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Hooking up additional amps

I currently am using a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamp with an Aragon 8008BB amp. I am looking at picking up a pair of Vandersteen 4as and they need to be bi- or tri-wired. I saw a pair of mono amps that I am interested in and have the following question;

Can I use the Aragon for the woofers and use the monos for the mids and highs. The Line 3 has 2 balanced inputs and 2 single ended inputs for the amps. Can I use the 2 balanced ones for the monos and then connect the Aragon up to one of the single ended. If so, what benefits if any would I gain using a pair of single ended to xlr adapters to connect the Aragon.

Thanks in advanced for any and all assistance.
fleming_eric
dc2daylight
53 posts
 
Bi and Tri wiring is different than bi or tri amping.
In bi amping, for example, the signal from the pre amp goes to an electronic cross-over then out to the amps and then to the woofer or tweeter.
In bi wiring the crossover is in the speaker and all the wiring goes back from the speaker to the amp terminals. If you try to hook up 2 amps in a bi-wire set up, you effectively connect the speaker outs of each amp to eachother. This would probably damage both amps.
Can you bypass the crossover in the Vandersteens?
rwwear
2,883 posts
 
When biamping without an electronic xover, it is important for the amps to be very similar in output. If you use the balanced outs on the Line 3, you will have 6db more output from the mono amps. Try it and see how it sounds. If need be, you can get a pair of balanced y cables and split the balanced signal and send it to the Aragon as well.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,703 posts
 
You can do what you describe but, as Rwwear has pointed out, you will need to encorporate some way to balance each amp to compensate for their different gain and for the difference in the Line 3's output levels between balanced and SE. You can eliminate the latter point by using both sets of balanced or both sets of SE for the amps.

Kal
programmergeek
322 posts
 
I would think you are better off not doing it, you have to deal with the amps sounding different and having different tonal signitutes. Vandersteens are very transparent and you could hear the difference in the amps. Along wiht the above issues.
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