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Another biamp thread.

I've been checking and lurking on biamp threads the last few months as I've been squaring away the basics on my system. I've been passively biamping my Sony SS M3 bookshelf speakers for several months. I've read most threads I could find several times. Still, I have a few questions. I'd like to try actively biamping. I want to keep it all analog. I was thinking of using a Behringer CX3400 and then possibly trading up to a Marchand after fine tuning, assuming the initial experience keeps me wanting more, that is. I have no experience working with electronic components. Do I need to have an experienced tech remove the passive crossovers, or is it about as simple changing a screen? Does this project seem ill-advised?
poprhetor
drew_eckhardt
394 posts
 
08-15-11: Hifihvn
>The pros have the high dollar test equipment to work with, and see the after results too.

The few few hundred dollars to buy a personal ARTA license for gated measurements, microphone preamp, and calibrated measurement mic are no longer a big deal.

Products like MiniDSP mean rapid iteration over cross-over functions doesn't involve a lot of bread boarding and making speaker cabinets isn't hard either.

The main issue is knowing what to do.

Read and understand

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms by Floyd Toole

and

Loud Speaker Design Cookbook by Vance Dickason

and either get to work (because you're still interested) or decide you don't have that much free time and build other peoples' designs.
poprhetor OP
61 posts
 
They're fourth order crossovers, and they are probably complicated. The marketing materials for the speakers included a few proud sentences about their computer designed crossovers. I suppose this may have been novel in the late 90's? Anyway, some sources suggest that actively biamping is the only way to fly, completely disparaging passive biamping. So then, what's the best use, generally speaking, of two sets of speaker posts on a pair two way speakers?
hifihvn
943 posts
 

08-16-11: Drew_eckhardt
08-15-11: Hifihvn
>The pros have the high dollar test equipment to work with, and see the after results too.

The few few hundred dollars to buy a personal ARTA license for gated measurements, microphone preamp, and calibrated measurement mic are no longer a big deal.

Reading a couple of books doesn't turn you into an expert. I guess you could test them outside instead of an anechoic chamber. But that aside, there are all kinds of things that you learn from experience and Electrical Engineering school to decipher what some things mean, if this equipment can give you everything the experts use. It sort of reminds me of these ISF certified guys that come out to your house to calibrate your TV for D6500. A lot of TV's look terrible after. They don't understand what is going on, and that is the way it is, since the equipment shows it's close to D6500. Also THX certified equipment. Definitely not a sure thing for hi-end. There is a real science to crossovers, and how much different they can act just with a different wood used for a speaker. The same goes for different materials used for speaker cones with the same specs..
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