Rotel RA-1062 upgrade / Bi-amping

[soren5]

Hello,

I’m the happy owner a Rotel RA-1062 integrated amp, a set of Linn Katan speakers, and a Beresford TC-7520 DAC. But for some time now I’ve thought about upgrading my system (without spending too much money though).

Since the Katans can be bi-amped (passive and active), I’m thinking that this could possibly be a way to go, but going active with Linn amplifiers is currently a little over my budget So here’s my idea… I would like to add an additional Rotel power amp to my current system, e.g. the older RB-970BX, which seems to be almost identical to the RA-1062’s power section, has received very good reviews, and can be bought fairly cheap second-hand.

First step would be to add the RB-970BX to the pre-out of the RA-1062 and this way run the speakers bi-amped (passive). Is this possible? Or would I need to have some kind of separate gain control of the attached power amp? And would this be an improvement over my current setup?

Next step would be to change the setup to active bi-amping by adding an active crossover to the setup, and then bypass the passive crossovers in the Katans. Bypassing the speakers' crossover is very easy on the Katans as they are made to work as active speakers with Linn amplifiers. But would it be possible to add an active crossover to such a setup consisting of an integrated with an attached power amp?

Alternatively, could I completely avoid the pre-amp in the RA-1062 (is this possible?) and then use my DAC as a pre-amp? My DAC has variable output and since all my music is run digitally from my computer, I would not need analogue inputs on the preamp. I could then place the active crossover between the DAC/pre-amp and the two power amps (provided that I can bypass the pre-amp in the RA-1062).

Any suggestions or recommendations would be highly appreciated

Thanks!

 

[soren5]

Nobody who can help me out here?

Perhaps I should ask more generally... Is it possible to connect a power amp to an integrated amp via pre-out and then run the speakers bi-amped? And would it somehow be possible to 'go active' in such a setup by adding an active crossover and bypass the speakers' passive crossover?

Thanks again!

 

[PENG]

The answer to all of your technical questions is 'yes'. Your question regarding 'improvement', assuming you meant sound quality, is going to yield multiple responses that could range from 'waste of time/wire', 'active is the only way to get any improvements', to 'listen to your ears' etc. I can tell you most posters here would say you won't gain in SQ.

Many speakers and amp manufacturers would tell you there are benefits in passive biamp and even biwire. Some amp manufacturers, at least Anthem for sure, may tell you passive biamp is actually the right way of doing it. You can read about what Anthem says on their website FAQ area.

Back to the technical side, passive biamp is easy to do but active is not, and you have to really know what you are doing. IMHO unless your Linn speakers are designed for active biamp connections (being Linn I guess they might be), just try passive and if there is no audible improvement then reconnect the links, leave the double run wires there and that should allow you to listen at higher volume without degrading SQ due to the addes power and copper conductors. Or if you want to go all the way to active, you will be more than half way at that point.

 

[soren5]

Thanks for your inputs PENG! Your comments about passive bi-amping and bi-wiring are what I expected - that I most likely won't improve SQ (although Anthem's assertion about bi-amping is interesting). I don't really need more volume, as my RA-1062's 60wpc are more than enough to drive the speakers.

The Linn Katans are designed in preparation for active bi-amping. On the back you find terminals to single/bi-wire as well as active bi-amping. The active mode is meant to be used together with Linn amps where you add an extra Linn amp and then Linn Aktiv cards (crossovers) to these amps.

When you say that the answer to all my technical questions is 'yes', are you then saying that I could add a crossover to an integrated+power amp? As far as I understood the active crossover needs to be connected between the pre- and the poweramps. How would I go about this in my setup?

I'm aware that active biamping is not easy, but I'd like to learn more about the possibilities. I've heard from other Katan owners that these speakers really show to their best advantage when active bi-amped. And since they already sound fantastic single wired, I'm expecting divine sound if I go active!

 

[PENG]

When you say that the answer to all my technical questions is 'yes', are you then saying that I could add a crossover to an integrated+power amp? As far as I understood the active crossover needs to be connected between the pre- and the poweramps. How would I go about this in my setup?

If your preamp has preouts it should be straight forward to do and you can just google for active crossovers. You do have to disable the speaker's internal crossover network. If the speaker is designed to work with Linn's amp that would seem to be the way to go especially if you don't want to break into the speaker enclosure.