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Re: What are nice pairs of amps for actively bi-amping Maggie 1.6's?

I've done this with four of the five channels in my HK520 AVR and my MMG's using the behringer ultradrive. Note: I needed to back of the HF driver input level (using the xover) a bit to get them to match right - the passive must has a little HP attenution compared to the LP driver. I hadn't noticed this with the other amps I've tried since I knew the gains would need to be matched anyway. Biamplifing and yanking the passive components (except the tweeter fuse) is the only way to go.

BTW: I think there is some confusion about gain matching when I look at the various biamp posts here and in Speaker Asylum. You can have an amp with 26dB gain for the low pass paired with one with 32 dB gain for the high pass (or vice-versa) without any problem. When you adjust the input attenuator of the amplifier or the output attenuator of the xover -it compensates for the gain mismatch. You are really looking for a complete network voltage gain match.

Also when Biamping you have to be a little concerned about the tube amplifiers - or other amps with significant output impedance - if you yank the zoebel passive network out of the speaker as well. Remember the output frequency response of the amplifier is dependent on the load impedance, and the Zoebel networks purpose is to even out the peaks in the impedance. This is where an eq system in the xover is useful at well.

For those purist among you - don't fret - the zoebel network itself is a form of EQ - and not nearly as well behaved as the DSP EQ.

There may be some reasons to keep the Zoebel network in the loudspeaker. I rare cases (Vandersteen 2C is an example - though there may be more) the Zoebel netork has non-linearities that help compensate for the driver non-linear behavior. Though this also could be compensated for in the EQ/Xover in a Biamp set-up, you'd need to have knowledge of the driver non-linearites to begin with.

The Meridian and BeoLab 5 active speakers have the built in compensation for the driver non-linearities.



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  • Re: What are nice pairs of amps for actively bi-amping Maggie 1.6's? - gymwear5@hotmail.com 06:46:49 11/08/06 (0)


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