as the topic says, it will be for my front stage comprising of A/D/S 346i splits with morel supremo's
option 1: bi-amp with 50rms to each split component and roughly 50rms to morels (supremo @ 6ohm), Zapco 4x50+ PPI 2x75

option 2: bridge the zapco to feed the splits 200rms a side with the PPI powering the morels.

option 3: bi-amp with zapco powering morels + A/D/S tweeters and A/D/S mids getting 75rms from PPI

is there any real advantage of bi-amping in terms of SQ or is it just for flexibility.
all sugestions taken on board.
cheers dave

[ March 09, 2003, 22:07: Message edited by: east_bay_punk ]

This is always a vexed issue......

For me, bi-amping comes into its own when there is not a factory-developed passive xover for the combination you have (the shiny_car route) which does apply here to a degree.

Passive xovers tend to get a bit "all over the place" at high drive levels, where electronic xovers maintain linearity/don't saturate etc, depending to some degree on the actual xover quality etc.

IMO the multi-amp / electronic xover route is ultimately the way to go for the experienced/patient/wealthy, however the potential is very often not realised for that same reason.

can you first clarify how you'll install the setup?

it seems you're going with some A/D/S 2-way splits (woofer size? + tweets) plus supremo tweets. so where will each tweet be?

if you have the amps and the xovers, then consider the full active setup. which amps for which drivers may require some experimenting, or may be dictated by what inbuilt xovers the amps have.

usually, i'd recommend the most power to the woofers. however, given supremo's are 6ohm and love power, these probably require the PPI.



[ March 10, 2003, 11:59: Message edited by: shiny_car ]

thea/d/s woofers will be behind the stock grills which gives me about a 10 degree angle stock location pics
the supremos will be in a fibreglass/woodgrain pod next to the woofer, just above the map pocket.
a/d/s tweeter will be in sail pannels as i dont feel like hacking up my new baby's dash.

i currently also have a US Amps 3 way active electronic cross over, but i'm not sure about its quality up against the a/d/s 3 series crossover.

the other reason i was considering bi-wiring/amping is because the x-overs will be located in the rear of the car as space up front is very limited... my glove box is only a glove box, so i need as much room as i can get.
cheers

ah ok. sweet.

well, the a/d/s tweets will be ambient tweets to raise the stage height. in this case, they will need to be heavily attenuated, and this is most easily achieved via dedicated amp channels where you can turn the gains right down to suit.

the US amps xover will be of very high SQ quality, no probs there. so it would be ideal to use it in your setup.

i'd probably try the following config:

*fully active front stage
*PPI to power supremo's
*zapco to power woofers and ambient a/d/s tweets

*US amps xover
*BP woofer around 70Hz~1kHz
*HP supremo's around 1kHz
*HP a/d/s tweets around 10kHz

tuning is half the fun, so take the time to experiment and play around. i'm sure the results will be more than worth the effort.

good luck