Help with bi-amping

gregure

Question about using another amp to power my Rti 10's: If I used another two-channel amp to power the 10's, would I simply need to connect the amp to the pre-outs, connect the highs with the Onkyo 701, and the lows with the added amp, or is there more to it? The Polk homesite mentions something about disabling the internal crossovers of the speakers, and I haven't the faintest clue of how to do that, nor would I really want to try. I'm happy with the sound I'm getting now, but I'm curious in case I would like to try adding another amp in the future. Thanks.

disneyjoe7

Basically yes, you can add the amp to the pre-amp out of the Onkyo. Bi-amp'd the speakers like you said new amp for lows, Onkyo AVR for highs. You will have to remove any bridge bars, (those gold looking bars that connect lows to highs) I think this is what to manual is saying.

PolkWannabie

The only other thing you need to do is remove the external jumper plates that run between the upper and lower terminals.

gregure

Thanks for the info. The polk audio "audio education" section asserts that bi-amping is a complicated issue, that usually results in poor sound quality if the person does not know what they are doing. I obviously know to take the jumpers off, but the site makes it seem more complicated than that. They talk about removing the internal passive crossover of the speaker, and using an outboard electronic crossover, which totally confuses me, because everyone on the forum never talks about that. They seem to just connect the cables from two different amplifiers and viola. So that's where the confusion lies. What are they talking about with internal passive crossovers and what not?
Thanks

disneyjoe7

Ok, I see what you are asking. You can Bi-Amp your speakers has the easy way we have said. I see what they are saying, but if you like to Bi-Amp a pair of speakers go ahead. No problem here.

What they are saying is to bypass the crossover in the speaker, and do the crossover electronic outside the speaker first before the amps. This something that must people do on their car audio, I never heard this for home audio. But if you got the $$ go for it, sounds sweet. But again it's not needed really I do this right now myself.

Originally posted by gregure
Thanks for the info. The polk audio "audio education" section asserts that bi-amping is a complicated issue, that usually results in poor sound quality if the person does not know what they are doing. I obviously know to take the jumpers off, but the site makes it seem more complicated than that. They talk about removing the internal passive crossover of the speaker, and using an outboard electronic crossover, which totally confuses me, because everyone on the forum never talks about that. They seem to just connect the cables from two different amplifiers and viola. So that's where the confusion lies. What are they talking about with internal passive crossovers and what not?
Thanks

gregure

Thanks again DisneyJoe. The polk site didn't specify that the crossover stuff pertained to car audio, but it sounds like just plugging in the amp the easy way is safe and effective. Good to know.

PolkWannabie

See the other thread on biamping in this section for a more thorough discussion.

Use of a crossover in front of the amp and possible additional removal of the speakers internal crossover is what would be referred to as active biamping and would of course have far more benefits to it then passive biamping where most of the additional power is wasted. But it's more complex and has other complications associated with it.

randomdestructn

actually, from what i've read, it seems that biamping without removing the crossovers in the speaker is a waste of resources, as the amps are still wasting their time with all the other frequencies. And removing the internal crossover wouldnt be too hard, it would be finding a good active crossover and setting it up right. I'd look into it though, considering youre getting the amps anyway, and if all else fails, im sure you could hook the original crossover back up..
(plus from what ive found with tests on my rti10s, the high and low frequencies aren't very isolated (if you hook up only the low plug, you still hear clearly from the tweeter (yes i removed the plates)) so an active crossover would probably show even more benifits.

YMMV heh.

VR3

I do NOT*** recomend removing the internal crossovers.

go to www.partsexpress.com

They are called - RCA Line Level crossovers

then they have PLUG crossovers that you can plug directly INTO the amp to cut off the signal.

DO NOT** remove ANY*** crossovers from your speakers (all considering the simple fact) that Polk puts through crossovers directly on the back of the binding post, glued in place.

Probally would void your warranty as well.

PolkWannabie

That's why I stated POSSIBLE removal of the internal X/O ...

Not something most folks should undertake with most speakers.

X/O's are not about isolation per se ...