UMC-200 as ActXover for Bi-amping?

[kovert]

Hey, guys..
    be forewarned, I don't really understand all the ins and outs of bi-amping to begin with, and I'm a newbie in the audiophile hobby who doesn't have all the concepts and jargon down pat by a long shot, but here goes my question:

    I have read that if you are going to bi-amp a speaker, it is recommended that the signal flow runs like this:


source signal>  active (electronic) crossover>   amplification>  speaker input(s) (per amplification channel into speaker)


    The reason being that you'd like the signal crossover to be done at low (line) level by the active electronic crossover where basically no power is consumed in the process- again, if I'm following all this information correctly!

    It's my understanding that with the UMC-200, it is entirely possible to not only toy with an 11 band equalizer per channel, but also independently set custom crossover points for each channel as well.  If this is indeed the case, does this qualify, for all intents and purposes, as an active electronic crossover system at the line level, and is this applicable to the needed signal filtering for bi-amping to be applied properly?

    Also, while on the topic, it is often barked that to gain any benefit from bi-amping, you must use separate amplifiers.. Does this mean that using the otherwise unused 6th and 7th channels of my UPA-7 for the purpose of bi-amping my front left and right channel speakers (respectively) which are being powered by the 1st and 2nd channels of that same UPA-7(respectively) would somehow not yield the desired results?

Appreciate any and all input on the matter.

Thanks,
-Joel

[jackfish]

Whether or not the UMC-200 would work as an active crossover aside, you would have to remove the crossovers from your loudspeakers to use an active crossover. Doing that could destroy the design intent of the loudspeakers unless you could replicate all the acoustic functions of the original speaker crossover. Active bi-amping is overrated. Passive bi-amping is more practical for nearly everyone. Using your unused 6th and 7th channels to passively bi-amp your mains will work just fine. Will there be a big difference? Probably not, but at least you would be using all channels of the UPA-7.

[incloud]

I have an LPA-1 and have been running 7.1 for a while. I rarely use the 7.1 because I prefer Direct. So I plan on using my extra 50 watts per channel going to the rears to enhance my fronts. I have no idea at all how to wire this or get it working with the UMC-200. I don't see how you get the signal from the UMC to go to 4 channels rather than 2 for each speaker. Could certainly use some help. Thanks!