I was curious about this too and reach out to Bryston -
How does two smaller amps vs one bigger amp compare? Specifically:
1) two 4b stereo's vs. one pair of 7b monos
2) one pair of 7b mono vs one 14b stereo
3) two 4b stereo's vs one 14b stereo
Research says separating the left/right and high/low channels will provide better separation - but what's the downside?
Since the combined power rating of each option is about the same - is one option louder, fuller, more relaxed?
How does two smaller amps vs one bigger amp compare? Specifically:
1) two 4b stereo's vs. one pair of 7b monos
2) one pair of 7b mono vs one 14b stereo
3) two 4b stereo's vs one 14b stereo
Research says separating the left/right and high/low channels will provide better separation - but what's the downside?
Since the combined power rating of each option is about the same - is one option louder, fuller, more relaxed?
Because the Bryston amps have totally independent channels (4B and 14B) the advantage of using separate amps for l/r and high/lows does not apply. So you can use 1 stereo amp per side and not have any crosstalk between channels.
The Maggies like to have a lot of voltage swing so the more powerful the amplifier the better the control. Even though 2 - 4B's might seem like it would give you the same power as 2-7B's or a 14B that is not the case because the passive crossover in the Maggie will limited the power to 300 watts on each driver as opposed to 600 watts from the 7B's or 14B's.