How to utilise / bi amp my Cyrus 8vs.

[admin_exported]

:read: Hi

I am currently using an Onkyo TX SR 608 amplifier in a 5.1 home cinema set up. I have a `spare` Cyrus 8vs amplifier which I would like to use to Bi amp my front Kef iQ5 speakers.

Can anyone in straight forward, simple terms explain exactly how I can go about this?

Many thanks Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

It is not normally advised to mix different brands of amplifiers for bi amping generally because they will be tonally different and it will just sound odd.

To horizontal bi-amp you would need a filter to seperate the bass and treble. Then one amp would handle all the bass for both speakers and the other the treble. But where the frequencies meet is going to be a bit of a mess as the amps are not similar sounding.

To vertical bi-amp you would have an amp driving each speaker and that is going to sound wrong as well.

If your 608 has pre-outs I would try just using the 8vs as a power amp to drive the front pair. You can get the 8vs into a 'fixed gain' mode by turning the 8vs off from the back, hold the AV button on the front, turn back on and keep holding the AV button for a few seconds.

Then tweak the Onkyo to get the right levels using the 8vs as a power amp. Everytime you swtch to the AV input on the 8vs it will automatically go back to fixed gain mode. If you have a power cut or turn the 8vs off from the back then it will need the fixed gain reapplied.

I used to have a Denon 3802 and an 8vs I used in this way and it worked really well and the 8vs seemed to have far more power than the higher RMS rated Denon.