Bi-amp with same sort of amp?

Reason for asking is that I have experienced different
timing or pace in the same music, when listening to different amplifiers. E.g. I have a 100 w Class A amp
which is somewhat slower in the lower register, than
my home-built monoblocks, all are solid state ones.
The monoblocks have real good ability in the bass region,but as I built them more than 15 years ago(and although I have updated them), I dare not use them with the new speakers and in the long run, because of risk of ampfailure,which could be costly as this loudspeaker-project isn´t a cheap one.
(So, they may retire in the bedroom system).

Like you , I thought that I could buy a cheaper amp for the
subs(consider my loudspeakers as a sub- satellite system).
But I may rethink the idea of using different amps in the system. And that because I´m very sensitive to the pace of the music.
On the other hand, using top-class amps even for
the lower register, will cost a lot of money.

(I have played some music myself- if that matters).

So, if I state my question more clear,can you say that the
more complex a system gets, the more unpredictable it becomes. From that followes, that the possible combinations
of amps and cables and room treatment, whith a complex system,may never be optimized. Or, that at least it will take a very lot of time to get near your goal?
And are there some more experiences and opinions to this matter?
Of course,even if someone has failured, while trying to
combine different amps for bass, mids, and treble, in a synergetic way, please let me know!

Regards
Håkan

I have actually used amps to compensate for slew rates damping factors etc. I'm biamping Martin Logan Monoliths with Levinson Reference 20.0 monoblocks on top. They are what I would call "dark" amps. Very smooth, very refined--relatively low damping factor. They really sound good on the panels and have no problems with the impedance loads. On the bottom end I'm using Krell KMA 160. A bit more powerful, higher damping factor. These have better control in the bass end. For me, my speakers benefited from using different amps--and I selected the amps to do just this--but different speakers would certainly have different requirements, benefits, and drawbacks. It is nice to be able to taylor the amp individually for the low vs the high. I'm not very familiar with the VMPS--I have heard them--but that's all.

it is generally more difficult to match differing amps for bass & mid/treble. that said, as abstract7 points out, it *can* be done, but ya have to pay close attention to the characteristics of the speakers & the amps.

using an active crossover, w/adjustable wolume for at least one of the amps, makes things a lot easier. my current system uses a pair of larger vmps subs, crossed-over at 60hz, to a pair of meret re monitors. these monitors have an eton carbon-fibre woofer & a focal inwerted-dome tweet. i use a pair of bridged adcom gfa-555's to drive the vmps', & a pair of electrocompaniet aw60ftt's in a wertical-biamped set-up to drive merets. i have *no* problems w/the different amps, because the 60hz crossover point is effected w/a marchand 24db/octave active x-over. besides offering separate bass & treble wolume controls, it also offers a wolume control *at* the x-over point. this makes it easy to match differing amps w/differing slew & gain rates. i highly recommend using an active x-over in general, and for transparency at a reasonable cost, i feel the marchand can't be beat. while i don't have direct experience w/the well-regarded bryston 10b, for example, more than one person told me the marchand is more transparent, at half the price. the marchand is also more flexible, imho...

hope this helps, doug s.

I forgot to mention the crossover. This probably plays a big factor in whether the biamp will sound good or not. Some speakers bass crosses over to the mids at 200 or 300 hz. This might be too high, where the difference in amps is more audible. I think the lower the crossover frequency the less impact using different amps will have. For the record the speakers I were biamping have the crossover set at 120 hz. From this point down I think it's okay. The higher frequencies will start to enter lower midrange area where you might notice the amps not matching more easily.

The biggest concern for me ,because I'm looking to do the same sort of thing, is gain matching. Forget about vertical or horizontal etc. If one manufacturers amp requires more voltage than anothers, there will be volume differences that will throw the whole presentation off. You can use outboard crossovers that will settle that issue, but at what cost? If you like what company A is doing for you at the top of the band, then use one of their amps for the bottom as well. If you like tubes on top and solid state at the bottom, then you have to use an outboard crossover for gain variations. This combo can be phenominal or horrible. Always be careful when puttin' on the chefs' hat.