Bi-amping: how do you do it?

[Biggiesized]

If you buy a receiver or separates that support bi-amplification, what kind of requirements are there with regards to speakers and how do you set it up? Do speakers need to support bi-amping or can any pair be bi-amped?

I'm thinking of buying an Onkyo 805 (it's hella cheap right now on B&H versus Amazon), which does support bi-amping.

What's the difference between horizontal and vertical bi-amping? Which one is preferable? Anyone know if that model will support both?

 

[TLS Guy]

If you buy a receiver or separates that support bi-amplification, what kind of requirements are there with regards to speakers and how do you set it up? Do speakers need to support bi-amping or can any pair be bi-amped?

I'm thinking of buying an Onkyo 805 (it's hella cheap right now on B&H versus Amazon), which does support bi-amping.

What's the difference between horizontal and vertical bi-amping? Which one is preferable? Anyone know if that model will support both?

There are two types of biamping.

The first requires that the speakers allow you connect separately to the high and low pass passive filters. The passive crossovers are still inline and the advantage of biamping is lost usually. Unless you have speakers where the crossover point is at the power divide point which is around 400 Hz, then the amp driving the high pass filter, delvers very little power, and you still have the disadvantages of the original passive crossover.

The real benefit of biamping or triamping comes with the design of a speaker that has no passive crossover. The crossover is powered and goes ahead of the amps. The amps are connected directly to the speaker drive units.

With this approach much better results are possible. There is no insertion loss from the crossover, the response of the crossover can be better tailored as active circuits can boost and cut. Passive circuits can only cut. The amp speaker interface can be designed as a unit, and perform when there are no passive components between amp and speaker.

The first approach usually talked about in these forums is a waste of time and effort.

 

[fmw]

How do you do it. You buy yourself an active crossover component disconnect the passive networks inside your speaker cabinets. That will provide a "stone wall" type of crossover that is adjustable.

What you are thinking of doing, as TLS says, accomplishes nothing other than putting more money in the pocket of whoever sold you the additional wires. The reason is that the tweeter, which need only milliamps of power in the first place doesn't need separate amplification and using the other two amps in your receiver doesn't even add any power since they are connected to the same power supply as all the other amps. The power supply is the limiting factor. All you would have in the end is a biwire arrangement that accomplishes nothing at all.

The purpose of biamplification is to replace passive crossovers with more effective, powerful and adjustable active crossovers. Unfortunately, consumer audio people apparently don't understand that so a lot of misinformation exists. Take care.

 

[J.Grimmerink]

Bi-amping the easy way

There's an easier way to setup bi-amping.

Check if your speakers have the extra pair of terminals (required for bi-amping), usually connected to the other pair with a kind of metal strip.
Very important: REMOVE THE METAL STRIPS BETWEEN THE TERMINALS before connecting 2 amplifiers to 1 speaker!
Connect each power amplifier to one of the terminal pairs, 1 for high range and 1 for low range.
Make sure the power amplifiers get the same input signal from the preamp (if your preamp doesn't have twin outputs, just use a high quality Y-cable).
Just forget about active crossovers, the speaker still contains internal low-pass and high-pass filters, which are now connected to separate amplifiers.
Now power on and enjoy your bi-amping.

I agree with fmw that this doesn't add anything if your amplifiers all use the same power supply. For the best result in this setup you should note the following:

- 3-way speakers perform better in a bi-amping configuration than 2-way speakers, because usually the woofer is connected to 1 pair of terminals, and the tweeter and mid-range together are connected to the other pair of terminals. This gives a better share of power between the amplifiers.
- Use separate power amplifiers, with their own power supplies. 4 Monoblocks give the best result, but it's more expensive than using 2 stereo amplifiers.
- Use the same brand/model/type of power amplifiers.
- Use high quality shielded interlinks.
- Use high quality speaker cables.
- Keep all cables as short as possible.

If you can't do it right, just forget about bi-amping or you won't be satisfied with the results.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Real men either bi-amp or bi-wire even though it does nothing

How do you do it. You buy yourself an active crossover component disconnect the passive networks inside your speaker cabinets. That will provide a "stone wall" type of crossover that is adjustable.

What you are thinking of doing, as TLS says, accomplishes nothing other than putting more money in the pocket of whoever sold you the additional wires. The reason is that the tweeter, which need only milliamps of power in the first place doesn't need separate amplification and using the other two amps in your receiver doesn't even add any power since they are connected to the same power supply as all the other amps. The power supply is the limiting factor. All you would have in the end is a biwire arrangement that accomplishes nothing at all.

The purpose of biamplification is to replace passive crossovers with more effective, powerful and adjustable active crossovers. Unfortunately, consumer audio people apparently don't understand that so a lot of misinformation exists. Take care.

 

[TLS Guy]

There's an easier way to setup bi-amping.

Check if your speakers have the extra pair of terminals (required for bi-amping), usually connected to the other pair with a kind of metal strip.
Very important: REMOVE THE METAL STRIPS BETWEEN THE TERMINALS before connecting 2 amplifiers to 1 speaker!
Connect each power amplifier to one of the terminal pairs, 1 for high range and 1 for low range.
Make sure the power amplifiers get the same input signal from the preamp (if your preamp doesn't have twin outputs, just use a high quality Y-cable).
Just forget about active crossovers, the speaker still contains internal low-pass and high-pass filters, which are now connected to separate amplifiers.
Now power on and enjoy your bi-amping.

I agree with fmw that this doesn't add anything if your amplifiers all use the same power supply. For the best result in this setup you should note the following:

- 3-way speakers perform better in a bi-amping configuration than 2-way speakers, because usually the woofer is connected to 1 pair of terminals, and the tweeter and mid-range together are connected to the other pair of terminals. This gives a better share of power between the amplifiers.
- Use separate power amplifiers, with their own power supplies. 4 Monoblocks give the best result, but it's more expensive than using 2 stereo amplifiers.
- Use the same brand/model/type of power amplifiers.
- Use high quality shielded interlinks.
- Use high quality speaker cables.
- Keep all cables as short as possible.

If you can't do it right, just forget about bi-amping or you won't be satisfied with the results.

I see no point in biamping through passive components. Passive components are at the bottom of a lot of speaker imperfections.