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Passive biamping question

If I have a six channel amplifier with one power supply per two channels and say each channel puts out say 100 watts, if I biamp with two channels per speaker for the three front channels of a HT system will this be basically like having 200 watts per channel and will the frequency balance of the speakers remain essentially the same? Thanks.
bobbob
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,703 posts
 
No. The spectral distribution of power in music signals is heavily weighted towards the bass. As a result, the total output is limited by the bass amp which will still be 100w. There is quite limited increase in power capability. (And 200w would only be 3dB anyway.)
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I'm not sure what you mean by passive biamping. You won't double your power by using 2 channels for each speaker; each channel is still 100 watts. You are, however, in a position to increase you sound quality if you do a vertical biamp. You can do that by running the signal from your preamp to the inputs on a pair of channels that share the same power supply. Then take the left and right signal from those 2 channels and plug them both in to one of your speakers. One speaker cable goes to the highs and the other to the lows on you binding posts. Do the exact same thing for the other channel.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,703 posts
 
That is passive biamping and any improvements in "quality" are debatable.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
Kr4

Sorry, but I just noticed your last comment. I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying passive biamping is what I'm calling vertical biamping?
bobbob OP
21 posts
 
On further research, it seems that the spectral distibution of music is around a 50-50 split around 250hz, and for a three way system, that is close to where the crossover would be between midrange and woofer. So I'm thinking it could be beneficial.
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