To bi-amp or not to bi-amp?

[admin_exported]

I was wondering if i should bi-amp my system? would it be worth it? i have a cambridge audio 640a azur v2 with monitor audio rs1 speakers. at the moment im playing my cd's through my pioneer LX70A blu-ray player, would there be a significant improvement in music quality if i got a dedicated cd player and if so which would you reccomend?

 

[Dan Turner]

Bi-amping will definitely make improvements, but only if the power amp you get is from the same range as your integrated, so that the tonal balance and gain match.

A dedicated CD player would make an improvement over the Blu-ray player, but why not consider a DAC (digital to analogue converter) instead? This would make a great improvement, as well as setting you up for any computer-based route you might go down in the future. That would also cost a lot less than the sort of CD player you'd need to get to make a substantial improvement over your blu-ray player. I recently got a Cambridge Audio DAC-Magic for instance, which is excellent and only costs £230.

 

[RCduck7]

Are you going from your blue ray player with an interconnect or digital to your amp? If with an interconnect a DAC would defenitly improve things, i can't imagine a blue ray player would have a top of the line DAC on board.

If not... Then i don't know about the DacMagic, i fell in the same trap of hype, it's not better then the DAC in my Yamaha AV receiver, at least there is no audible difference. Maybe there could be on your cambridge but i don't think so. The Dacmagic is also limited to it's power supply so you can't use a good mains cable for it. Lucky that i can hold on to the dacmagic for my bedroom setup but i wouldn't have bought one if i tried it first.

But i think a mix of a good cd transport with dac or expensive cd player could yield improvements.

Bi amping would certainly improve the sound but you should try it before you buy if it would give you worthy benefits, it could be setup depended.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the info, im going from the pioneer lx70a using chord crimson interconnects to the amp, i have been told the pioneer already has good pro wolfenson dacs on board so im not sure how much of an improvement the dac magic would make as i have never seen one running and to be honest i didn't really think of one when i posted this on the forums, now im scratching my head wondering what to do. i suppose the best thing to do is get down to my local richer sounds and try one out and test a few quality cd players aswell and see what difference if any this would make, i have got alot of music stored on my computer which at the moment is crudly connected to my amp and could benefit from the dac magic so its definatly worth looking into. as for bi-amping its a relitivly cheap upgrade so i might as well give it a try..

 

[fatboyslimfast]

THESTIG08:as for bi-amping its a relitivly cheap upgrade..

Really? You are going to need another power amp or integrated that has pre-in section. I wouldn't class that as a cheap upgrade in the context of your system.

Pardon my question, but you're not talking about bi-wiring are you?

 

[Anonymous]

looks like your right... i was under the impression i could bi-amp using the A/B speaker switch and the 2 sets of speaker terminals on the back but it turns out i would just be running in parallel via the A/B switch so therefore it would'nt be a cheap upgrade as i previously mentioned. thanks fatboyslimfast you have saved me a headache lol.