but shipping two 100 lb. amps is expensive just for matching.
Where two amps would be used, matching would be done as closely as possible by SMc. S. McCormack said he had a slight preference for the mono-bloc route, but that the other two methods are excellent also. Richard Vandersteen said, and I quote "only an idiot or a drunk would hook up that kind of power to Vandersteen speakers" (RV was referring to the 1200 wpc monos).
Well, decisions had to be made and in continuing discussions with Steve Mc., and the fact that I already owned two DNA2s, we decided that upgrading the amps to Rev. A, matching the amps, and then vertical bi-amping would be an excellent way to go-- and that's the route I'm taking. I emphasize that the the DNA2s are very powerful as is, ie 300/600/1200 wpc into 8, 4, 2 Ohms. These amps will even put out 2400 wpc into 1 Ohm. I also note that these amps are a true dual mono design-- they are not conventional stereo amps.
Steve, Richard V., and I all agreed that going to monos would be of little or no benefit for my purposes and would even likely be overkill. A notable benefit of identical amps for biamping is that if I don't like the biamping, I can sell one of the DNA2s Rev. A and keep one for my own use, whereas monos would have to be sold as a pair.
R. Vandersteen recommends 1. bi-wiring, 2. vertical bi-amping, and 3. short as possible speaker cables with Vandersteen speakers. BTW Sean, in the short term, at least, I'm staying with my 14 ft. spkr. cables, and 4 ft. ICs. One last point-- while my DNA2s are gone, I'm using a stock DNA.5 (I do have a Syn, Res. MC cord on the .5), and it's sounding great. Maybe all this expense and hassle with big amps is not needed-- but hey, I'm an audiophile: ).Thanks again for the interest in my "project"-- guess I should have started my own thread on it-- maybe after I get the amps back. Cheers. Craig.
1. Upgrade, and use, only one amp.
2. Upgrade both amps and vertical biamp.
3. Upgrade both amps and convert to monoblocs.
4. Bi-amp with no up-grade (no matching either)-- but I consider matching very important, but shipping two 100 lb. amps is expensive just for matching.
Where two amps would be used, matching would be done as closely as possible by SMc. S. McCormack said he had a slight preference for the mono-bloc route, but that the other two methods are excellent also. Richard Vandersteen said, and I quote "only an idiot or a drunk would hook up that kind of power to Vandersteen speakers" (RV was referring to the 1200 wpc monos).
Well, decisions had to be made and in continuing discussions with Steve Mc., and the fact that I already owned two DNA2s, we decided that upgrading the amps to Rev. A, matching the amps, and then vertical bi-amping would be an excellent way to go-- and that's the route I'm taking. I emphasize that the the DNA2s are very powerful as is, ie 300/600/1200 wpc into 8, 4, 2 Ohms. These amps will even put out 2400 wpc into 1 Ohm. I also note that these amps are a true dual mono design-- they are not conventional stereo amps.
Steve, Richard V., and I all agreed that going to monos would be of little or no benefit for my purposes and would even likely be overkill. A notable benefit of identical amps for biamping is that if I don't like the biamping, I can sell one of the DNA2s Rev. A and keep one for my own use, whereas monos would have to be sold as a pair.
R. Vandersteen recommends 1. bi-wiring, 2. vertical bi-amping, and 3. short as possible speaker cables with Vandersteen speakers. BTW Sean, in the short term, at least, I'm staying with my 14 ft. spkr. cables, and 4 ft. ICs. One last point-- while my DNA2s are gone, I'm using a stock DNA.5 (I do have a Syn, Res. MC cord on the .5), and it's sounding great. Maybe all this expense and hassle with big amps is not needed-- but hey, I'm an audiophile: ).Thanks again for the interest in my "project"-- guess I should have started my own thread on it-- maybe after I get the amps back. Cheers. Craig.