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

So thanks for all the great advice. This is what I was looking for. Some solid technical reasons for, or against, multi-amping. It seems like the benefits are minimal at best, and that good quality monoblocks are probably the best way to go to maximize sound quality, control, and output.

I know people have asked about this before, and I appreciate your patience. Thanks a ton!

Now to find the best monoblocks for these bad boys. Oh boy. :-D

I would still recommend you try a bi-amp setup before going out and buying something, technical reasons or otherwise, if your Mirages are anything like mine they loved the bi-amp setup. As I mentioned earlier if you set it up for horizontal bi-amp you don't need two matching amps, just beg, borrow, scrounge, etc to get a couple amps and give it a try.

Please report back with your findings, I would be interested in what the results were.

No report back yet?

I thought I'd weigh in, since I'm vertically passively biamping a very bare-bones system right now. Like others, I lurk the forums looking for firsthand experiences, so I may as well share mine. It just so happened that a couple of two-channel amps and a preamp kind of showed up one day. I got some biampable speakers off of craigslist and started playing.

Anyway, for me, the difference between two-channel with the bridge and four-channel sans-bridge (biamped) was undeniable. I won't say one is better than the other, necessarily. The definition increased a lot, but one person's separation is another loss-of-connection, so . . . Anyway, I liked it so much that I didn't even switch back and forth for detailed testing. I may play around again one day, but I like it for now.

Nothing Special Sony Blu-Ray Player
Lexicon DC-1
Two Rotel RB-980BX ss power amps (2x120 each)
Sony SS M3 two-ways

I've pretty much just assumed that all the untapped power, especially at the tweeters, doesn't really hurt anything. Under-stressed gear often performs better, right? I was surprised to find the volume drop when I switched to a biamp config. I expected the opposite. Turning up the volume, however, I was immensely pleased. All those intangible platitudes came up: separation, forward, lively, etc. I plan to experiment as funds allow, which is to say, gradually. For the sake of this thread, though, I just wanted to add my two cents as someone who has a simple budget setup with just enough gear to try one way and then the other.