After a discussion on another board, I thought I would share the response I got from Cyrus's main man on the correct way to use two X-Powers to bi-amp or bi-wire or something in between (let's not get caught up on semantics, please) a pair of ProAc Studio 140s.
I expect the advice applies equally to any speakers with bi-wire terminals like the ProAcs (where removing the jumpers between terminals commpletely isolates the HF/MF and LF sides) and probably to other stereo power amps as well.
Hello D,
Looking at the PDF, you are indeed running your system in dual mono mode. Bi-amping bridged would require four X Powers, with each set to mono and driving only the low or high terminals.
I would agree that you may not be getting the best out of the system in this setup – at best you will be getting 4x 50W and it looks like you also have a phase error.
I would recommend one of the following solutions:-
Leave the speaker cabling as is, set the amplifiers to stereo and use a short interconnect to link the L chain output to the R input on both amplifiers – This will give you a dual mono setup (bi-amping) without the phase error and output power of about 4x 80W.
Or
Leave the interconnects and amplifier settings as they are but connect your HF and LF speaker + connections to the M+ terminal and your HF and LF – connections to the M- terminal, repeat for other channel – this will give you a stereo bridged setup (mono bi-wiring) without the phase error and output power of about 2x 180W.
Kind regards,
Chris C
Training and Technical Support Manager
Cyrus Audio
I transcribed what I think Chris told me into the PDF below. I think you can all figure out for yourselves what he meant about using two or four X-Powers set in mono mode (and I presume, by extension two or four Mono-Xs as an alternative).
I expect the advice applies equally to any speakers with bi-wire terminals like the ProAcs (where removing the jumpers between terminals commpletely isolates the HF/MF and LF sides) and probably to other stereo power amps as well.
Hello D,
Looking at the PDF, you are indeed running your system in dual mono mode. Bi-amping bridged would require four X Powers, with each set to mono and driving only the low or high terminals.
I would agree that you may not be getting the best out of the system in this setup – at best you will be getting 4x 50W and it looks like you also have a phase error.
I would recommend one of the following solutions:-
Leave the speaker cabling as is, set the amplifiers to stereo and use a short interconnect to link the L chain output to the R input on both amplifiers – This will give you a dual mono setup (bi-amping) without the phase error and output power of about 4x 80W.
Or
Leave the interconnects and amplifier settings as they are but connect your HF and LF speaker + connections to the M+ terminal and your HF and LF – connections to the M- terminal, repeat for other channel – this will give you a stereo bridged setup (mono bi-wiring) without the phase error and output power of about 2x 180W.
Kind regards,
Chris C
Training and Technical Support Manager
Cyrus Audio
I transcribed what I think Chris told me into the PDF below. I think you can all figure out for yourselves what he meant about using two or four X-Powers set in mono mode (and I presume, by extension two or four Mono-Xs as an alternative).
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