thoughts on Bi Amping a Rotel 1095

[Tom2222]

Hi everyone,
I'm a beginner trying to catch up... I'm thinking about buying a Rotel 1095 and using the 4 posts to power my L and R front speakers (B&W 804D's)and the 5 post to power my B&W center. Is this a good configuration or should I buy a 2 channel amp (with 4 posts) to power just my front two speakers? I'm primarily concerned about getting the amp for 2 channel music listening. The 1095 is rated at 200wpc. Does that mean if I bi amp the speakers, I'm getting 400 watts per speaker? My av reciever is a pioneer elite sc67 which is capable for my 5.1, but not enough to drive my new B&W 804D's. Any and all help would be much appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi everyone,
I'm a beginner trying to catch up... I'm thinking about buying a Rotel 1095 and using the 4 posts to power my L and R front speakers (B&W 804D's)and the 5 post to power my B&W center. Is this a good configuration or should I buy a 2 channel amp (with 4 posts) to power just my front two speakers? I'm primarily concerned about getting the amp for 2 channel music listening. The 1095 is rated at 200wpc. Does that mean if I bi amp the speakers, I'm getting 400 watts per speaker? My av reciever is a pioneer elite sc67 which is capable for my 5.1, but not enough to drive my new B&W 804D's. Any and all help would be much appreciated!! Thanks!!

No you won't get 400 watts per speaker, as the tweeter takes very little power. You will get about 201 watts per speaker. Passive bi-amping is a waste of time and effort.

 

[Irvrobinson]

There ought to be a sticky thread about the uselessness of passive bi-amping 99% percent of time, and that if you want more information do a search, which will display hundreds of threads on the topic.

 

[Tom2222]

Thanks to both posters for your input! I'm a newbie so please indulge me on this... Does it make sense to bi wire insead of bi amp? Im a bit confused about the difference... I think bi wiring is running a 2 sets of cables/speaker to 2 different posts on my reciever. Is that bi wiring? Does that make sense to do? I realize these may sound like stupid questions... Thanks!!

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks to both posters for your input! I'm a newbie so please indulge me on this... Does it make sense to bi wire insead of bi amp? Im a bit confused about the difference... I think bi wiring is running a 2 sets of cables/speaker to 2 different posts on my reciever. Is that bi wiring? Does that make sense to do? I realize these may sound like stupid questions... Thanks!!

Another useless endeavor. You have it wrong and dangerous. Bi-wiring is removing the jumpers between the high and low pass filters of the speaker, if the speaker has separate terminals for the two sections. Then you run two sets of wires from each left and right channel and connect one pair to the high pass filter and one to the low pass.

If I were you I would keep it simple, or you are going to have some very costly fry ups.

 

[Tom2222]

Another useless endeavor. You have it wrong and dangerous. Bi-wiring is removing the jumpers between the high and low pass filters of the speaker, if the speaker has separate terminals for the two sections. Then you run two sets of wires from each left and right channel and connect one pair to the high pass filter and one to the low pass.

If I were you I would keep it simple, or you are going to have some very costly fry ups.

If both the reciever and speakers are designed for this type of bi wire set up, where is the danger?

 

[Swerd]

If both the reciever and speakers are designed for this type of bi wire set up, where is the danger?

The danger comes from wiring it as you described: "run 2 sets speaker cables to 2 different posts on my receiver". It is clear that you are new to this and don't understand what's involved. You could put your amp at risk of damage, for no benefit.

Your Rotel 1095 is a potent amp and should encounter no trouble driving your 804D speakers. The sensitivity and impedance curve of those speakers don't suggest any difficulty for an amp such as yours.

Both the speaker maker and the amp maker probably talk about the use of bi-wiring or bi-amping. They do owners like yourself a disservice. The reality is there is no benefit at all for bi-wiring; it's an unfortunate myth. Bi-amping might be of some slight benefit for someone with 2 under powered amps, one of which might otherwise be unused. However, your amp is far from underpowered.

Don't waste your time, and don't risk your amp. It simply isn't worth it.

 

[Drifter]

Hi everyone,
I'm a beginner trying to catch up... I'm thinking about buying a Rotel 1095 and using the 4 posts to power my L and R front speakers (B&W 804D's)and the 5 post to power my B&W center. Is this a good configuration or should I buy a 2 channel amp (with 4 posts) to power just my front two speakers? I'm primarily concerned about getting the amp for 2 channel music listening. The 1095 is rated at 200wpc. Does that mean if I bi amp the speakers, I'm getting 400 watts per speaker? My av reciever is a pioneer elite sc67 which is capable for my 5.1, but not enough to drive my new B&W 804D's. Any and all help would be much appreciated!! Thanks!!

Just use your 1095 with normal cable arrangement. You will be absolutely delighted with how they make your 804' s respond. You won't believe your ears. Listen - and you will see!

 

[killdozzer]

Listen - and you will see!

I totally love this!

 

[PENG]

There ought to be a sticky thread about the uselessness of passive bi-amping 99% percent of time, and that if you want more information do a search, which will display hundreds of threads on the topic.

Agree, sticky won't eliminate it completely but surely should help.

 

[PENG]

If both the reciever and speakers are designed for this type of bi wire set up, where is the danger?

After reading post#7, I suggest you try bi-wiring and report back to us if you can hear any improvement, just do it carefully, like removing the jumpers, red to red, black to black etc.. Theoretically bi-wiring and biamp makes little difference if in either case you have more than enough power for your speakers.

 

[Alex2507]

Where is RichB when you need him?

 

[PENG]

Where is RichB when you need him?

I thought we only need a sticky.

 

[lovinthehd]

How would one bi-amp an amp?

 

[j_garcia]

If it isn't enough for the 804s then it isn't going to be enough biamped either because it is the SAME AMP.