2. amps-preamps
  3. 148911-33344

Bi amp pros out there I could use some help! First time Bi Amping...

Just picked up a BAT vk 200 for the bass and using my Pass Aleph 5 for the mids and tweets. Ive never played around with bi amping so I apologize in advance for any lame questions My speakers are Dunlavy SC3's original 5.5 nominal load. The pass is 90 wpc at 4 Ohm and the BAT is 200 wpc at 4 ohm so Im guessing around 75 wpc off the Pass Amp and 150 plus with the Bat Amp. My pre amp is a Aleph P and Im running the Single ended through a XLR adaptor (cause the Bat is Balanced inputs only) and the pass Aleph 5 off the XLR outputs of the pre and inputs of the Pass amp. The PASS Pre Amp manual says there is a 6db differential between the RCA and XLR outputs  two and both can be driven at the same time. So the RCA is 9db and the XLR is 15 db. Gain is within 2db on each amp. So whats the best way to do this? Get a custom XLR "Y" connector and drive both off the XLR output of the pre? Or is there a way better way to get the magic? This is past my "WORLD" Map and experience so Id thought Id ask for the smart people for advice. 

Thank you in advance!

-ALLGOOD
128x128haywood310
Post removed 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
I have bypassed quite a few cross overs although I can't say how many.
A good active crossover can pretty much compensate for anything. If it is a 3 way speaker you want to bypass only the woofer section leaving the midrange to tweeter cross alone. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,821 posts
 
Even the good active x/o's (Bryston, Pass, First Watt, Marchand) provide only "textbook" filtering: 1st/2nd/3rd/4th-order (6/12/18/24dB per octave). None of them provide compensation networks, which lots of loudspeaker x/o's include, even some employing 1st-order filters (such as Thiel). Look at the x/o schematic for your speaker to see how complex it is.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Or is there a way better way to get the magic? 


Yes. Its called a better amp. Take whatever you spend on bi-amping. Two amps. Two power cords. Two speaker cables. Do you use a shelf? Cones? Twice as many of those. It can take a very long time and a lot of wasted dollars chasing the fantasy that you can do better splitting your funds into twice as much stuff. As cool as it may make you feel, which if that is the goal have at it, you will impress a lot of gear heads easily impressed with gear, but it just won't ever deliver "the magic" you can get with twice as much to spend on each component.
erik_squires
16,142 posts
 
Correct crossover integration with passive or active components is a giant PITA. There's no free lunch.
At best, if you have separate low and high pass filter sections, you can use set them a couple of octaves away from the actual crossover points.


For instance, setting the high pass at 1 kHz, and low pass at 5 kHz when the actual crossover is 2.8 would probably be OK.
More to discover