Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Biamping Questions

I hear mixed opinions on biwiring, but most audiophiles tend to agree that biamping is advantageous. For now, I have technical questions about this...

If a speaker's power handling tops out at 150 watts of power, is it a true statement that the most power you can achieve is through 2 biamped 75 watt channels? In other words, do you combine the wattage from both of the amp's channels?

If so, the problem Im having is understanding what is better about this approach. I mean, my Onkyo receiver drives each channel at 100 watts, but I would imagine I'd have to downgrade the overall power of my system if I biamped one speaker (like my center) @ 150 watts and left the other speakers amped @ 75 watts. I guess I'd prefer 100 x 7 here, because any way around this sounds awful expensive (Multiple amps= $$$$). Yet and still, is 75 watts from an amp better sounding? What is the solution for a budget minded buyer like me?

Keep in mind I've been looking at this in terms of power alone. I know that the overall quality of the sound is subjective. I'm aware that some of the integrated amps in receivers can pale in comparison to a true dedicated multichannel amp or a series of monoblocks (in terms of sound and build quality). Know that the reason I'm even considering power amps is because I'm assessing whether an upgrade would be worth it. Using my receiver as a preamp (the more I read about it) is getting tempting. Any comment here would be helpful.

chromasound,

there are many factors here.

Firstly, if you have speakers with large differences in sensitivity, the ones that are inefficient will need more power to acheive the same volume.

Secondly, different amps rated at, say, 50wpc will actually give a different amount of power. If you are using the same amps all around, then you can consider them equal. A JVC 50wpc is not a NAD 50wpc. In this case, a 100wpc NAD is far more than those two combined.

Thirdly, speakers only really take the amount of power they need. As long as you have enough clean power to listen at the levels you like, you will not need all the extra power. You can plug a small speaker with a max 100 watt rating into a 400 wpc amp, and it will just take the wattage it needs. The real problem is not having enough power and damaging your speakers with clipping.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about bi-amping. I can't say I can hear the difference as long as the speaker is getting good, clean power. If I were you, I would buy the strongest, best amp you can. As I stated before, a NAD 100 wpc is better than a NAD 50 wpc combined with a JVC 50 wpc.

Your response really narrowed my options. I don't think I could have gotten better advice on this one-- even from my audiophile friends! A Huge help Patch!!! Thankyou!!!

you're welcome, chromasound!

you can email me in the future if you have questions, or just post here.

crowchild7@yahoo.ca

i don't know everything, but i do like to help!