Primare I30 and A30.2 Bi-amping

[Hi Fi Decision]

I have the primare I30 integrated amp powering a pair of Monitor Audio PL100's (the smaller platinum). Although it sounds good I feel these speakers are power hungry. I thought about bi-amping using the integrated I30 for the tweeter and adding the primare A30.2 power for the bass driver. My concern is that I use a Nordost Heimdall balanced XLR between CD player and I30(which was a huge improvement over the non balanced phono interconnects) but the pre outs on the I30 to the A30.2 are phono (no balanced option), therefore the whole chain would not be balanced. I know the alternative would be to get rid of my I30 and buy a pre30 to connect to the a30.2 which does have balanced pre outs....however this is more expensive. I suppose the bottom line is would the benefits of bi amping the I30 with the A30.2 outweigh any losses by the chain no longer being balanced?

 

[Hi Fi Decision]

Has nobody tried upgrading the Primare I30 by adding the A30.2 powe amp? I know one of the WHF Editors (Andy Clough?) has a Primare pre and power set up. Just wondered if the I30 and A30.2 combination was a good idea in terms of an upgrade. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought about upgrading by adding a power amp to my Primare i30.

For what you wanted to do I thought you had to add two identical power amps, so the system would be the same volume. Wouldn't your suggested set up potentially have different non identical power stages driving each cone? The tweeter driven by the i30 power stage, and the mid/bass cone by the A30.2.

May be some of the more experienced members may be able to offer a more authoritative view.

 

[John Duncan]

Hi Fi Decision:I have the primare I30 integrated amp powering a pair of Monitor Audio PL100's (the smaller platinum). Although it sounds good I feel these speakers are power hungry. I thought about bi-amping using the integrated I30 for the tweeter and adding the primare A30.2 power for the bass driver. My concern is that I use a Nordost Heimdall balanced XLR between CD player and I30(which was a huge improvement over the non balanced phono interconnects) but the pre outs on the I30 to the A30.2 are phono (no balanced option), therefore the whole chain would not be balanced. I know the alternative would be to get rid of my I30 and buy a pre30 to connect to the a30.2 which does have balanced pre outs....however this is more expensive. I suppose the bottom line is would the benefits of bi amping the I30 with the A30.2 outweigh any losses by the chain no longer being balanced?

In theory, the balanced connection should give you a lower noise floor, but this can be countered to a large extent with excellent single-ended interconnects (though you lose about 6db I think).

I'd add the power amp.

Edit - presumably your dealer would lend you one to try...

 

[Hi Fi Decision]

Thanks John and TNT for your replies.

John, when I upgraded to XLR from phono between the I30 and CD31 there was a huge difference in attack and quality. Connecting the I30 to the power amp a30.2 would have to be done by phono so I'm hoping any losses from the chain not being balanced would be made up for by doubleing the power. Would I be ok to use XLR between CD31 and I30 and then phono between I30 and a30.2 or would I have to make all the connections phono? Would you add the power amp to the I30 over scrapping the I30 and going for a pre 30 to go with the a30.2 (less power but fully balanced)?

TNT I take your point about the differences in amplification power, the I30 is 2x100w and the a30.2 is 2x120w and they also appear to have different sensitivities when I look at the spec. However Primare have said the unity gain on these amps is the same so they 'should' be well matched. If anyone knows for sure.........

I would like to borrow one from my dealer to try however they don't stock them.