Need help What monoblock power amps for bass?


I own a pair of Silverline Sinfonia speakers.These are very large speakers (over 240 lbs. each),96 dB and 8 ohm stable.Very aesy load for any amp,so power is not mandatory,anything over 50W/ch is OK..
They are tri-ampable.I am looking for opinions on what monoblock amps to use for bass drivers ONLY.Each Sinfonia has two 12" woofers and one 7" woofer.7" driver also contributes to midrange,so this is the trickiest part of my amplification story.I don't want mellow and soft bass,but don't want cold vocals either.
I plan to use either tube or SS monos and limit them whit a potentiometer in order to achieve a tonal balance with midrange and tweeter.Midrange and tweeter will be powered with 320B XLS SET monos (30W/ch).
The areas i am looking for in bass are - slam,speed,definition and ambience.I like fast and tight bass (often connected with SS amps),that is a priority.
Any suggestions will be very welcomed.
audiobb
Hi, Ramy.... I hope you are doing well.

Audiobb, I'd highly recommend auditioning the Nuforce SEV2 mono amps all around (one per speaker should do).

Several years ago the standard Nuforce Ref 9 amps replaced my custom rebuilt amp which was rated at 300 wpc@8 ohm, 600wpc@4ohm and 1200wpc@2ohm and the speakers at the time were rated at a very inefficient 86db into 4 ohm load.

The 100 lbs. custom amp was noted for a number of things especially its fabulously, deep, tight, controlling, and well-defined bass.

The 7 lbs. (each) Nuforce Ref 9 amps were even deeper, tighter, more controlling, and more well-defined, but the Nuforce were also more extended, refined and plain more musical. I sold my custom amp before the Nuforce amps were even fully burned in.

One caveat to the above recommendation, I am a Nuforce dealer. FWIW, I was not a dealer of any sort when I auditioned the Nuforce amps and it was their performance that caused me to toss my hat into the ring.

-IMO
Don't use a pot. I've tried a few in this situation and they just sounded ugly. Constant twiddling and never found the right setting. The really good audio pots are not the right range for this type of fine tuning. A series stereo attenuator in the 0-5k range should work for most combos. However, you could always just add another series resistor to a smaller range attenuator. Of course, this works a lot easier for RCA connections. XLR balanced means doubling up on everything. Series attenuators work well in this situation because they only raise impedance that was already compromised by parallel amps.

This kind of biamping, with different amps only tends to work well when the xover point is low, 150Hz or less.
If you want monoblocks with the convenience of a SINGLE chassis, I would consider a used Parasound HCA-3500 power amp.
The unit is fully dual-mono, has lots and lots of power and current, and even has seperate power cords for each channel!
This amp has Krell or Bryston-like bass control and power!
Look up the review of this amp in the Stereophile archives.
It talks about the bass capabilities of this amp, etc.
Highly recommended.
Thanks a lot for all your kind answers.Dalton,monoblocks are mandatory due to the short speakers cables i own.I already chose this setup along time ago.

Ngjockey,i am still considering what attenuator to use,still i am not clear on this.Your input is very helpfull.But you were right,i was considering the pots.

Ramy,your speakers seems very serious and good.I appreciatte the input.I think power is not very important for Sinfonias,anything above 50 Watt would be ok.
Audiobb, my experience has been that while you can get much greater volume levels by bi-amplifying, you also pay a big price- figuratively and literally! First, to do it right you have to use and electronic crossover. Good ones are expensive, and all of them behave not only as crossovers but also as filters for detail and impact. You also have to pay for another amplifier.

I have found the most convincing systems don't use electronic crossovers, instead the amplifier drives the speaker full-range. Otherwise you face prodigious integration issues, and the better your speaker is the more you will notice them. For example, its a lot easier to bi-amplify if you use the same type of amplifier for top and bottom, as far as integration is concerned. That could be tricky in your case where you have an SET on top.

At any rate I've never seen a bi-amplified system work right. I've seen them sound OK, and I am open to the idea that one day I'll hear one that is done right but until then I advise against it- if best possible sound quality is your goal.