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Is Bi - amping worth the trouble?

Hello all...

I'm on the fence with the thought of bi amping. A big part of me wants to go ahead with it... the 'wallet' part says "Not so fast".

There should be lots of folks who've biamped speakers before... When it was all said and done, "Was it worth the time and expense?"

I'm inclinded to add a tube amp for the upper end of my VR4 JR's ... or any other speakers for that matter... though in any case and reardless the speakers, tube amp on top, and SS on the bottom.

...and then there's the thought of keeping two dissimilarly powered amps matched at the same volume level... and the added IC's, PC, and stand... it does seem to add up.

... and at this point, I'm thinking BAT to keep things all the same... and am not sure there, wether even that matters too much...

I sure do appreciate the input.
blindjim
sns
3,377 posts
 
I've stayed away from biamping with different types of amps because of coherency issues. Even with steep slope crossovers you have some mixing of dissimilar amplifier characteristics.
markphd
667 posts
 
Jtinn and Brrgrr, you do not need to use the same amps top and bottom. Many people mix and match when biamping horizontally precisely because they want each amps' distinctive characteristics, tubes on top and solid state on the bottom for example. The amps do need to have the same gain however. If they don't, then whatever is connected to the higher gain amp will sound louder for a given volume setting. So you could have woofers that sound louder than tweeters, or vice versa. It would be like having a vetical balance control within a speaker. If the amps don't have the same gain, some will have an internal setting for gain adjustment. Others would require a technician to adjust one to match the other.
ngjockey
1,042 posts
 
Okay. Your amp is fine.

Doctor Mark's reply, though considerate and correct, is just the tip of the iceberg. Feel free to experiment, learn and have fun.
hiend2's avatar
hiend2
445 posts
 
Keep in mind when you bi-amp the Vr-4 Jr's you will still be using all the componants of the crossover just seprated. There for there will NOT be a gaint gain diffrence.
The important part is will you be able to detect where the low end leaves off and the mids/highs start.Also level matching and you will never be 100% sure if the correct levels are right. Put the money in a great single amp and bi-wire. I have Large von schweikerts and biamping wasnt the end all.
shiva
181 posts
 
An interesting thing to try is to get the panasonic Sa-xr57 digital receiver. Which is a 100 watts x 7 and has a biamp function built into the unit. When biamped in stereo mode, it uses 4 of its internal amps for the bass section and one each to the highs. So it uses 6 of its internal amps when in biamp mode. All you have to do is run your speaker wire and push the biwire function and you are good to go for 300 bucks. It also has a great sound and has suprisingly great bass tone and slam and never gets hot.
You can also increase or lower the gain to the bass or treble, independant of tone controls if one seems hot to you. I know it is not expensive and no tubes are glowing, but you might find it interesting.
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