I was thinking about how bi-amp (or tri-amp) works with setting the crossover frequencies....
if the passive x-over is still in the circuit, surely that would over-ride the advantages of fully a active setup...
is it just me, or does bi-amping a passive setup defeat the purpose?
Full Version: Bi-amp vs Fully Active
Bi amping still has an advantage over going fully active.
Firstly you dont have to worry about xover... it's already done
People claim that the drivers show better control when being powered by their own amp, also it can help diminish any distortion around the xover frequency. Running bi-amped, you can also change the level of the tweeter to the woofer (more so then the xover allows).
Ultimately fully active is better (well people may debate against this, it's purely my view), but then the hassle with tuning, and extra expenses due to the need for more amps/active xover, you have to determine if it's right for you.
Firstly you dont have to worry about xover... it's already done
People claim that the drivers show better control when being powered by their own amp, also it can help diminish any distortion around the xover frequency. Running bi-amped, you can also change the level of the tweeter to the woofer (more so then the xover allows).
Ultimately fully active is better (well people may debate against this, it's purely my view), but then the hassle with tuning, and extra expenses due to the need for more amps/active xover, you have to determine if it's right for you.
my problem with the bi-amping idea, is how to change the x-over frequency and/or the power to, say, the woofer separately from teh tweeter.
QUOTE (Pulse-R @ Mar 11 2006, 11:32 PM) 
my problem with the bi-amping idea, is how to change the x-over frequency and/or the power to, say, the woofer separately from teh tweeter.
You cant change the xover.
You're still using the passive xover...
You can change the power to each component by changing the gains.
Some you can even do from the headunit (i know mine has indivicual gain for each channel...)...
No doubt you could run yours fully active from your behringer dcx's... which i would have imagine you've tried... or are doing?
yeah, I do have fully active in the car, I was trying to understand the benefits of bi-wiring for some home speakers.
reason being, at $10k, the speakers I was considering were very nice, but I didn't like the phase distortion around the crossover frequency, and the guy told me that bi-wiring would help fix that (I didn't think he was right).
the speakers had other problems too, a bit unstable around the 'transmission line' frequency.
mind you these speakers sounded 3 or 4 times better than the Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 they also had there.
reason being, at $10k, the speakers I was considering were very nice, but I didn't like the phase distortion around the crossover frequency, and the guy told me that bi-wiring would help fix that (I didn't think he was right).
the speakers had other problems too, a bit unstable around the 'transmission line' frequency.
mind you these speakers sounded 3 or 4 times better than the Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 they also had there.
QUOTE (Pulse-R @ Mar 12 2006, 08:41 AM)
yeah, I do have fully active in the car, I was trying to understand the benefits of bi-wiring for some home speakers.
reason being, at $10k, the speakers I was considering were very nice, but I didn't like the phase distortion around the crossover frequency, and the guy told me that bi-wiring would help fix that (I didn't think he was right).
the speakers had other problems too, a bit unstable around the 'transmission line' frequency.
mind you these speakers sounded 3 or 4 times better than the Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 they also had there.
reason being, at $10k, the speakers I was considering were very nice, but I didn't like the phase distortion around the crossover frequency, and the guy told me that bi-wiring would help fix that (I didn't think he was right).
the speakers had other problems too, a bit unstable around the 'transmission line' frequency.
mind you these speakers sounded 3 or 4 times better than the Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 they also had there.
I am not sure that the sound problems you describe will be solved by bi-amping or bi-wiring.
These tweaking tricks may help improve the sound of an already well designed and well sounding speaker but they are not likely to solve the problems of a speaker that may have design issues.
Irrespective of whether you run a passive or an active system, bi-amping is likely to improve the sound by significantly reducing distortion especially at loud volumes. Also, each driver will have its own amp and will be better controlled.
It may be a bit trickier with a passive xover especially if you don't have the ability to modify the passive xover as needed to fine tune the final set up. This is easier with an active system but is not impossible with a passive.
One thing I would avoid with a bi-amped passive xover system is to use the gain on the amps to set the relative volumes of the woofers and tweeters. If you play with the amp gains to set volume, you could cause them to distort. You should set the amp gain to match the output voltage from the head unit.
You should then adjust the "volume" resistors on your passive xover to adjust the volume of the tweeter relative to the woofer.
Good luck PULSE-R
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