Yes, another question on Bi-Wiring

djseafood · November 2008

Hello All,
New to the forum here, but please bear with me as I think my question is a little different. I've read some on the topic and think I understand the difference between bi-wiring vs. bi-amping. Bi-wiring seems to be the more debated topic and seems that the benefits of which are yet to be proven but come down to individual preferences.

That said, here is what I'm considering. I have a Harmon Kardon AVR 20 which has hookups for 2 pair of front channel speakers. I have learned from the HK website that the 60w/channel in stereo mode is shared between these two if you choose to run both sets of speakers at the same time. So, in this situation, do you think bi-wiring my speakers by connecting the hi's to speaker 1 and the low's to speaker 2 would be any different than bi-wiring them from just the speaker 1 connection? Is the only benefit the convienience of having the extra connections there? The speakers in question are Polk Monitor 40's and I have found a thread on that topic which said it's not even worth it to try bi-wiring them.

While we're here, I was also curious of the crossover situation in the Monitor 40's. Are there two crossovers internal so that when you use bi-wiring or bi-amping the signal actually goes through two separate paths?

Thanks in advance for any help and please be gentle in your responses if I've totally misunderstood something here. I'm here to learn, not to proclaim myself as a supposed expert.

-AJ

djseafood · November 2008

Okay, so I lost the left channel on my AVR 20 so I'm looking for a new receiver. I think I've got it settled on an Onkyo TX-SR506 (it's really all I need). My new question is, since the Onkyo can reassign the rear surrounds for bi-amping, should I do that with the Monitor 40's? The Onkyo puts out 75w/ch so bi-amping them would give a theoretical 150w to each of the Monitor 40s. Polk recommends 20-125. Is 150 overkill and do I risk blowing them? Will 75w be sufficient?

Thanks in advance for any help!

curved · November 2008

Welcome to CP - sorry about the loss

There is a similar thread about bi-amping/bi-wire....let your ears be the test as there is a lot of debate on this.

Don't worry about blowing the speakers with too much power unless you're pushing your amp too hard causing it to clip.

djseafood · November 2008

Thanks curved. I was thinking more along the lines of how much power is safe to run into them. Is there any kind of equation like take the max rated power and subtract 5% or something like that? I'll never use the 7.1 setup so if I had the extra juice I thought I'd use it if prudent. I know underpowering is more harmful. I'll just have to keep people away from the volume knob!

curved · November 2008

If I recall right, somebody was talking about a formula to figure this out (dB).....it was somewhat recent.

With your receiver, I would assume max would be between -15dB and -10dB with a good recording.

Polksaladanni · November 2008

djseafood wrote: »

Okay, so I lost the left channel on my AVR 20 so I'm looking for a new receiver. I think I've got it settled on an Onkyo TX-SR506 (it's really all I need). My new question is, since the Onkyo can reassign the rear surrounds for bi-amping, should I do that with the Monitor 40's? The Onkyo puts out 75w/ch so bi-amping them would give a theoretical 150w to each of the Monitor 40s. Polk recommends 20-125. Is 150 overkill and do I risk blowing them? Will 75w be sufficient?

Thanks in advance for any help!

You will still have 75Wpch. Just 75w to each of the HPass and LPass Xovers.

Yes, there are 2 seperate paths on the XO. I can't tell you any benifits because I am the Crazy Haired Professor modding XO's left and right and haven't got to that point.

I'm sure searching will bring you many opinions.

Paul

Yes, another question on Bi-Wiring

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