Biamplification in Mid-Fi?

all of the above posts are on target. when you start to consider really useful active xovers, you take yourself waaay beyond mid-fi. one of the few i'd consider is made by fm acoustics. read: switzerland. read: expensive.

I agree with all of the above. Most speakers are "voiced" to sound and perform a certain way with their passive components ( i.e. "crossovers" & "wiring") taken into consideration in the initial design. Altering those parts or changing the slopes or amount of "blending" that naturally occurs between the drivers can be an utterly disastrous thing to deal with. On the other hand, most products built to a price CAN be improved upon with CAREFUL work and planning. Like the others though, i would suggest looking at better basic components instead of trying to tweak or force components into something they can never be. Keep in mind that the fancier that you get in terms of "out of the ordinary" installations, the more elbow grease, trial and error and money it takes to make them perform to their fullest extent possible. It also requires tools of the trade and a good basic understanding of electronics and acoustics if you want everything to work right and last a reasonable amount of time. Remember, K.I.S.S. still applies : ) Sean >

hi cornfedboy,

have ewe checked out marchand? they make excellent, useful, uncolored x-overs, imho - also reasonably-priced.

regards, doug

I'll try again based on you interest in experimentation. For mid-fi, you might also check out the Audio Control Richter Scale. If you really want to play, why buy speakers with design, parts, and labor included and then undo it? Why not check out Old Colony Sound Lab (Speaker Builder, Audio Amateur) or other souces of speaker designs, components, kits, and so on and do it all yourself?

Sounds like keeping it simple is best...thanks everyone.

But, the idea of building a set of speakers is interesting. Problems is, I worked in Pro Audio (sound reinforcement) and bi & tri-amplification is pretty standard. For awhile I had my old Paradigm 7se's biamped with NAD stuff, simply running the larger power amp to the bass set of inputs and my 3020 to the highs (using the internal crossover in the 7se to split the signal). I used a pink-noise generator and a Real-Time Analyzer(RTA) to set the balance for the room, and found improvements in detail, and tighter bass (was still kinda boomy, though). Since then, I've been thinking of trying the same thing with (somewhat) better equipment.

Oddly, its always been my opinion that with all the R&D manufactures put into their designs, that I could never approach anything they could build, yet I have a friend who builds excellent speakers/subs for pro sound reinforcement. I have the background in electronics, but not in acoustics, but I think it would be worth talking to him about it. The expense would be minimal, and the fun maximal, so why not?! I may suprise myself....

In the meantime, I think I'll be saving my $$$ for that cheapo YBA integrated (The Audio Refinement Complete), and biwire using some good cable (better than my current Moster Cable)

P.S. Thanks for the suggestion on the Richter Scale...looks like a lot of fun!