bi-amping my speakers

[copperpipe]

I've owned a pair of Kef R300's for years now and have usually run them vertically bi-amped (1 amp per speaker) Due to some changes I was doing in my room over the holidays I had wired them up to a single mini-x amp and listened like that for a few weeks instead.

Now they're sitting in the same position but I've wired them back up again using horizontal bi-amping using 2 mini-x amps (1 amp for tweeters, 1 amp for woofers). The difference in sound is head scratching. I've always thought they sounded better bi-amped but I'm not sure why. I'm listening at very low-ish volumes, can easily talk over the volume, so it's not like the mini is strained in any way with just 1 amp powering both speakers.

It's almost like a spot in the mid range (male voices especially) sounds less muffled with bi-amping, and the upper range is more clear as well. However, it doesn't matter if I vertically bi-amp or horizontally bi-amp them, both modes sound better than a single amp, even at low volumes. I'm running them now horizontally bi-amped and I like the effect it has in that I can really listen well now at low volumes, if I don't want to disturb any family members I can turn the bass lower and have very clear dialog for talking in movies etc.

So what's going on with the sound differences, bi-amp vs single amp?
1) Absolutely nothing, it's just my confirmation bias <--- (quite likely)
2) The increase in available power just opens them up more
3) Something with the internal crossover getting disconnected, maybe they're more efficient this way
4) Something else...

Any thoughts?

[Gary Cook]

I know it's obvious but make sure that the volumes are exactly the same, even 1 db can make a noticeable difference.

Happy New Year
Gary

[copperpipe]

Agreed, it definitely can.

I do always use different volume levels, in all 3 setups I've tried. Currently I'm using a focusrite audio interface on my computer and it has an analog volume control so the volume is always being adjusted up and down there depending on my mood. So basically the volume is being set randomly every time, but I can still tell the difference when I'm bi-amping.

[AudioHTIT]

Jan 12, 2022 8:51:20 GMT -5 copperpipe said:

Agreed, it definitely can.

I do always use different volume levels, in all 3 setups I've tried. Currently I'm using a focusrite audio interface on my computer and it has an analog volume control so the volume is always being adjusted up and down there depending on my mood. So basically the volume is being set randomly every time, but I can still tell the difference when I'm bi-amping.

But what about the volume controls on the two mini-x? With horizontal bi-amp they will control the balance between the low and high frequencies, and could make the speakers sound different than when driven by a single amp. So how are you setting those controls?

I personally prefer vertical bi-amp because it allows you to treat the amps like monoblocks and place them closer to the speakers. In your setup that wouldn’t be much of an advantage, though the volume controls on the amp would change from being Low / High balance controls to Left / Right balance controls.

[405x5]

Jan 11, 2022 20:54:31 GMT -5 copperpipe said:

I've owned a pair of Kef R300's for years now and have usually run them vertically bi-amped (1 amp per speaker) Due to some changes I was doing in my room over the holidays I had wired them up to a single mini-x amp and listened like that for a few weeks instead.

Now they're sitting in the same position but I've wired them back up again using horizontal bi-amping using 2 mini-x amps (1 amp for tweeters, 1 amp for woofers). The difference in sound is head scratching. I've always thought they sounded better bi-amped but I'm not sure why. I'm listening at very low-ish volumes, can easily talk over the volume, so it's not like the mini is strained in any way with just 1 amp powering both speakers.

It's almost like a spot in the mid range (male voices especially) sounds less muffled with bi-amping, and the upper range is more clear as well. However, it doesn't matter if I vertically bi-amp or horizontally bi-amp them, both modes sound better than a single amp, even at low volumes. I'm running them now horizontally bi-amped and I like the effect it has in that I can really listen well now at low volumes, if I don't want to disturb any family members I can turn the bass lower and have very clear dialog for talking in movies etc.

So what's going on with the sound differences, bi-amp vs single amp?
1) Absolutely nothing, it's just my confirmation bias <--- (quite likely)
2) The increase in available power just opens them up more
3) Something with the internal crossover getting disconnected, maybe they're more efficient this way
4) Something else...

Any thoughts?

The only way to know what’s up is to test measure each configuration. There’s no way to A/B this unfortunately

[repeetavx]

The usual theory for bi-amping it that when using a single wire and amp channel, that the counter emf caused by the large voice coils of the woofers partially saturates the speaker wires and modulates or cancels some of the treble signal. Also less information (current) in the wires by dividing the signals in two, causes less "congestion" in each wire.

The engineers here will say that that is crap. So you must be hearing magic.

[405x5]

youtu.be/RhlXqYiTz2Q

Nobody ever nailed “biamping” better than Morpheus