Idiotic Vertical Biamping Question


I've read a couple of detailed articles on the various kinds of biamping.

I understand vertical biamping to be: amp1 uses left and right outputs to speaker1 (we'll say that's the right speaker); one channel to woofer and one to tweeter; and amp2 does the same, but to the left speaker.

We're assuming a two-way speaker.

Now, I assume that each amp still "thinks" it is sending full-range signals out of both channels. So for amp1, let's say the right output channel feeds the woofer while the left output channel feeds the tweeter. The amp is sending information meant for the left speaker to the tweeter of the right speaker. Same problem occurs in amp2 (but possibly with reversed content going to woofer instead of tweeter, depending on whether the channels are wired identically or in reverse of amp1).

It seems to me this would cause tremendous problems in imaging. So there *must* be something I'm missing; can anyone help me out?

Also, every article I've read discourages bridging stereo amps to make them monoblocks, though the reasons vary. What are your experiences with such a setup? I was specifically thinking of getting another McCormack DNA-.0.5 and having Steve convert both amps to monoblocks, thinking this would be the best performance I could get, but maybe that is not the case?

Thanks for the insight, all.

HC
aggielaw
Jeffreybehr...I always heard that connecting two power amp outputs in parallel was a NO-NO. Frankly, I never tried it, as the caution seems reasonable.

Creeper...The "industry standard" when I started biamping in the mid 50's always involved a low level crossover, and I think this terminology remained for many years. Only lately have I heard about using two power amps with passive crosovers. Indeed, until fairly recently loudspeakers did not come with separate terminals for woofer and tweeter (a feature intended to facilitate bi-wiring).

Aggielaw...A low level electronic crossover has far less "personality" than a passive crossover. Of course, the "personality" of the passive crossover may be deliberate, to overcome certain known deficiencies of the drivers.
Eldartford

Yes, dual sets of posts facilitate bi-wiring, as well as biamping. Do a search at Audio Asylum under the amp/preamp section and you'll instantly find 200 examples of an industry standard term. There are 88 examples of it in discussions here too.

I've come to realize that you like to stir things up just for the sake of stirring. This is the last time I will ever fall victim to your muck rucking.

Happy listening.
Creeper...If everyone agreed about everything all the time the discussion would become very boring. How can you get so worked up about semantics? Resort to personal insults usually results from a weak argument.
Hi, I'd like to run one Snell EII or JII per amp (Yamaha P1600) and am wondering if this is advisable? I'm reading mixed things about "vertical bi-amping" online, and the original poster of this thread makes a valid point about his confusion regarding signal distribution/break-up. So, I'm confused: If I power the high-end tweets on the EII with, say, the left channel, and the low-end bass/woofer with the right channel, won't that be cutting the intended music in half, by eliminating the recorded highs being sent to the right channel and the recorded lows being sent to the left channel? Thanks, Brad