Using an AVR for 2 channel. Any benefit with Bi-Amping? Are any bridgeable?

[perpetualglass]

The only thing this 9050 really NEEDS is a USB input.

 

[PENG]

The HK 3490 has the Onkyo 9050 beat by significantly by a much lower price. Therein lies the preference for the HK3490. And the probable better customer service. I still have not been able to get through to Onkyo to ask a few simple questions. If at some point later down the line, I wish to Bi-Amp, it would be nice to run two HK3490s, as I could see a real benefit if the speakers were configured like the current SVS Ultra Towers that I am playing with (sending them back tomorrow). However, the dual volume controls would be a real hassle.


Next in my lineup includes NHT Fours, Aperion Verus Grandes, Gallo Classicos, and if I'm happy with none of the above, then I'll ultimately settle with the Ascend Sierras.

The room is 18x24x8, and no, I do not want bookshelves and a sub, since bookshelves + their stands occupy almost the same space, I find them almost redundant.

After listening to Ed Frias' setup, he did a pretty good job of convincing me of the sound quality and control improvement that is gained by running a system with plenty of headroom. I am not sure if it helps with imaging and soundstage, but it probably does not hurt. Heck, I'm not even sure if the headroom realistically improves bass output and control, but from a pure electrical/physics standpoint, it makes plenty of sense.


Given the pricepoint, it seems that this: XPA-2 | 300W x 2 | Emotiva Audio | High-end audio components for audiophiles and videophiles, spanning 2-channel music systems, as well as 5.1 and 7.1 home theaters. Products include multichannel amplifiers, stereo amplifiers, and monoblock amplifier would be a fair contender, even though I really did not want to go that route, initially.

Oh yes, and radio makes no difference to me. Streaming NPR from the internet is not something that requires high fidelity, now that Car Talk is dead.

Your room is large enough that if you do listen at reference level or above you could certainly benefit from more power than what the 9050 can offer. In that case, once again the 3490 won't give you much more, 120 vs 75W get you 2dB more of SPL and the 9050 has some hug capacitors to take care of transient peaks. Either way, adding a XPA-2 will eliminate any doubts of having enough headroom or not as long as your speakers have sensitivity of say better than 88 dB/W/M

One alternative is to get speakers that are at least 3 dB more sensitive than the SVS ultra towers. Also keep in mind that people tend to exaggerate things to make a point and may conveniently skip some details. More power is always good thing, but it will only improve sound quality if the speakers in your environment actually demand the power that you currently don't have. For example, I have been listening to Camina Burma multiple times for two days trying to find out which one of the two versions (Conductor Muti's vs Shaw's) I prefer. At my listening level and distance, the amp barely and rarely peaks over 2W per channel, despite the fact either CD has dynamics range of greater than 20 dB . So most of the time I could have powered my speakers with something like your 9050 and the speakers wouldn't know the difference. On the other hand if I were to listen at reference level (I will never do that to my ears) then my amp would have to work near its limit. I don't know who Ed Fria is but obviously he has the equipment and acoustic environment there that demand lots of power.

 

[perpetualglass]

Ed Frias is known mostly for his DIY kits that Madisound used to sell, his BIC-America XO mods, and a few speakers, most notably his T-50 EFE Technology T-50 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

R&L comes to pick up the SVS towers tomorrow, finally! Although I'm not looking forward to moving them down the stairs.

 

[fmw]

Ed Frias is known mostly for his DIY kits that Madisound used to sell, his BIC-America XO mods, and a few speakers, most notably his T-50 EFE Technology T-50 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

R&L comes to pick up the SVS towers tomorrow, finally! Although I'm not looking forward to moving them down the stairs.

Do you not like them?

 

[RichB]

Your math is correct, but the amps will only output what is demanded from them. Theoretically though, you do get more if you push the limit of the amp but not like double, not even close because the tweeter just don't take that much power. In some bi-ampable speakers, the tweeter and the mid(s) are grouped together when you remove the shorting links, so in that case they could benefit more from that added power from using 2 channels per channel, but the tweeter and mid(s) still will not take as much power as the woofer(s) do and the woofer(s) will still be sucking from the same one channel. If you are after more power, you will be better served to pick up a 200WPCX2 amp vs biamping with 4X100WPC. I think that's what ADTG is alluding to.

I agree with this but most people expect a volume increase which is why it has a bad name. It is also not very cost effective.

Scott (formerly of Outlaw) posted something that made sense to me. If you have unused channels from an amp where the channels are independent, bi-ramping can provide clip protection. So you your low end amp is clipping, your mid/highs end amp will not be affected.

- Rich