Cal3713, thanks for the additional info. I read through the nicely detailed description of the Coincident Pure Reference Extreme speakers at the Coincident website, and I have the following comments regarding the possibilities you mentioned:
1)I would absolutely rule out the idea of passively biamping the speakers, with your Franks handling the mid/tweeter section. Given that the mid/tweeter section handles frequencies as low as 110 Hz, and does not even electrically roll off frequencies below that, that approach wouldn't accomplish anything.
2)Active biamping doesn't seem too appealing, either. You would have to use an active crossover ahead of the two amps with the crossover frequency adjusted to be somewhere in the middle of the range handled by the midrange driver (110 Hz to 4 kHz), which would seem likely to compromise the coherency of the mid/tweeter section which Israel touts as one of the speaker's main features.
3)If the Franks weren't powerful enough for your purposes with the PREs (94 db/1 watt/1 meter/impedance 8 ohms nominal, never below 6 or above 10 ohms, and no difficult phase angles), I would not expect them to be powerful enough for your purposes with the DIs (98.8 db/2.83 volts/1 meter/4 ohms, which corresponds to 95.8 db/1 watt/1 meter/4 ohms, with a mismatch to your amplifier's 8 ohm tap).
4)So my feeling is that **if** you are happy with the PREs aside from the power issue with the Franks, I would simply look for a more powerful amp.
Best regards,
-- Al
