Bi-Amping Paradigm Studio 100 (1 Viewer)

[Daniel Mai]

I have a Rotel RSP-1066 with RMB-1075 (120W or 130W X 5) for my Studio 100, CC and ADP.

Is it worth it to Bi-amp the 100s and add a smaller amp for the rear? What differences will I expect to hear? Do I need any crossovers or will I any kind of calibration for the woofer to match with mids and highs?

Thanks!

 

[Chas_T]

Daniel,

I have a similar setup you are describing with bi-amping the 100's and then a smaller amp for the rears.

Initally, I had a receiver on the 100's and it was not a good fit at all. The Sony 777ES was at 105 watts or something like that and the 100's needed something to drive them with more power to make them shine.

Then I bought a Sherbourn 5/1500A 200 Per and used two channels each for biamping both speakers. The excess channel I use for the center. For the rears, a Modial 8002 125 per channel for the rears.

The reproduction after making the change was rather striking to say the least. The 100's are noted for their need of power to drive them. If you do a search on here, there is a wealth of information about this speaker from Paradigm.

As far as external crossovers, I would default to someone with more expertise then I. I've heard where they can be an asset. My thoughts are that with a good pre-pro, you should be able to set yourself up with a nice sounding system.

Hope this helps.
Charles

 

[Michael R Price]

Charles, how did you set up the bi-amp system? Is the signal just split into the two amplifier inputs? Or do you have an active crossover of some sort? I'm just trying to find out if anyone can describe the difference in sound between passive and active bi-amping.

 

[Chas_T]

Michael,

I apologize for not using the term passive biamping. I DO NOT use an external crossover and disable the crossover inside the speaker.

I am no expert on the subject, but here are some links on the HTF site that will cover the subject with various opinions and comments.

See if this helps.

Charles

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...light=biamping

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ssive+biamping

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ssive+biamping

 

[Mark Russ]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone KNOW FOR CERTIAN that if you do passively biamp (by removing the jumper straps between the speaker binding posts), that if this will actually change the ohm load of the speaker to the respective amps that they are hooked up to?

 

[Daniel Mai]

Hi Charles,

Thanks for your input and for the links. Right after my post, I got extremely busy at work and haven't been able to check in or look into anything. I did find out that I have passive internal crossover. I hope to have tomorrow or this weekend since this option does sound appealing or should I say dynamic.

Mark,

Hijack away!! The more questions ask, hopefully we get more answers or inputs.

 

[Michael R Price]

Thanks for the links Charles. I really shouldn't bother asking since I plan to passive bi-amp, then get an active crossover and see what happens anyway.

Mark, passive bi-amping changes the load your amplifiers see to whatever nominal load they were before, except split by the crossover. For example, hooking an amplifier to only the LF section of my speakers presents the amplifier with a 4 ohm nominal load that increases rapidly above 2KHz. (Likewise, the HF section is 4 ohms but that increases below about 2KHz). Some speakers' LF and HF sections have different nominal impedances (example: 4 ohm pair of woofers plus 8 ohm tweeter without zobel). So passively bi-amping reduces the current draw at the frequencies that are filtered out by the crossover. You can put a low powered amp on your tweeter and it will have less distortion because it will not have to deliver significant current at lower frequencies. Likewise, there are less intermodulation distortions caused by higher frequencies interfering with the LF amp output.

So Charles, what differences in sound did you notice between using a single good amplifier, versus passive bi-amping?

In my case at the moment I have one cheap amplifier and one really good amplifier. Passive bi-amping enabled my system to play louder with less distortion, but otherwise degraded the sound over that of the single high-quality amplifier. I hope to soon bi-amp using two worthy amplifiers.

 

[Mark Russ]

Thanks Michael. So, in layman's terms, if I were to passively biamp, for example, say a Polk LSi15 (which is originally rated at 4 ohms), by removing the jumper straps between the 2 sets of speaker binding posts and hooking up 2 power amps (1 for highs/mids, the other for bass), then both power amps will still see a 4 ohm load then?.

 

[Michael R Price]

Exactly... same nominal impedance, just only in the frequencies they are driving. So bi-amping this way will reduce distortion caused by stress on your amp due to difficult impedance, especially with the HF amp not producing bass.

 

[Daniel Mai]

But I only have 1 pair of stereo output. Now what do I need to do? If I split the signal with a Y, will I degrade the signal?

 

[Chas_T]

Michael:

So Charles, what differences in sound did you notice between using a single good amplifier, versus passive bi-amping?

I wanted to verify my initial thoughts on passive bi-amping to give some up to date findings. I was playing today with the Studio 100's and I pumped 200 verus 400 watts (passive bi-amping) into the Studio's.

The tests I did were without a sub in straight 2 channel. Also, NO double blind testing as I live alone. I don't think my 65 year old retired neighbor was up the to the task and sure as heck was not interested in helping.

The first item I noticed with the bi-amping is the bass was much tighter and defined. Also, the soundstage was deeper and wider. The highs were smoother and the midrange was cleaner and crisper. I thought the passive biamping made a really nice difference.

I used Diana Krall's The Look of Love in SACD and in redbook, a disc that Darren (Martice) Ferguson from the HTF site made. The disc that he made and was kind enough to send to a few people, has wide, diverse selections of recordings and I use it all the time to audition equipment. Great disc!!

Again, the Studio 100's are noted for requiring an abundance of power and I would concur with Paradigm's suggested requirements for this model. I'd suggest no less then 200 per channel, but I know other people drive them with less then that and are very satisfied.

I once tried to drive the 100's with a Sony STR-DA777ES 105-110 and the jump to seperates (AVM-20/Sherbourn) was rather astounding.

I'd really like to try True Active Biamping with the external crossover out of curiosity's sake, but with my current listening style, I do not think it would be worth the time, effort and cash outflow.

True active biamping is something to consider if I'm ever able to build that 2 channel dream system.

Hope this helps.

Charles