I'm lost here since having crossover should give you an ultimate controll over the gain of your amplification devices. You have to get manual on proper setup or get some troubleshooting from the manufacturer itself that is still in the business to help you.
Recommendations for balancing gain in bi-amp setup
I've been trying to calibrate my setup where I have
PS PWD Dac-> Joules Electra LA150 MKII pre -> Celestion 6000 crossover (treble, mids)-> Ampzilla 2000 MKII -> Celestion sl600 monitor ; Celestion 6000 crossover (bass) -> Mccormick DNA 500 ->Celestion 6000 subs.
The Celestion 6000 is a monitor/sub configuration and requires bi-amping. Both the monitor and sub have low sensitivity, ~84db and power handling up to 100W@8ohm. These are hard speakers to drive but I felt my Ampzilla and Mccormick combo should be up to the task.
My challenge right now is that even though the Mccormick DNA 500 which I'm using to drive the bass is rated at 500w@8ohm output and the Ampzilla is rated at 300W@8ohm. I'm still finding the bass playback from this setup is light and thin
or put it another way that the highs/mids are too bright.
My theory for now is that this may be due to the different sensitivity of the amps and I'm trying to avoid throwing another component in the mix like a equalizer to sync this.
Would like recommendations from anyone who has face such gain/sensitivity challenges before when bi-amping.
Gerald
PS PWD Dac-> Joules Electra LA150 MKII pre -> Celestion 6000 crossover (treble, mids)-> Ampzilla 2000 MKII -> Celestion sl600 monitor ; Celestion 6000 crossover (bass) -> Mccormick DNA 500 ->Celestion 6000 subs.
The Celestion 6000 is a monitor/sub configuration and requires bi-amping. Both the monitor and sub have low sensitivity, ~84db and power handling up to 100W@8ohm. These are hard speakers to drive but I felt my Ampzilla and Mccormick combo should be up to the task.
My challenge right now is that even though the Mccormick DNA 500 which I'm using to drive the bass is rated at 500w@8ohm output and the Ampzilla is rated at 300W@8ohm. I'm still finding the bass playback from this setup is light and thin
or put it another way that the highs/mids are too bright.
My theory for now is that this may be due to the different sensitivity of the amps and I'm trying to avoid throwing another component in the mix like a equalizer to sync this.
Would like recommendations from anyone who has face such gain/sensitivity challenges before when bi-amping.
Gerald
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- 11 posts total
I certainly agree with the question--doesn't the crossover have have gain controls? If so, turn the upper-freq. level down or the lower-freq. level up. Kr4, re your #1, what the OP might need are amps with equal VOLTAGE GAIN and not equal sensitivity. The latter is almost always stated as Voltage required for rated output. One can calculate Voltage gain from stated sensitivity, but the 2 sensitivity numbers aren't usable by themselves. . |
Kr4, re your #1, what the OP might need are amps with equal VOLTAGE GAIN and not equal sensitivity.+1. Should have spotted that myself. If BOTH sensitivity and rated maximum power are the same for the two amps, then gains will be equal, to a reasonable approximation (assuming the specs are accurate and are defined in the usual manner). If those numbers are not both the same, gains may or may not be equal, and most likely will be different. Gain can be calculated from the other parameters, to a reasonable approximation, as described in my last post in this thread. Regards, -- Al |
Thanks for the suggestions posted. The crossover does have a gain control but at peak it offers 3db from what I've read. However, at the settings of 9 or above, the tight bass which makes these speakers great become boomy and clearly not flat. So I keep it at settings of 8 or below. I believe gain at that setting is 2db or less. Thus the resulting gain imbalance... I have many amps but none of the same brand or model. I have a multimeter, but would need tips on how to measure volt gain/sensitivity of my amp with this. Looks like the simplest route for now is to look into attenuation. Is there a formula for calculating the attenuation I will need to balance the voltage gains? Gerald |
I looked up the input sensitivity of my two amps: Ampzilla 2000 = 1 volt R.M.S. across 50kohms for 300 watts into 8 ohms on the unbalanced input. Mccormack DNA 500 = Input Impedance: 10 kOhms Input Sensitivity: 2.25 volt rms So it seems the mccormack is less sensitive than the Ampzilla and if I am concluding properly, the Ampzilla @300W will have more gain than the Maccormack @500W. totally not what would have expected, but this would explain what I'm hearing. I will try to switch it up and use the Maccormack to drive the monitors and see if I can balance out the gain by lower the crossover setting. |
- 11 posts total