Should I try bi or tri-amping my speakers?

[admin_exported]

As you can see in my sig, I have a pair of tri-wire only EPOS ES30s, powered by some decent 300W mono blocks, plenty of grunt there for sure. I also have a pair of Musical Fidelity X-A200 mono blocks on my second system, which I used to have powering the ES30s...

Now I'm wondering what kind of difference or possibly improvement over the Muse monoblocks I might get if I bought another pair or two of X-A200s or X-A50s and bi or tri-amped the ES30s using these? I have read these EPOS speakers really like multi amping, and are suited to Naim amplification. I believe the Muse amps used to retail for around £5k so they're pretty good, but would multi amping with lesser amps prove beneficial?

 

[the record spot]

Yes, I'd give it a go Doc. Additional power to better control the drivers is a good thing IMO.

 

[Overdose]

If you already have a spare pair of power amps, why not just try? No extra outlay required.

 

[Big Chris]

You could give Overdose's suggestion a try, but with different tonal characteristics and probably different gain adjustment, it may not give a true representation of what Bi-amping can do.

All I can say is I noticed a big jump in performance when I added a power amp to my integrated.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

try several models of active speakers

buy actives

sell passives and power amps

enjoy the improvement

;-)

 

[the record spot]

try several models of active speakers

buy actives

sell passives and power amps

enjoy the improvement

;-)

Yep, a pair of Genelec 8240s would be somewhere on my list for that money... :cheers: :wave:

 

[Anonymous]

try several models of active speakers

buy actives

sell passives and power amps

enjoy the improvement

;-)

Yeh well that doesn't exactly help in the context of my original question :roll:

I could try adding the MF amps, since the Wadia has both balanced and phono outputs, the balanced connected to the Muse amps so could connect the MF amps to the phono conections. However the sound levels are likely to be different but its worth a try to see what result I get.

My original thinking was whether to look for some MF amps on Ebay, buy them to try a bi- or tri- setup then probably sell them again for modest loss once my experiment is over. Just wondering if its worth the trouble and cost.

 

[the record spot]

Yes, all very true, however you'll find that you can achieve the same and still make use of your balanced or phono connections and as most folk on here won't have come near a £1k amp on their systems far less £5k power ones, then it's kind of an academic question. My earlier answer would apply in that case, but if you're spending that kind of money, you should at least heaer what actives in that price range can do, if only to discount their inclusion as unsuitable.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

try several models of active speakers

buy actives

sell passives and power amps

enjoy the improvement

;-)

Yeh well that doesn't exactly help in the context of my original question :roll:

DrL, the suggestion was intended in the context of your OP but that was the 'short version'. Here is the longer version:

I think you want to try multi-amping to get some benefit in sound quality - that is by drivng each driver with its own amp. With passive speakers, having passive crossover in the way of power amp (be it single or multi-amped) the benefits are questionable or non existent, while with active speakers the amps are behind the crossover and drive the drivers directly - this does bring measurable benefits. Moreover, the crossovers are active which brings further benefits to sound (e.g. less phase distortion). together, these can bring very significant improvements in sound quality. Additionally, you can reduce the box count. It is really taking your strategy but a step or two further (your approach is a bit of a half measure) and improving SQ gain per pound spend.

All I say is try. you may like it.