2. speakers
  3. 1284411550

Two pairs of spkrs in tandem

I need the help of the technically minded and capable folks on this great audiophile panel.
I am running B&W original 80 series 802's as my primary spkrs. rated at at 8 ohms..... tweaked..re-wired and all inards hard wired, soldered with cardas, great solid copper binding posts & Sand filled and tensionized side dampers to control box resonance in this (pre- matrix) design.

I have attempted to intigrate my other pair of favorite spkrs, 1996 Sound Dynamics 300ti's rated at 4 ohms, with their propietary titanium dome tweeters and run them in tandem with my 802's

In principal they have added a great deal in capturing subtle detail as well as in specificity and depth in the sound stage, most certainly in (over-all) dynamics and clarity

Basically "I love the sound" the 300 ti's seem to add that extra level of transparancy, reveal and crispness that the the B&W's didn't quite capture on their own...

THE SNAG however is a low level HUMmmmm!!!! coming from the Sound dynamic spkrs......

Mine is a complex set-up.... featuring A stereo pair of Janis SUB WOOFERS crossed over at 100 HZ and powered with their own dedicated W3 100 watt JANIS AMPS..

Also a pair of TOWNSHEND "super tweeters" connected to the B&W's

I built a (glued & screwed) MDF coupling that positions and holds the the 300 ti's upside down (forming a 6 foot high 9 driver (per side)"array" tweeter to tweeter assembley.. COOOL!!!

THE WHOLE THING IS A TERRIFIC REVALATION FOR ME!!!!! EXCEPT FOR THE ANNOYING HUMmmmmm!..

I've checked and re-checked the integrity of all connections to no avail...

If I re-move the 300ti's.. the hum is gone???...

IS it the B&W 8ohm Vs the ti's 4ohm mix??. Is that creating some kind of dichotomy causing the hum in my otherwise silent set_up ?...

I would love some help on this.... THANKS..
tweakyman
tweakyman OP
21 posts
 
Thanks Hifitime. Point taken and very much appreciated.
manoterror
216 posts
 
Okay, so I learned I need to read the manual once in my lifetime. :-) The Marantz receivers have the option of a using the rear-surround discrete channels to do a true bi-amp setup. I thought it was merely bi-wired.

So, I can use that separate set of amps to run the second set of speakers, as they both get the full signal. So there is one advantage of a receiver....but just one. :-)

So I'm gonna do that with the Gallo Adivas. Yeay...office system.
tweakyman OP
21 posts
 
Just an update on this "tandem speakers" set-up.
With particular thanks to Hifitime, I have carried out a change based on his thoughtful recommendation that Bi-amping would be the better and safer (less potentially damaging) way to achieve good results utilising two pairs of speakers simultaneously.
I am lucky to have an extra set of main outs on my pre-amp so it was pretty easy to integrate the amp module on my old Pioneer SX980 100 watts per chnl into 4 ohms. I find as Hifitime intimated this method would produce better sound and indeed it does. The stage is more natural and wide extending well beyond the speakers, everything seems to breath better and feel very relaxed. I should mention that I did not run my second pair of speakers through the hi-pass on my Janis cross-over amps, I took the full signal out of the Preamp directly to the Pioneer and of course connected the speakers with a new run of good speaker cable. In doing it this way I found that the bass response together with the pair of Janis subs in the room was too exaggerated. I decided to try and tune the rear ports on the Sound Dynamics ti300's bass reflex design speakers by first partially and then fully plugging the ports and that did the trick, it worked well.
I am more than pleased with how this whole thing turned out and I thank all those that weighed in on this subject.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the annoying "HUMmmmm" is gone, the whole system is once again quiet...
More to discover