Monoblocks, passive bi-amped or passive tri-amped?

Mano -- "I'm assuming that Mirage built them this way". That is unlikely: they would have supplied the crossovers separately had that been the case.

In my passive days, I invariably found that "single amping" with the (sonically) better amp invariably outperformed multi-amping with mediocre amps.

All things considered, you're probably best off using a good quality amplifier spec'd at, or above 100W / 8ohms.

If you opt for a multichannel amp, choose "quality" over higher power output specification... and drive the woofs separately.

IF you opt for a super multichannel amp, with discrete PS for each channel and you have channels to spare after hooking up whatever, you might as well drive the mids separately too.

I'll throw my 2 cents in. I currently have a pair of Mirage OM-9 that I am running in a passive horizontal bi-amp setup and they sound absolutely fantastic this way. I tried an normal stereo setup with them and they sounded ok, but nothing special. I went to the the bi-amp setup and it was like I went out and bought new speakers, the OM-9s just came to life. IMO Mirage designed their crossovers for exactly this type of setup. The amps I was using initally were NAD 2100 now I'm using a NAD 2100 for tweeters and a NAD 216 for the drivers.

I would suggest if you have or maybe can borrow and extra amp, give the bi-amp or tri-amp a try and see what you think. If you run the amps horizontally then they dont all have to be the same amp and will give you an idea if its worth spending the extra on more amps. If you are using different brand/model amps you will have to pay attention to phase as the amps may be out of phase with each other, but that is just a simple matter of flipping the wires around till you get the best sounding combination.

What amp do you have and what speaker, and the speaker configuration and sensitivity, and room size. Typically, the less amplifiers, the more simple the better...but there are exceptions...jallen

Kal,

What's the dispute with active bi-amping?
Other than simplest signal path arguments, I'd think that the merits of active bi-amping (particularly for those who don't object to crossing in the digital domain) are pretty much unassailable. No?

Marty

Mano, are you sure that Mirage "recommends" tri-amping? The manual states that biamping or triamping "CAN further enhance performance" (emphasis added). My instinct would be to interpret "can" as "might," not as "will." And it would seem very conceivable to me that the three sets of connections are provided simply to give the user flexibility in choosing the amplification configuration.

Regarding the question of how much of a power increase passive biamping (or triamping) may provide, in typical situations the power that can be delivered by a single amplifier is limited by voltage swing capability (i.e., by the onset of clipping), not by current capability. Since, as Elizabeth pointed out, passive biamping (or triamping) requires that all of the amplifiers output a voltage swing corresponding to the full range signal, it will not typically result in a significant increase in power capability, compared to the power that could be provided by a single amplifier of the same rating. There may be a small increase in power capability if the design of the amplifiers is such that the reduced current demands on each amplifier in the biamped or triamped configuration result in increased voltage swing capability.

Keep in mind also that if you use different amplifiers for the lows and the mid/hi's, you have to choose amps that have matching gains, or provide external attenuation to match their gains. And be aware that if the amp you choose for the lows is significantly more powerful than the amp you choose for the mid/hi's, much of the power capability of the higher powered amp will be wasted, because since both amps will have to handle the full range signal, the volume level you can achieve will be limited by the clipping point of the lower powered amp.

Certainly passive biamping can SOMETIMES result in improved sonics, if not a significant power increase. But as several others have suggested, my advice would be to buy a single high quality high powered amp, and avoid all of these complications.

Regards,
-- Al