Biamping w/ a 5 channel amp?

its a theoretical question...
not something I would be doing.

I'm not sure what you mean about how I would use the interconnects...I'm not savy on higher end HT. I currently use a 5 channel receiver that has equal output per channel and assume I would simply run a cdp or other source to the receive, run the receiver in equal output 5 channel mode (not any surround type) and that would be it...

Geoffgarcia,

I'd say yes, technically speaking you are biamping. There should be no delays in each channel due to surround modes, as you mention. This is not something I would recommend you do. Each power amp channel would be amplifying the whole audio frequency which can tax your power supply and is a waste because your speaker crossover will filter out the signal portion that the individual driver can not produce.

In an optimal bi-amp configuration you would take your line level signal from a preamp output and run it through a crossover that splits the signal into two, low and high frequency. Those would then be fed into individual power amp channels for amplification to speaker level, then fed into the separate low and high frequency speaker connections. This makes your amplifier work less since each channel is only amplifying a portion of the whole signal.

Bi-amping can produce awesome results but it requires knowledge about your speaker crossover points and the ability to balance the signals fed to each speaker driver. Done badly, you can ruin the sound you have now.

You should not run in 4 channel mode, rather in two channel and split both channels (Y connector) so that the high and bass left are run on one channel, and high and bass right are run on the other. 4 channel mode will sound disgusting.

You do not need to be concerned about feeding the "whole" audio frequency to each individual speaker driver as another poster eludes. That is total hogwash. An amplifier will only amplify the frequencies that the speaker will allow it to amplify i.e. the amplifier connected to the tweeter will only amplify high frequencies, and no bass frequencies at all. Basically the amplifier driving the tweeter will see an infinite resistance in the bass frequencies, which means it will not be doing any amplifying.

I have had wonderful results with doing just that – tops on one amp, bass on another. The improvement is more than subtle and budget amps seem to benefit the most from this arrangement.

Good luck
Paul