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Biamping Triode Tubes No Feedback With Solid State

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has tried to biamp an integrated SET tube amp with a solid state power amp. I have been listening to amps that were really nice, like the Viva Solista, the Cary SEI 300, the McIntosh 2275 or even the Sun Audio. They are great integrated tube amps but with little wattage some of them lack of punch when it comes to bass. I was thinking to partner them with a warm solid state power amp (i.e. Gamut or McIntosh, I guess MOSFET would be best). Does it make sense? Would it be flawed sonically: How would you connect the whole thing to the cross over? Would I need active or passive cross over?

For speakers I am thinking Triangle Celius, Wilson Sophias or Sonus Faber Grand Piano.

Thanks,

Josep
josep_hernandez
rwwear
2,871 posts
 
If the device has a preamp out, it will be simple to partner it with a more powerful amp and just use the integrated for a preamp. Or just get a tube preamp or a powered sub.
josep_hernandez OP
50 posts
 
So, there's no way to use the integrated to drive the mids and highs and biamp it with a solid state for the bass drives?
jeffreybehr's avatar
jeffreybehr
805 posts
 
Using the integrated amp (IA) for 2 channels of power and a SS poweramp for the other 2 channels sounds plenty OK. But depending on how the speakers are crossed and how much tubed power you buy, you might not have enough tubed power.

Two-way speakers almost always have a high crossover, sending only treble to the 'high' half of the speaker. The vast majority of tubed IAs will have plenty of power for the high half of that kind of speaker, even in trode mode. Most 3-way speakers send MR and treble thru the high terminals of the crossover, sending only bass thru the low terminals. IF you use one of these 3-ways and IF you buy a relatively low-powered tubed IA and IF the speaker's sensitivity is lower than average, your tubed IA may NOT have enough power for the high 'half' (or, in this case, about two-thirds) of the speaker. Of course it'll be easier to drive a separate poweramp if the IA has jacks for driving poweramps.

All this could be done without an active crossover, but you'd need some way to adjust the volume of the more-sensitive poweramp to match levels between the 2 sections of the speaker. An active crossover facilitates improving sound quality by bypassing most if not all of the components in the speaker's crossover, but that REQUIRES wiring around the speakers' crossovers.

So it's not quite as simple as it might seem, but it's doable, and you might end up with the harmonic glories of triodes driving your MR and treble.
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josep_hernandez OP
50 posts
 
Thanks, Jeff, that is really helpful. I wonder if the result is really worth it or if it may sound odd... The truth is that there is no SET tube amp manufacturer that offers SS parts to couple their low-wattage tube amps (ie. Viva). I think it'd be an interesting niche if this is possible. Much prefered than active woofers, which in my opinion tend to have low quality amplification.
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