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Biamping from a 5 channel amp?

So, I have a NAD T750. I am about to get some Monitor Audio speakers (I really hope so at least, but older ones if I can do anything about it). The speakers are biwirable/biampable. Would it be a good idea to hook up the front channel to the woofers and the rear channel to the tweets? This receiver runs 3x50W to the front, and 2x30W to the rear. For the record, these will be some kind of MA bookshelf speakers as I can't afford towers.
Or, if that's a bad idea, I have a newb question. Would it be worth it to biwire these speakers with this amp? I'm not too worried about the extra cost of wire since at my level, there is 0% difference between copper/ofc wiring and silver high end crap. And on that note, do you guys know the profitability of wire? It's ridiculous. And they have you all fooled ;)
On that note though, any recommendations on basic speaker wire? I'll put on my own ends if I have to as I'd like the length to be at least 10ft if not 15 or more.
erikkellison
bufus
149 posts
 
I wouldn't bi-amp with two different power levels. You would have 50 W going to the woofers (or tweeters) and 30 W going to the tweeters (or woofers.) I guess you could balance that out with the gain settings but that also assumes that you can do a full range out on all channels like "Mybuddy" was talking about. Anyway, I would probably just run the two 50 W channels to the speakers and be happy (or sad.)
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,218 posts
 
Monitor Audio speakers like to be bi-wired, so as a minimum do it if you can. Bi-amping will work as long as your NAD can send an unprocessed L/R signal to the rear channel. The difference in power output between the front and rear channels will not be an issue. Run the front channel to the woofer and the lower powered rear channel to the tweeter.
bufus
149 posts
 
The difference in power output between the front and rear channels is already an issue. We've seen to that.

The speakers were designed to give you a nice balanced frequency response. Having a different power level to the tweeters/midrange than to the woofers will mess that up, to some degree. It may not be a big deal, you might even like the way it sounds better. Who really knows at this point? You let us know after you try it.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,218 posts
 
I think you're confusing amplifier gain with rated power output. The amps in the receiver have the same gain so the difference in their rated power output is not important. At any normal listening level the tonal balance of the speaker will not be effected.
erikkellison OP
20 posts
 
Okay, well, it looks like I just got some Silver 3i's, so as soon as I get them, I'll biwire them with mediocre wire and check it out. I'll stay away from biamping them with what I have due to the potential complicatedness of the situation. Anyway, when I run the receiver in 2 channel mode, I get 60W instead of 50W. I've heard these speakers on less power and thought it sounded the same as on an amp with more power (only it was quieter, so I had to turn the knob up).

Any suggestions on specifically what kind of wire to buy?
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