Bi-amping advice needed please

[alastairpearce]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice on bi-amping please.

I have a Cambridge Audio Azur 550 integrated amplifier, with Tannoy Mercury v4 speakers.

I'm more than happy with the performance of the system at present, but always looking at ways of improving the sound. I live in a terraced house, so I'm particularly looking at ways to enjoy better bass at lower volumes, to avoid upsetting the neighbours too much.

I notice the amplifier has a pre-out for a subwoofer or separate power amplifier.

So my questions are thus:

1. Would there be any benefit in connecting a separate power amplifier to the Azur pre-out, and driving the low frequency on the Mercury V4's from the power amplifier?

2. Would this technically constitute a bi-ampining solution?

3. If there is a benefit, what would be a suitable power amplifier? I don't have a huge budget, say £500, so perhaps something second hand would be the most suitable solution. But how do I go about matching something to the CA amp? Does the output of the power amp have to be matched with the CA amp (i.e. 60W per channel)?

I like the price and the compactness of something like the Pro-ject Amp Box but I have no idea if this would pair with the CA amp I have already.

My apologies, I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to this, so any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[Al ears]

Without answering each of your questions in turn I would say, on a personal note, that bi-amping is not exactly going to give what you require regards bass response at lower volumes.

Rather than spend money on a power amp I might suggest you change your speakers instead.

 

[nopiano]

I agree with alears. For me, bi-amping is a vey niche approach to achieving better performance. Accordingly, it is far too complicated for the average domestic user.

Your requirement is a challenge for any system, because our ears hear less bass (and treble) at lower levels. That's why demonstrations are invariably 'loud' because that's when most speakers give their best balance. In my experience, the better systems with higher resolution, do better at lower volumes (unless you resort to artifical 'loudness' controls or tone adjustment).

 

[Al ears]

Off on a tangent perhaps but you might like to consider adding a small subwoofer into the loop.

A REL T-Zero might be all that is required.