[oris98]

Hi all,

I am new to bi amping setup.   I am currently using a 3BST and wondering if adding a 2BLP would give sonically match for passive biamping with the 3BST.  My plan is to use the 2BLP for tweaters and 3BST for base in my Norh Marble 9 speakers.  My current tube pre amp has 2 out put which can go to both amps.    Will the gain factor in the 2BLP match with 3BST ?
Any comment or experience on this setup ?

Many thanks in advance..

[James Tanner]

Hi Oris,

Yes all the Bryston amplifiers have the same gain - so you can mix and match with passive biampling without gain issues.

james

[Allezvite]

Hi all,

I am new to bi amping setup.   I am currently using a 3BST and wondering if adding a 2BLP would give sonically match for passive biamping with the 3BST.  My plan is to use the 2BLP for tweaters and 3BST for base in my Norh Marble 9 speakers.  My current tube pre amp has 2 out put which can go to both amps.    Will the gain factor in the 2BLP match with 3BST ?
Any comment or experience on this setup ?

Many thanks in advance..

You are considering something which I also thought about and posted in a previous thread.

I'd be interested in knowing how you make out with the passive biamp set-up.  I have tried it previously with my Linn Keilidh speakers when I ran all-Linn electronics and it provided a subtle, but useful upgrade.

I really like the treble presentation of my 3BSST though and wouldn't want to give anything up in that regard by using a 2BLP for the top.

[oris98]

So, if I have the 2BLP and 3BST, I should use the 3BST for driving the tweaters and 2BLP for the woofers ?

My main concern is will I get justifable result if I go for passive biamping ?  Is the result is worth the investment for getting a second AMP ? 2BLP sounds like the cheaper solution..   and getting another 3BST or 3BSST is kind of pricy !

Getting into active biamping  is always the best but get into the requirement of a good active XO $$$  and never heard of any active biamp setup yet so I am not sure how good it really is ??

Any comment ?

Thanks.

[DeadFish]

Hi Oris,

Just thought I would toss my 2 cents in, having actively biamped my Vandersteen 2ci's with Bryston gear.
I ran them biwired with a B-60 Bryston for about a year before I 'went for it' and got a 2B-lp.  On the Vandies, it was difference that although subtle at first, really made a big difference.  
Similar to when I upgraded the power cord for the B-60, but 'more'.
I lived with the system like this before getting a good deal on an X\O and going the little bit further.  Once again, at first subtle, but big difference.
Best way I could put it was that details fleshed out better, bit by bit.
DID it make a difference in my experience?  Let it be put this way:  I needed to sell the 2B-lp to pay for my wedding  and ended up unable to listen to single amped setup and turned it off for months.  If I couldn't listen to it as well as it could play, I couldn't bear to listen to it.
(I think I was clinically depressed!)  
I did end up getting another 2B.
In my 13' square room, I had all the power I needed, and although thought of bigger Bryston amp, never got around to it.
My personal experience has at least underlined to me that in my setup, even passive biamping was a great gain.
Good luck in your quest!
Regards,
DeadFish

[nicolasb]

Getting into active biamping is always the best

Well, yes, but really only if you have a speaker that's designed for it. Any decent speaker will have cross-over circuitry that is specifically optimised for the speaker in question - simply tweaking the cross-over frequencies of a third-party device may not be enough to duplicate what it's doing.

So, if I have the 2BLP and 3BST, I should use the 3BST for driving the tweaters and 2BLP for the woofers ?

You should use the higher-powered amplifier for the woofers and the lower-powered one for the tweeters.

[James Tanner]

Hi Folks,

Yes be cautious.
Passive bi-amping on a speaker still utilizes the PASSIVE crossover built into the speaker - all your doing is using independent amplifier stages per driver but through the built in passive crossover. It is very important that the amplifiers top and bottom have equal "GAIN" or volume - otherwise you have a mismatch between the levels of each driver. The amps can have diffrent power ratings ( ex - 60 watt 2B and 150 watt 3B) but the 'gains' must be identical.

Now a further caution - if you now insert an Active Crossover and set the crossover at a particular rolloff slope you have added more slope than you need. So lets say your 2-way speaker crosses over PASSIVELY at 2500Hz at 24dB per octave. If you now insert the Active crossover and cross over at 2500Hz at 24dB you have in fact a slope of 48dB per octave not the 24dB intended by the speaker design. So you have this huge hole in the frequency response at 2500Hz.

james