bi-amping Rti-4's

aaharvel · May 2005

I have a pair of Rti-4's wired to an Adcom 5300 MOSFET amp, and an Adcom 7300 60x5 bi-polar amp wired to my center, side and rear surrounds, with a Harman Kardon 235 serving as the receiver, pre/pro. My question is regarding listening to music in 2ch. mode with just my rti-4's with subwoofer.

Adcom's midrange tonality is nice (the 5300 amp) - yet the high notes are kind of in your face. For home theater- the Adcom's bright/aggressive sound is of no consequence, but I listen to music first and foremost and prefer a warmer laid back sound that the Adcom isn't giving me. Is it because it's a Mosfet design instead of a bipolar one?

Question #1-
Which amp design is better for 2ch. music playback if you much prefer a warm/laid back sound from neutral speakers (rti-4)?

BI-AMP option- (Midrange to the Adcom, Tweeter to the H/K receiver)

Bi-Amp Scenario #1- I could wire the tweeter to the h/k and let the 2ch. mosfet adcom 5300 (80 wpc) play the 5 1/4 inch midrange- do you think that will improve the sound?

Bi-Amp Scenario #2- ... or should I instead hook up the 5ch. bi-polar 7300 (60wpc) to the rti-4's woofer while wiring the tweeter to the H/K?

The reason I'm thinking of hooking the tweeter up to the H/K is because Its widely accepted that H/K has a warmer sound in it's highs than Adcom does. I haven't tried either yet- cuz i'm afraid i'd blow the speaker.

Any feedback would be much appreciative.

markmarc · May 2005

You helped me earlier, so let me give you my thoughts. In the late 80's I owned an Adcom GFA-555 amp. It powered my Polk 10B's. However, I found the amp had too bright a high end. I remedied the situation with the purchase of a Conrad Johnson PV-7 pre amp. The point I'm trying to make is that you need to find a way to tone down the Adcom. I think your Bi-Amp scenario #1 should work.
Good Luck

aaharvel · May 2005

hey marcmark.

actually- the problem was my damn roomate had the treble turned up on the H/K when I was off on vacation. Since I always have the tone controls set to flat, I never noticed it. So when I came back and turned it on- it didn't sound right.

Just out of curiousity- I did bi-amp the H/K to the rti4's tweeters and compared it to the Adcom. I think I just proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that separate amps are indeed the way to go for sound quality. As good as the H/K is (and it is great for receivers) Both Adcoms absolutely kicked the living $hit out of it in both Treble and midrange quality.

So i'm keeping my original setup- the slightly more powerful 80watt mosfet 2ch. adcom powering my front L&R rti4's and the 60watt 5ch. 7300 powering my center and four F/X300i's. I think buying these two amps for $400 all together was the best money i've ever spent. Thanks anyway for ALL your responses (on all the threads=)

markmarc · May 2005

Up until a month ago I ran HK separates, 825 preamp, 870 amp, and the 915 tuner. Unfortunately the RCA inputs went bad on 870amp, the labor was going to be about $100. My wife wanted a home theater setup so we could enjoy movies without turning the sound up and down. After considering level of frustration my wife would have in trying use the system of separates to watch a movie without me (and the angry calls to me) I stepped back down to "receiverville". On the good side, now I have money for Polk speakers.

aaharvel · May 2005

there's no stepping down to it if you've got Harman Kardon, dude.
My 235 still drove all 7 of my speakers wonderfully. It's still the best sounding "50watts" i've ever heard in my life. I was actually looking into Harman Kardon separates- but their PA amps were just so hard to come by so i settled with Adcom. I've just always wanted separates- to see what all the fuss was about- & at $400 for 7channels i just couldn't pass up.

IMO, Harman Kardon, Denon and Marantz make the best
MASS market receivers- in that order.

bi-amping Rti-4's

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