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Many modern speakers have two binding posts, presumably for biwiring or biamping. One is for the mids/tweeters and the other for the woofers. I really like my all tube set up but have been very curious to try putting an SS amp on the bass. I really don't want to add an external crossover out of fear that it will degrade the "tube magic" mainly the 3d effect. The Y splitter has been proposed but does not separate the frequencies the amp receives and I think would lower output impedance dramatically, (esp with my choice of a tube pre.) If I could find a preamp with a crossover built in I could experiment as I stated above.
What then are the problems and limitations the preamp designer faces in trying to accomodate this desire?
Follow Ups:
but I haven't tried it.
I presume your 2-way speakers are passive? IE. they have 2 pairs of BPs ... and the passive XO is inside the box?
This setup means that you can:
* single-wire from amp to speakers and have a jumper to the 2nd pair of BPs, or
* bi-wire, with 1 set of cables going to the bass BPs and the other set going to the mid/tweeter BPs.
In both cases, the frequency splitting into "highs" and "lows" happens inside the box .
You are currently using a single amp to drive the speakers (with either 1 or 2 pairs of speaker cables) ... likewise, you can use 1 or 2 amps. If you use 2 amps (each with 1 set of cables to the relevant pair of BPs), then the highs & lows still get split inside the box.
When people use active XOs (before the amps) to do the high/low frequency splitting, they need to remove bypass the internal passive XO.
So you can definitely try an ss amp on the bass. :-)) (But, yes, you will need a 'Y' plug, to get the single output from your preamp into 2 power amps.)
Good luck,
Andy
Passive biamping works fine. It uses the speakers built in crossover. The whole SS vs tube is a different issue though. I've been passively horizontally biamping for some time. It made a very nice difference for me over using a single amp at all volume levels.
ET
Yes but it rarely makes any difference.
Kal
...
I upgraded to a CJ MF 2500A (w/bi-wire) and retired my MF 2100. About 6 months later I said geez its just sitting there I should try a passive horizontal bi-amp. Both have the same gain and input impedance and would be a great pairing in terms of level matching. The difference for me was great, especially where image and soundstage are concerned. I guess I'm one of the rare ones....... or perhaps many people don't properly implement their bi-amp setups.
ET
...but my estimate tells me a crossover of quality comparable to that of your preamp should cost roughly 1.5x as much as the preamp.
First, experimentation of this sort is constrained by the unwillingness of most people to eviscerate their speakers so that their built-in crossovers do not compromise the external crossover operations.
Second, in order to do what you propose the manufacturer must (a) double the number of output stages which raises cost substantially and (b) provide an adjustable crossover with many options and suitable controls lest they limit their market to a single speaker.
Third, there is no difference between what you propose and adding an external electronic crossover. Why not simply add a nice external unit?
Kal
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