Bi-Amping Question (1 Viewer)

[Dalton]

I have a pair of Klipsch RF3II's and am interested in bi-amping them. I am using my Marantz receiver as a pre-amp with a Parasound 5 channel amp. Can i use the 2 front channels of my receivers amp to bi-amp the speakers? I am not using them now so i figured i could use them to power the woofers and the Parasound to power the tweeters. Has anyone here bi-amped the rf3II's? Should i just bi-wire instead. Suggestions/comments welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dalton]

Help?

 

[KeithH]

Dalton, I am not too familiar with your equipment, but you should be able to biamp. I would try using the Marantz receiver for the tweeters and the Parasound power amp for the drivers/subwoofers though. The warm sound of the Marantz receiver may help the treble, while the Parasound amp, which I assume offers more power than the Marantz receiver, should help the bass. In any event, you should be able to connect the tweeter binding posts on your speakers to the Marantz receiver and the driver/subwoofer binding posts to the Parasound amp.
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[JohanK]

The sound may be disjointed if the gain from the Parasound and Marantz amps vary enough. It may be wiser to use 4 channels of the Parasound to biamp the fronts and use the Marantz for the rear surrounds. Try it to see what happens.
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/bbs/equipment/28687.html

 

[KeithH]

JohanK, I forgot to mention the issue of matching the gains between amps. Thanks for bringing that up. Even if the gains were matched between the Marantz receiver and Parasound amp, they may not be a good sonic match. That would obviously have to be tested. In matching the gains, it would help if the Marantz receiver has a volume control for the pre-outs. My NAD C 370 stereo integrated amp has a volume control for pre-out 2 to faciliate biamping with a non-NAD power amp. In any event, I was not aware that the Parasound amp could be used alone to biamp the mains.
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My:
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[Dalton]

Thanks guys! I am going to try Johan's suggestion to bi-amp with the Parasound and use the Marantz for the rears. I'll report my findings. Thanks again guys.

 

[JohanK]

Dalton, you will need 2 y-adaptors if you use the Parasound for biamp duties. You could pick up the Monster cable ones for $15 a pop at CC or BB but I'd recommend ones like this http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=MCTYM2F&product_name=Turbine%20RCA%20Y-Adapters%20-%20Pair
[Edited last by JohanK on November 16, 2001 at 10:31 PM]