Bi-Amping - Is it Worth It?

paperthin567

Hi All,

I just purchased a pair of RTi12's for my fronts and a CSi5 for my center and have them hooked up to a Pioneer SC05 (130 watt/channel, 7.1) receiver.

1 - Do any of you think that I would benefit from "bi-wiring" the fronts and center? If so, how much of a difference do you think it will make? Does it seperate the highs from the lows?

2 - If you do recommend "bi-wiring" these, could you please describe how to go about doing it?

Many thanks to anyone that can help.

-Luke

jbooker82

Your topic is one thing and your questions are about another.

Bi wiring is simply running two sets of speaker wire. Both sets hook up to the.same terminals on your reciever. Then on the speaker end one set hooks to the bottom set, and the other hooks to the top set. The major benefit is the removal of the metal connection straps between the top and bottom set of posts. You can achieve the same thing by into running one set of wires from your avr to the speakers. Then use a short piece of speaker wire to replace the metal jumpers.

The main benefit is the removal of the metal jumper.

jbooker82

Bi Amping is a whole different animal. With out using external amps and active crossovers between the avr and amps it is not worth it.

The purpose of bi amping is to keep the high and low frequencies seperat. That way the amp for the low frequencies is not amplifing high frequencies and sending them to the woofers. The same goes for the mids and highs.

The active crossover also allows you to control what frequencies goes to what part of the speaker.

Bi amping with an avr is not worth it. You do not get to add up the wattage. Your still only feeding 130 watts to each speaker. With some recievers it is a step down in power because they put out less watts per channel when they have more channels to run.

paperthin567

jbooker82 wrote: »

The main benefit is the removal of the metal jumper.

How is removing the metal jumper a benefit?

B Run

paperthin567 wrote: »

How is removing the metal jumper a benefit?

They're cheap and don't sound as good as they can. Using a small section of speaker wire or an aftermarket jumper can make a difference. It's a nice cheap/free mod to try, see for yourself.

jbooker82

B Run wrote: »

They're cheap and don't sound as good as they can. Using a small section of speaker wire or an aftermarket jumper can make a difference. It's a nice cheap/free mod to try, see for yourself.

Yep it will only cost you a couple inches of speaker wire.

paperthin567

jbooker82 wrote: »

Yep it will only cost you a couple inches of speaker wire.

So I need to get 4 strips of speaker wire (2 sets total). Twist the ends together (positive and negative) of one end and plug into the receiver. The other ends, separate out and plug individually into the 4 speaker terminals on the back of each speaker?

Geoff4rfc

paperthin567 wrote: »

So I need to get 4 strips of speaker wire (2 sets total). Twist the ends together (positive and negative) of one end and plug into the receiver. The other ends, separate out and plug individually into the 4 speaker terminals on the back of each speaker?

That seems like overkill unless you're using four conductor wire.

First I tried this;



Then I made these with four conductor wire;

B Run

Like that, you don't have to use spades you can use bare wire or bananas.

michael1947

Yes. Two amps are better than one, unless you can muster up an amp with 500 wpc @ 8^. Your 12's are similar to my A9's and rated at 50 - 500 watts. It is a good thing to feed the monsters and keep them happy.

tonyb

You don't need 500 watts to drive the 12's or 9's....period.

deronb1

tonyb wrote: »

You don't need 500 watts to drive the 12's or 9's....period.

Thats true, but mine needed at least 200wpc to bring out the low end.

Geoff4rfc

Yeah, but I bet it'd be fun to drive the 12's or 9's with 500watts.

la9ers

Geoff4rfc wrote: »

Yeah, but I bet it'd be fun to drive the 12's or 9's with 500watts.

Yes, the more watts the better the sound overall.

nooshinjohn

la9ers wrote: »

Yes, the more watts the better the sound overall.

This statement is absolutely untrue. I have heard some killer 10wpc or less tube amps that would blow away a solid state amp with 50 times more power.

chumlie

/\reported/\

jbooker82

nooshinjohn wrote: »

This statement is absolutely untrue. I have heard some killer 10wpc or less tube amps that would blow away a solid state amp with 50 times more power.

Yep my RTI A7's with a carver A-753x, 250 watts per channel playing at referance level (82 on my Onkyo TX-NR808) reaches 106-107 db. It is only useing around 60-120 watts (according to the gauges on the front of the amp).