Bi-amping????

What you are describing is vertical biamping. Take 2 identical 2 channel amplifiers and use one channel of one amp for low frequency output to a certain speaker and the other channel of that same amp for high freq. to the same speaker. You mirror the setup for the other speaker with the 2nd amp.

If my thinking is coherant today, you either need to have 2 preamp outs from your preamp (2 right channel outs and two left channel outs), or some way to bridge the amp input signal to both channels at the amplifier (some power amps have this capabilty with a jumper or switch), or you will need "double terminated" (there is a proper term for these) interconnects from your preamp to the power amps.

Even passive biamping made a tremendous difference in my system compared to using the stock jumpers or a biwire setup. I have Magnepan 1.6's (hard to drive) with Arcam Alpha 10 amplifiers (modest power of 100w into 8 ohms).

It is definitely worth a try. If you think it through before hooking everything up you shouldn't do any damage. If you turn the gain all the way up, there is no guarantee that the speakers will handle the load though. That is a different question.

Jim S.

Thanks for your help jim, I purchased a nad pre-amp/tuner 1600 on ebay item #250060026348, and a nad c521bee cd player. I will not receive the pre-amp until the 28th. You described exactly what I am trying to do, although i am not sure if the pre-amp has 2 pre-out outs, but if it does not then I assume I will have to make some sort of 2 into 1 split to run to each amp. I am jealous, I too once had a set of maggies with jolida tube mono blocks and I sold them in the early 90's(wish I never had) The sound was very sweet.

I am curious however(may not know what I am talking about here) when Paradigm says 15-150 watts 180 max. does that mean bridged. Another words when I hook up high side from speaker to one channel on amp and Low side on same speaker to another channel on amp that is continuous 200 watts to speaker, I know it is not going to same speakers with-in the speaker but that is not too much for that rating is it?

Thanks
David

David,

If I understand your question, no, that is not going to double the power into the speaker. I am going by what I have read (here and other places) and gleaned from studying associated literature, I am not an EE, but this is my understanding.

There is an amplifier bridging technique that puts both channels of the amp in series, doubling, or exponentially increasing the power of the now mono amp. Some amps are designed for this (Classe') and some will get unstable (my Arcams).

What you are trying to do is not that kind of bridging. You are trying to duplicate the preamps output into two channels for each side (and "bridging" may be an incorrect term in this circumstance). You may have impedance issues, duplicating the preamp signal into two inputs, that will affect the sound (tilt it one way or another) but I don't know enough electronics theory to predict the outcome using your components. I can't imagine it causing any damage.

What vertical biamping is supposed to do in a passive or active configuration is reduce the load on the amp power supplies. The bass generates the heavy load and that load is now divided between the two amplifliers. Most amplifliers use a single power supply to drive both channels.

What I meant by "if you turn up the gain" is the Paradigms seem fairly efficient and might not take full power from the amps. Don't turn it up all the way at once.

There are a lot of folks here that really do understand the theory behind these concepts and you can requery if you have concerns.

P.S. - don't forget to remove the jumpers on the speaker terminals.

Jim S.

Passive biamping with a 100x2 amp is not like sending 200 watts to your speaker - it's merely a very common misconception.

The usable power going to your speakers is really still only 100wpc since that is the maximum power dictated by the voltage swing available from the amplifier.

Now, OTOH, if these amps can be bridged you would have a meaningful increase in output voltage swing as bridging operates the channels inverted from each other. When the channels operate inverted you get up to twice the voltage swing and twice the voltage swing means 4x power - provided the amp's power supply can keep up, that is.

The reason I question the power to the speaker is because Reproducing musical signals, the NAD 2200 routinely delivers over 500 watts per channel into typical
loudspeaker impedances the 2200 is a very conservatively rated 100 watts/channel power
amplifier that has an extraordinary +6 dB of dynamic headroom, meaning that it can produce more than
four times its rated power during musical transients.the unique PowerTracker control circuit
(patent pending), which automatically adjusts the amplifier’s maximum power output according to the
dynamic character of the signal that is being amplified. As befits a product designed for the
reproduction of music, the NAD 2200 achieves its maximum power output of 400 to 800 watts per
channel when amplifying wide-range musical signals that contain peaks IO to 20 dB above the average
level. But when the amplifier is fed a high and constant signal (i.e. a sine-wave test tone instead of a
musical waveform), its maximum output automatically declines to avoid overheating, and eventually
levels out between 100 and 200 watts per channel.

As far as the power it has two power supplies, switching to the
high-voltage supply when maximum power is needed, and switching to the lower-voltage supply for
cooler operation at average power levels. (The switch is called a commutator; hence the name for this
type of amplifier.)

What is the difference between passive biamping and vertical?