Biamping question...

esowden

Using my Denon DRA-37, Parasound HCA-800II and Monitor 70 speakers - If I were to use the Denon receiver (50w) to drive the tweeters and the Parasound (100w) to drive the mid/low drivers - what would be the best way to balance the outputs of the two amps? I have a SPL meter as well as a DMM. I'm leaving the passive crossovers in place. Would 50 watts be too much for the tweeter circuit?

I feel like experimenting (for the sake of experimentation) and any input on how to approach all of this would be greatly appreciated. My thinking is that this will probably reduce the brightness of the speakers (great potential for a muddy mess) because of the difference in gain structures... Anyway - I'm curious as to how it will turn out and what kind of an effect it will have on overall tone.

esowden

esowden wrote: »

Using my Denon DRA-37, Parasound HCA-800II and Monitor 70 speakers - If I were to use the Denon receiver (50w) to drive the tweeters and the Parasound (100w) to drive the mid/low drivers - what would be the best way to balance the outputs of the two amps? I have a SPL meter as well as a DMM. I'm leaving the passive crossovers in place. Would 50 watts be too much for the tweeter circuit?

I feel like experimenting (for the sake of experimentation) and any input on how to approach all of this would be greatly appreciated. My thinking is that this will probably reduce the brightness of the speakers (great potential for a muddy mess) because of the difference in gain structures... Anyway - I'm curious as to how it will turn out and what kind of an effect it will have on overall tone.

I tried the above balancing the two amps by measuring output voltage with a 1kHz sine wave. The overall effect was very pleasant. By adjusting the gain of the Parasound amp I could control the brightness of the Monitor 70s which may or may not be a plus to some. Could I tell a difference between the bi-amped set-up and driving the Monitors with the Parasound alone? Not really. There was no way for me to hook everything up in a manner that would allow me to switch back and forth between the two set-ups. I did listen to a few CDs I am very familiar with but to say there was a noticable difference would be misleading. Again - I could better control the brightness of the speakers but being quite satisfied with the Monitors I don't really see that as a plus.

My thinking is that by hooking everything up in this manner all I am really accomplishing is an overall increase in power seen by my speakers. I wouldn't be able to say by how much because what the tweeter circuit (and mid/low array) isn't using is just being converted to heat. If there is a gain - it's minimal at best. (at least with the equipment I'm using)

Serendipity

You should be fine.