To El Hefe - Biamping a X-A2

[richardw42]

For anybody really who has some experience with bi-amping this amp.

I've addressed this question to El Hefe as he has a very impressive group of MF kit.

I've seriously been thinking about bi-amping my X-A2. The manual suggests you can use either a pair of A200s or A50s. I guess I'd be happier using the A50s (if I ever see a pair for sale I'll probably take a chance), as a couple of A200s is going to be in excess of £400 if not more.

What I really want to know is that as the X-A2 has 75 Wpc and the A50s have 50w. Which would go to the HF / LF terminals on the speakers.

I recently changed my interconnect to Chord Chameleon which has left me with a spare pair of Crimson Plus. Would it be OK to use the Crimson to connect the power amps

Now. Speaker cable. I've currently got Chord Rumour 2, should I stick to the same cable for the extra lengths ?

 

[El Hefe]

Hi Richard,

No issues using different wattage between X-A2 and X-A50s. Is the gains that is more critical. I have listened to X-A1 paired with a 75 wpc power amp from a different brand and it worked fine.

I would not say that this is a rule, but I would use the 75 wpc X-A2 to drive LF and X-A50s to drive HF.

As for the interconnects, any RCA IC can be used to connect X-A2 to X-A50s. But I recommend to use all the connection between the source to amp to power amp and to speakers from the same brand.

I am using QED IC from CDP to X10V3 to X-A1 to X-A50s. Also QED BIWIRE speaker cable from X-A1 and X-A50s to ProAc D18. I feel that by doing this, it maintains the same cable characteristics from QED throughout the signal path.

Good luck in your venture.

 

[richardw42]

Thanks for the quick and helpful reply. I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for a couple of X-A50s and give it a go.

I'll keep theChord Chameleon CD to XA2, Chord Crimson ICs XA2 to XA50s, and have 4 runs of Chord Rumour 2.

There's a pair of XA200s on ebay at the mo, but with 3 days to go they're already over £500.