Originally Posted By: JohnK
Mathieu, welcome. Good that you decided to join the group. You correctly put "bi-amp" in quotes, since this is simply an advertising ploy of some manufacturers that isn't actually bi-amping and has no real benefit. The same amount of power from the one main power supply section of the receiver is simply funnelled into the speaker through two sets of output transistors(one previously unused for back surrounds)rather than one. No increase in available maximum power can result from this.


I see this statement often and think it's true in some cases but not in others, so will put down my thoughts here for comment. Let's take a 5-channel amp rated at 100 watts per channel with all channels loaded. The PS would be capable of 500 watts, and each of the 5 amps capable of 100 watts. If the mains were bi-amped so two amps were connected to each front speaker, then each front would get 200 watts and the fifth channel would still get 100 watts. The total output, and PS load, would still be 500 watts, but now each of the two front channels would get 200 watts vs 100 watts each before bi-amping. I realize that the picture is different if the amp isn't rated with all channels loaded, but it seems to me that you do get more or less doubled power per channel in many cases.


Don