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Is it best to use a 5-channel amp for biamping??

My next amp will be a sunfire (not the signature series). Please advice if buying the 5-channel cinema grand and use its channels in a bi-amp configuration will give me better results as opposed to just getting the two channel stereo amp?

Thanks in advance
planckscale
arthursmuck
451 posts
 
but you can bi-amp off the different channels of a multi-channel, assuming what you described as a possible issue does not exist?
planckscale OP
60 posts
 
Thanks everyone for your response. I think Arthursmuck understand what I am trying to do. I am sorry I did not mention what speakers I want to biamp. I have the ML SL3, which are design for bi-amping.

I am trying to decide which Sunfire amp I should get:
The 5-channel cinema grand or the 300W two channel.

It seems to me that I might get more out of my SL3 if I use the 4 channels of the Sunfire cinema grand in a bi-amp configuration (two channels per speaker). Has anyone use a 5-channel amp to biamping this way?

Thanks
sean
6,231 posts
 
I hate to say that anything is an absolute as there are almost always exceptions to every rule. With that in mind, it would be pretty safe to assume that you should be "okay" even with goofy internal wiring in the speaker so long as you were running multiple channels from the same amp. There are some amp designs that i can think of this causing problems with, but none of the multi-channels that i know of use this approach.

As a side note, i did this for a while when the two channel amp that i use for the mains in my HT system was sent back to the manufacturer for inspection and upgrades. I had another 5 channel amp that i wasn't using, so i ran four of its' channels to passively bi-amp the mains with. Since it was from the same manufacturer, there wasn't a drastic change in sonics either way. Sean
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arthursmuck
451 posts
 
so Sean are you saying it's possible that using 2 of the 5 channels off the same amp to bi-amp will not deliver sonically noticeable results due to the channels all being the same maker, sonic signature, etc?
gregm
3,405 posts
 
No, no, Arthur-- you'll use FOUR of those channels to bi-amp: one channel for the right woof, another for the left woof, another for the right mid-hi's and another for the left mid-hi's. Total, four.
The difference in sonics comes from driving the speakers' drive units directly, the crossover being behind the amps rather than in front. Cheers
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