Bi-amping (sort of) ...

chebby

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My Marantz M-CR611 (and ‘603) offers the facility to bi-amp a pair of speakers. I am a bit bored and I still have an old set of terminated QED Performance Original speaker cables, so I am going to give it a try later.

If successful then I will need a cheap, compact, flexible set (2 x 2.5m) of bi-wire/bi-amp speaker cables. I don’t want ‘hosepipes’ or ultra-rigid stuff.
 

davedotco

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chebby said:
My Marantz M-CR611 (and ‘603) offers the facility to bi-amp a pair of speakers. I am a bit bored and I still have an old set of terminated QED Performance Original speaker cables, so I am going to give it a try later.

If successful then I will need a cheap, compact, flexible set (2 x 2.5m) of bi-wire/bi-amp speaker cables. I don’t want ‘hosepipes’ or ultra-rigid stuff.

You should be aware that the M-CR611 uses two amplifier modules per channel, in normal use, they are effectively bridged to give the rated output of 60 watts at 6 ohms

This suggests that each module will deliver about 30 watts into 3 ohms (half the power into half the load), so perhaps about 15 watts into 8 ohms. With sensitive easy to drive speakers this should be ok.
 

gasolin

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most studio monitors even those for 100€ each speaker are bi-amped

More control and dynamic sound, adavantage with a speakre like i have is that it has an electronic crossover

It do have to be passive since it's passive speakers
 

davedotco

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chebby said:
davedotco said:
With sensitive easy to drive speakers this should be ok.

90dB and very easy to drive (Audio Note AX-Twos).

I never 'thrash' speaker volumes either.

I made that comment very much with you in mind, though I couldn't remember the model number of your AN speakers.

Be interested to read your views.
 

gasolin

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chebby said:
davedotco said:
With sensitive easy to drive speakers this should be ok.

90dB and very easy to drive (Audio Note AX-Twos).

I never 'thrash' speaker volumes either.

minimum 3-4 db more power than i have (4x12 watt) i think i once so it rated at 4x30 watt used in bi amped mode and 90 db should be more than enough when your speakers are not used as near field speakers as mine are.

Not shure what is best when it's the same amp 4x30 watt biamped or stil bi wired and 2x60 watt, what do you think?
 

chebby

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Al ears said:
Why does everyone now have planes in the signature pictures?

I have always had cold-war era bombers as avatars. (Vulcan, Victor, Bear, Valkyrie ... etc.)

I swapped to the TU-160 (Blackjack) from a TU-22M (Backfire) yesterday...

37752177881_3543dc72b2_q.jpg
 

chebby

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I powered everything off, had a system ‘spring- clean’ and removed these ...

21762691084_608379e674_n.jpg


... then attached the second set of cables and powered up and enabled bi-amp mode.

Cup of tea, crumpets and a sit-down with an episode of John Finnemore’s Double Acts next. ‘The Goliath Window’ if you know his work. It has two excellent voices in a parish church acoustic including a little shouting and some smashed glass so plenty of dynamics.

I listened to the same episode yesterday afternoon for reference and recall the volume setting.

I’ll also play a little music later if things go well.
 

chebby

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These have gone back on ...

21762691084_608379e674_m.jpg


... the spare speaker leads are back in the cupboard and I am happy that I have always been listening to my Marantz’s in their best sounding configuration.

Bi-amped was ok but lost body (‘backbone’, ‘grunt’, ‘heft’ or whatever) and definition in the lower registers.

I wanted to reach for the tone control menu, something I never get the urge to use when ‘directly’ wired.
 

chebby

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gasolin said:
speaker jumpers doesn't look like qed original that you talked about and since qed original i just standard cable (not shure if you use it when not bi wired/bi amped) mabye you should have tried different cables or atleast the same for top and bottom

My jumpers are Van Damme and match my Van Damme cables. My spare cables live in a drawer and only came out for the test.
 

chebby

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chebby said:
gasolin said:
speaker jumpers doesn't look like qed original that you talked about and since qed original i just standard cable (not shure if you use it when not bi wired/bi amped) mabye you should have tried different cables or atleast the same for top and bottom

My jumpers are Van Damme and match my Van Damme cables. My spare cables live in a drawer and only came out for the bi-amp test.
 

gasolin

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speaker jumpers doesn't look like qed original that you talked about and since qed original is just standard cable (not shure if you use it when not bi wired/bi amped) mabye you should have tried different cables or atleast the same for top and bottom
 

gasolin

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chebby said:
gasolin said:
speaker jumpers doesn't look like qed original that you talked about and since qed original i just standard cable (not shure if you use it when not bi wired/bi amped) mabye you should have tried different cables or atleast the same for top and bottom

My jumpers are Van Damme and match my Van Damme cables. My spare cables live in a drawer and only came out for the test.

Then you should have used some van damme instead of qed original, unless it makes sense i se no reason not to use the same cable for top and bottom, might be in different thickness if it would change the balance a bit towars a more full bodied sound using let's say the one i use, supra classic 2.5 for the top and than someting like 4.0 or 6.0 for the bottom (i only use on cable i can't bi-wire but i do use supra classic)
 

chebby

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gasolin said:
chebby said:
gasolin said:
speaker jumpers doesn't look like qed original that you talked about and since qed original i just standard cable (not shure if you use it when not bi wired/bi amped) mabye you should have tried different cables or atleast the same for top and bottom

My jumpers are Van Damme and match my Van Damme cables. My spare cables live in a drawer and only came out for the test.

Then you should have used some van damme instead of qed original, unless it makes sense i se no reason not to use the same cable for top and bottom, might be in different thickness if it would change the balance a bit towars a more full bodied sound using let's say the one i use, supra classic 2.5 for the top and than someting like 4.0 or 6.0 for the bottom (i only use on cable i can't bi-wire but i do use supra classic)

The QED is 2.5mm cross section copper and the Van Damne is 4mm cross section copper. This won’t make a blind bit of difference over the 2.5metre distance! Nor will stranded copper from two different suppliers. It’s the same copper whoever puts it in a cable.
 

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