The bottom line is that you need a crossover
SOMEWHERE.
In any multi-way speaker you absolutely must not allow the bass to reach the tweeter; and you usually want to limit the high frequencies that reach the woofer as well.
This is because most speaker drivers only work well over a limited range of frequencies.
In a passive speaker, you use one amplifier, operate it full range, and use a passive crossover to separate the output of the amplifier between the drivers.
This method is economical, works pretty well, and allows any speaker (with the proper crossover already part of it) to work with any amplifier.
The down-side is that a lot of power is lost in the crossover, the ability of the amplifier to control the speaker is compromised (damping),
and because the crossover parts are bigger and more expensive, either you are limited to more or less simple crossover designs, or the crossover can end up costing a lot of money.
In "real bi-amping" (what used to be called simply bi-amping") the crossover is done at line level (so it can be a complicated DSP or simply a few electronic components).
Each speaker driver is connected directly to its own amplifier, so all of the power does directly to the speaker driver, and the amplifier can control the driver very well.
Because the crossover operates at line level, it can be complicated without being terribly expensive, and can include all sorts of corrections and adjustments.
Also, because each driver has a separate amplifier, distortion and interaction is minimized (if you clip the woofer's amplifier it doesn't affect the tweeter - which has its own amplifier).
The down-side is that you need a separate amplifier for each speaker driver... and you need that line level crossover.
Also, even though you save money and complexity in the speaker because
ALL you need are speaker drivers and a cabinet.....
a speaker designed this way
REQUIRES that it be used this way (you can't just connect it to "a regular amplifier" because it has been customized to work bi-amped.
(Our powered monitors work this way; each driver has its own amplifier, connected directly to it, and a separate line level electronic crossover.)
Many people today use a sort of combination, called either "vertical bi-amping" or "passive bi-amping", with separate speakers.
In this sort of system, separate amplifiers are used for each driver, but the speaker's crossover is still used instead of an electronic line level crossover.
The same exact signal is fed to both of the amplifiers that power each speaker, but the crossovers in the speaker only allow the appropriate range of frequencies to reach each driver.
This option is relatively easy, and offers
SOME of the benefits of real bi-amping.
(You can
ADD a line level crossover to the one already in the speaker, but it's difficult to get them to work perfectly together, and you
DO NOT really gain much by doing so.)
Each amplifier is still being asked to amplify the full range of audio frequencies, but each only sees a
LOAD consisting of part of the speaker.
Interactions are minimized (because the amplifier that powers the woofer is not the same amplifier that powers the tweeter).
HOWEVER, the inefficiencies introduced by the speaker-level crossover remain (because those crossovers are still there between the amplifier and the speaker drivers.)
You get a little more power, and some improvement in sound quality by minimizing interactions between the amplifiers, but not nearly as much as with real bi-amping.
Note that many people do a sort of combination......
Where one amplifier channel powers the woofer, while another powers the entire upper portion of the speaker (midrange and tweeter).
This still delivers benefits because it separates the amplifier that powers the woofer, which is where most of the power is required, from the amp that runs everything else.
There are also more complex "mixed solutions".
For example, you could split the speaker into a "bass section", which is just the woofer, and a "mid/high section", which includes the midrange and tweeter.
A two way active crossover divides the signal between two amplifier channels.
The amplifier for the woofer is connected directly to the driver; minimizing power loss, maximizing damping, and simplifying that part of the speaker itself.
The amplifier that serves the midrange and tweeter is connected to that part of the speaker, which still includes a speaker level crossover to divide the signal between the midrange and tweeter.
(This allows one amplifier to power both the midrange and the tweeter; the benefit in damping that would have been realized with entirely separate amplifiers isn't as important at higher frequencies.)
Note that designing this sort of hybrid system, and getting it to work well, can be rather complicated....
So you bypass the crossover completely? in the link you provided, the author left the crossover for the high/ mid intact(haven't read through it all), any reason you did it differently?
I do agree, that impulsebuys seldomly end up being that great, but I wouldn't say I bought the a-300 at an impulse, I have had the umc-1 for a couple of years, and been eyeing Emotiva's poweramps for a long time.
And since I sold my last poweramp some time ago, I were in the need of another one, I've been looking at the secondhand market for a long time, but the lack of realy exciting products from emotiva lately, and a high value dollar, makes people appreciate what they actually have, and dont see a reason to sell, at the very least prices have skyrocketed. That leavs me with one option, buy new, but in doing so, I cannot justify the shipping price at around 300 dollars for one unit.
Anyway next summer I will move in to a new place, where there is a livingroom at the first and seccond floor, and an office. Worst case, i will use one or both of them in the upstairs livingroom or office.
But at the moment I will leave it in, or at least try bi-amping for some time. As to not derail the tread too much, I will post my unscientific results on bi-amping the a-300 after some use.
