How to properly biamp?

[wjm1960]

HI All. I'm new to this so I hope I dont look too much like a geek!
I have 2 crown k2 amps. One pair of bose 802s & a pair of large subs.
The bose speakers need an active crossover to sound decent so here my delema. I have a newmark mixing board I use as a preamp. It has two outputs but only one loop(processor) channel. What I want to achieve is to send the mid/high frequency to one amp which will power the bose speakers using the active crossover. I want to send only low frequiency to the other amp which will drive the bass cabs. I dont think I can put anything on the output of the preamp without overloading the active crossovers. I realy don't want to do the passive thing because then both amps see the full frequency spectrum. I kind of want to keep them seperate. So How would one get out of this mess? Thanks for any help!

 

[gregz]

Hi wjm1960,

I don't really understand your statement: "I dont think I can put anything on the output of the preamp without overloading the active crossovers."

If your mixing board has two outputs, you can use the output with active crossover for the amp going to the Bose, and use the unfiltered output for the amp going to the subs, right?

If that's the case, then you can use either a passive filter for the subs, or a passive inline filter at the input to the sub amp.

Input impedances to K2 amplifiers are 10Kohms unbalanced and 20Kohms balanced. It's highly unlikely that you'll overload the pre-amp output stage or active filter on such a high impedance.

Sounds like a cakewalk to me, but maybe I'm missing something? Let us know.

 

[wjm1960]

Thanks For your Reply

Thanks for the info. I was not sure how high I could drive the bose active crossover since they want it in the tape monitor or processor loop which are fixed well below the 1.25 volt output of the mixer output source. If you think the crossover can take the preamp at full output then you have answered my question. Just dont want any distortion into the amp...Thanks for your advice, Wes....

 

[gregz]

"the crossover can take the preamp at full output"

Woah there, partner! I doubt it will take the preamp at full output, but keep the level down and you'll be fine. If you simply must crank the preamp to full, you can place a resistor divider inline.