993MAN

I have bought a monster Plinius SB301 to get my MA PL300's moving. I have also come across a Plinius SA100 Pure class A amp and was thinking about
Bi amping.
Reckon it's worth the hassle? I guess I could use the SA100 for the top end duties and leave the beast to handle the hard stuff.
Worth it?

cobalt

I have never found Bi-amping to be worth the hassle but that is my opinion.

Tonydec

It might, or might not. Stuff like this is so system dependant, could make a noticeable difference, slight difference, or none at all. The crossovers in your speakers will play a large part, are they truly independant if bi-amped? I'm not familiar with your speakers so can't help with specifics there. Generally speaking, it may help tighten up the bass and improve definition and soundstage.

As an example, I like my female vocals to appear in front of the soundstage, I like the feeling of them singing TO me, right out in front. I was running a tube amp with a solid state pre. When I went to a tube pre, the vocals retreated back in the soundstage. I then mono-blocked the amps (I know it's different than bi-amping), they came back forward a bit, tube rolling brought them forward a little more with the right ones. Mono blocking made a big improvement in the decay time of highs like cymbals and bells.

Thats what this hobby is about, tweaking it to get what YOU like, some improvements will be noticeable, some not, some can be costly for no improvement, some not. Also keep in mind, an improvement may not be to the better to your ear, but it may be to mine. An audiophile friend of mine has different preferences to me, and we have similar gear. We have swapped stuff and tube rolled, and we don't always agree which is better. He doesn't like the way I like my vocals, I don't like the way he likes his highs. It can be an expensive hobby chasing that ever elusive 'perfect' sound.

A.Wayne

Bi-amping can be very beneficial , i have always found it to be the best way to go and it has to be done right .

Firstly: Pre-amp output impedance , get this wrong when parallelling the outputs with two amplifiers and you will have issues. Compare amplifiers input impedance with pre-amp output impedance.


Secondly: Speakers , impedance magnitude and phase will give you and idea where the power is most needed , best to passive bi-amp with equal amplifiers if not just experiment to see which amp sounds best where.

I would go for it ....

cobalt

This seems to be the old you ask 100 people you get a 100 different answers.

utkinpol

i used to do all that stuff and 3 (or more?) years ago i finally jumped the fence, got myself onkyo pr-sc885 with 7 channel rotel rmb-1077 and was very impressed. previous setup ws with same speakers - b&w 805 (i do not need much bass as I care to listen to classic piano mostly).

so, with bi-amping you gain more clarity and a bit better localization, but i cannot hear any tonality changes. i think it really depends of speakers impedance and of how well amplifier was made, with previous rotel 1090 it was more pronounced. still, with effect of audissey I will never be back to analog, it is not worth it, i was always a beleiver into pure class A devices but technology really did step forward with digital ICE and it sounds very well imho.

patela

I do, bit I'm running an NHT Xd digital set-up, so it happens automatically.

Like utkinpol, I have to say that digital speaker calibration combined with digital amplification is pretty impressive. I loved the look and sound of my Cronus tube integrated, but I'm repeatedly impressed with the digital set-up.

utkinpol

i was told the same by my rotel dealer, did not beleive him and got 1077 unit to test against my pair of 1090s and kept it. amazing technology.

I never tried those other cheaper rotels with their own breed of 'digital ICE' amplification, i got 'real' one at the time which was twice more expensive and it still works flawlessly and i cannot hear any deterioration - as it is all on microchips there are no big transistors to get out of tune, it is really quite nice.

Arnie1

My Infinity are Bi-Amped with a pair of Krell KSA 250s. But Bi-Amping is required with the Infinity Gammas and they came with an active cross over. To do Bi-Amping correctly you really need an outboard crossover so you can balance the amps and output from the woofers vs mid range and tweeters. A cheaper way would be to Bi-Wire your system it does make a difference.

993MAN

I have always Bi wired and agree it is an improvement. Not huge but the sound stage did open up quite a bit.

Franklin229

I agree. For me, there are just too many variables.

mdrums

I guess in theory my system is bi-amped....powered subs (2- Klipsch Ref7 SW15's) crossed over at 80hz.

triode

Same here - my Avantgarde Duo's dual 10" woofers per side have an integral 200wpc solid-state amp in each cabinet; my tube monoblocks just handle the super-sensitive (107dB/w/m) mid and treble horns.

aussie jimmy

same here - ml vantages have powered woofers; tube monos handle the electrostatic panels.

to the op - plinius sb301 has plenty of juice, i don't think you need to bi-amp.

993MAN

Jimmy,
Juice is something this beast has in abundance. For the money I reckon it would hard to beat actually. Lifting it up the stairs wasn't a lot of fun though!