4 amplifiers to drive 1 pair of speakers?

why would anyone want to use 4 amplifiers to power a pair of speakers?? awhile back i did have 2 amps powering 1 pair of speakers. 1 amp powered the low end and the other amp powered the high end!

Hi Erik and Oldhvymec,

Thanks for your suggestion for the bi-amping with solid state for bass. However I note from some reviews eg Steve Guttenberg it isnt that easy to get a good matching of the amplifiers (eg he tried with zen triode at the top and schiit aegir at the bottom end) and it wasnt a good match.

Hence I was apprehensive about bi-amping. I know some solutions eg Mcintosh MC901 sounds really good, but those are out of my budget and also it is a pre-matched solution.

Thanks!

Hi 

I am using kef reference 5 with recommended 50-400W needed to power it. Most of the impedence on the chart is around 4ohm instead of 8 ohms. Lowest dips to 3.2 ohms. Although it is 90db at 8 ohms, there are 4 woofers, 1 tweeter and 1 midrange on each speaker - hence may require more power/current. 

From what I understand tube amps (or at least SET amps - not 100% applicable here as they are PP) should not be pushed past their 25% limit to have a good sound.Hence for a 18W 300b PP monoblock amplfier to drive my speakers will likely be insufficient. Hence exploration of 4 amplifiers and whether anyone has tried it before/if it is feasible. 

@scchengmus what do you mean by power ratio calculation? Why will there be equipment failure? :) sorry am not well versed in that

Thanks

Hi @atmasphere 

Thanks for sharing the idea on monostrapping! Was reading up on it. How about what if I do not monostrap? Monostrap kind of puts the amplifiers in series if Im not wrong? So if I place the amplifiers at parrallel will they actually sound more musical/less harsh and heavy handed?

Thanks

I can see maybe 2 at most ,it creates too many issues the input sensitivity of each amp is different if not the same ,
a amp for the bass for sure a quality SS amp, tom tube or SS 
and a Tube preamp , SS amp is widely used or tube .
your speakers will determine this too by their efficiency
thrn if you have to add a external crossover  that more added in the circuit which dips never better less sonic purity ,less is always better in 5he signal path . No mention of the speakers being used 
and space size needed , if monitors ,then judt get a good powered sub with nice modern app like a Svs ultra 16, or Svs- SB 3000 sub. Then you only need an amp on top .