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bi-amping components correctly?


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dirtydreams4x4 
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Joined: September 24, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 11:45 AM / IP Logged  

I'm in the design phase of my system and at this point, time is a luxury since $$ isn't. I've read a little on bi-amping and from what I understand it is the best way to achieve better SQ from your component speakers. This is what I think I have learned, bi amping cuts down on the stress to your amplifier by allowing it to "concentrate" on a limited frequency. The result is better signal reproduction with less chance of wave clipping at high levels.

Is that an accurate, yet very basic, depiction of bi amping? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I dont really have a full understanding of how to calculate the best wattage distribution for the mid-bass/tweeter speakers. Apparently my mid-bass/tweeters have identical sensitivity levels of 90db (1w/1m), but doesn't the crossover freq make a difference? They are rated at 125rms/side so does that mean 62.5w to each using the supplied crossovers? If the supplied crossovers are taken out, then what?

Here is a link to my speakers

http://www.polkaudio.com/car/product.php?name=mmc6500

I'm not asking for someone to tell me what to go buy, I want to learn this so that I can figure out what to go buy, for this application and others down the road.

I acquired my info from this page, but I had a hard time understanding it. http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm

Thanks........

DYohn 
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Joined: April 22, 2003
Location: Arizona, United States
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 11:50 AM / IP Logged  

You have a good beginning grasp, and Elliot's article (your second link) is a fantastic resource.  Look about 2/3 the way down that page and there is a chart of amplifier power relative to crossover frequency.  This will show you how to size your amps for the woof-mid-tweet.

The absolutly most important component in a bi-amp setup, IMO, is your crossover.  What crossover are yu planning to use?

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dirtydreams4x4 
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Member spacespace
Joined: September 24, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 11:53 AM / IP Logged  
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what crossover to use! What sould I consider?
dirtydreams4x4 
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Member spacespace
Joined: September 24, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 11:59 AM / IP Logged  
The specs on my speakers show the crossovers set at 2600 hz, so according to the chart I should use about a 80/20% split, so 100w/25w for bass/mid+high correct?
DYohn 
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Posted: March 03, 2005 at 12:22 PM / IP Logged  
That sounds about right.  For a crossiver there are several very nice, flexible electronic units available.  I personally like Audio Control's 6XS or DXS.  There are some really nice units from Zapco and Orion, and I've heard good results with the relatively low-cost units from MTX.  If you want to go high-end, look at Bryson, Marchand, Altomobile...
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dirtydreams4x4 
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Posted: March 03, 2005 at 1:21 PM / IP Logged  

Alright, I will look into those. An external crossover in line to the amp is going to completely replace the passive crossovers that were supplied with my speakers, correct? My job is just to match the frequencys to those of the original crossovers right?

For the sake of making things a little easier, is it safe to change the crossover freq. in order to balance the power to each component? I could use a 65w x 4 amp rather than a 100 x 2 and a 25 x 2, by setting the crosover at about 350hz. But is this safe for my speakers or do I need to stick with what the manufacturer frequency?

Thanks again......

97Avalonxls 
Copper - Posts: 115
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Joined: November 17, 2004
Location: United States
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 2:12 PM / IP Logged  
i have the mmc5250 which is the same driver as your , just with the 5.25 woofer. I have 100 watts going to each driver, 100 to each tweeter and 100 going to each woofer. I think it sounds excellent, but I have not yet gone active and am still using the passiver momo xover. Just make sure your xover is set and the power is not as much of an issue
kfr01 
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Posted: March 03, 2005 at 2:30 PM / IP Logged  
You should do some more research about crossovers and crossover slopes.
See some of the pages on http://www.bcae1.com/
But let me head something off quickly. You will ruin the tweeter if you push the crossover point too low. 350hz is way too low. I highly doubt those polk tweeters should be crossed over anywhere below 2khz unless the xo slope is steep.
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DYohn 
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Joined: April 22, 2003
Location: Arizona, United States
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 5:22 PM / IP Logged  
Yes, 350Hz is WAY too low for any tweeter.  Yu said the Xover in the passives is 2600Hz, right?  That should be your target.
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deocder 
Copper - Posts: 138
Copper spacespace
Joined: December 27, 2004
Posted: March 03, 2005 at 6:44 PM / IP Logged  
Good post...
However, the component set he has already has a passive crossover that is bi-ampable. There is another post that talks about the differences between passive and active crossovers here. It was suggested that I continue to use my passive crossover while still using seperate amps.
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