After rebuilding my two Dynaco ST-70s with the VTA mods, I stumbled into Bob Latino’s suggestion to do vertical bi-amping. It obviously requires two identical amps. After having them hooked up that way for a few months now, I can definitely say that it makes an easily audible improvement in separation, imaging, clarity through the mids and highs, and dynamics vs using just one of the single stereo amps, and even vs using one channel of each amp as monoblocks.
Like any system upgrades or changes, how audible an improvement is depends a lot on the other variables in the system. Some components are simply more revealing of changes than others....for better or worse.
My speakers have passive crossovers, so that’s the route I pursued as a path of least resistance. I’m getting excellent results with them in the vertical bi-amp configuration, so am reluctant to head down the rabbit hole of active crossovers, but maybe someday for curiosity sake. I’d assume there are good and bad examples of both, so likely pros and cons with each.
I don’t know if this subject has been mentioned, but one of the benefits of vertical bi-amping with tubes amps is the ability to tailor the tubes with one matched set that has deeper tighter bass on the channels that go to the woofers, and a different set that has more open and clear mids and highs on the other channels. "Mismatched matched" sets on each side, with both amps setup identically of course.
Like any system upgrades or changes, how audible an improvement is depends a lot on the other variables in the system. Some components are simply more revealing of changes than others....for better or worse.
My speakers have passive crossovers, so that’s the route I pursued as a path of least resistance. I’m getting excellent results with them in the vertical bi-amp configuration, so am reluctant to head down the rabbit hole of active crossovers, but maybe someday for curiosity sake. I’d assume there are good and bad examples of both, so likely pros and cons with each.
I don’t know if this subject has been mentioned, but one of the benefits of vertical bi-amping with tubes amps is the ability to tailor the tubes with one matched set that has deeper tighter bass on the channels that go to the woofers, and a different set that has more open and clear mids and highs on the other channels. "Mismatched matched" sets on each side, with both amps setup identically of course.