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Bi-Amp Vs. Bi-Wire

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Posted on November 2, 2009 at 18:49:20
03FLHT2
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Long Island
Joined: October 30, 2009
 I thought that Bi-Amp meant to send two different amps to Woofer-Tweeter on the crossover-- Now I thought that was Bi-Wire. What is the difference.\
I want to do that with my 3.5's
thanks
Anthony

RE: Bi-Amp Vs. Bi-Wire, posted on November 2, 2009 at 19:26:15
andyr
Audiophile

Posts: 6561
Location: Melbourne
Joined: September 2, 2000
 Bi-wiring can be done when you have 1 stereo amp (or, of course, 2 monoblocs). You have the one amp driving the external passive XO of your 3.5s but you have 2 sets of wires:
* 1 going to the bass input terminals
* the other going to the mid/ribbon input terminals.

The theory is - this stops the heavy currents flowing in the bass wires (and the back EMF) from messing with the smaller currents carrying the mid/high signals. The downside is - you're loading your amp with twice the capacitance you'd have with just a single set of wires.

Bi-amping needs to be separated into 2 scenarios:

* "classic" active bi-amping ... in this case, a 2-way active XO replaces the external passive XO and splits the signal coming from the preamp (or source) into highs and lows. You then have 2 stereo amps after the active XO - 1 feeds the bass driver terminals and the other feeds the mid/ribbon driver terminals.

Obviously, you can extend this concept to active tri-amping, where you've removed the internal passive XO too and the active XO splits the signal into 3 sections (so your need 3 stereo amps ... or 6 monoblocs, as I have).

* "passive bi-amping" ... here, you have 2 stereo amps feeding the external passive XO. IMO, this delivers very little benefit (whereas active bi-amping is a significant step up! :-)) ).

Regards,

Andy


RE: Bi-Amp Vs. Bi-Wire, posted on November 2, 2009 at 20:20:14
03FLHT2
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Long Island
Joined: October 30, 2009
 Just so I think I got it. The XO with the 3.5 is a passive and pulling the two jumpers and using two amps- one on the low and one on the high doesn't get me much improvement. Where as if I got an active XO- where to get one is another story then still with two amps I can Bi_Amp is this correct

Yes...NT, posted on November 2, 2009 at 20:58:56
Keith944T
Audiophile

Posts: 129
Location: Western PA
Joined: April 23, 2009
 NT

RE: Bi-Amp Vs. Bi-Wire, posted on November 2, 2009 at 18:51:00
03FLHT2
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: Long Island
Joined: October 30, 2009
 No way to edit Last post was suppose to say I thought I read that was BI-Wire.

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