Bi Amp Question

[DogsPart2]

I have a stupid Bi-Amp question.

I have a McIntosh MA6600 (200w/pc @ 8ohms) integrated.
I would like to add an additional power amp so I can Bi-amp my speakers.

McIntosh no longer makes a 200w/ pc power amp. The closest is the MA152 which is, I believe, 150 p/ch.

I am sure it is preferable to have the same power rating for both woofer and tweeter, however is it okay to have "close" power ratings if they are the same manufacturer?

 

[Mr Peabody]

It takes more power to produce low frequencies opposed to highs, so you can use the smaller amp on highs or buy a larger amp for the low end. It's still adviseable to have some way to adjust the gain on one of the amps, either using an external crossover with volume or the external power amp have gain control.

What is the purpose for your biamping?

You could also bi-wire, if two sets of outputs have one run to low and the other to high. Or just tap off one set but run two sets of cables.

 

[Speedskater]

• Bi-amping works best with an active cross-over before the amplifiers.
• Passive bi-amping (with the two isolated cross-over sections after the amps) sometimes has audible gains and sometimes not. It depends on the amps, the cross-over & frequency and the demands of the loudspeaker drivers.
• In either case getting the volume levels matched may not be easy.

There is nothing to be gained by just bi-wiring.

 

[aKnyght]

There is nothing to be gained by just bi-wiring.

this is my empirical experience from some limited A/B testing with my system.

in some cases i have gotten better results from single-wiring to the low frequency binding posts plus jumpers (utilizing the same conductor wire as the cables) to the high frequency binding posts, than i have with with bi-wiring.

 

[DogsPart2]

Ya know, my system sounds pretty damn good as it is.

Not sure if it is worth doing the Bi-amp thing after all. Think I'll piss away the coin I was going to spend and upgrade my headphone amp/DAC combo.

Thanks for all the responses.