Sr SQ

iTrader: (5)

Hey guys can any one help me understand why would bi-amping helps for SQ? I mean if you had say a pair of 2x150rms amps bi-amped to a set of components via their passive xover or a single 2x300rms just run thru the passives normally are you not essentially sending the same power and signal in both situations? Would your sound not be the same? I can kind of understand bi-amping helping in a situation where you have a active Xover prior to your amp helping but don't understand it in a passive set-up.

zoomer

iTrader: (3)

by not having to drive low freqeuncies with the HF amp you will get lower distortion.
But to really benefit you should run an electronic cross over before the amps. a Pioneer cd 625 or 635 is not that expensive. There are others available also for under $100.

There are many benefits to proper by amping with electronic crossovers:
The amps only have to amplify High or low signal (or mid if you triamp), your tweeters never see distortion cause by the huge LF signal.
You eliminate the passive components in the crossover and that results in better damping factor and the amp sees a better load, not the big inductor and cap of the crossover (simple explanation to a more complex subject

With Electronic xovers you also get much finer controll over frequency and level

hope it helps

but keep in mind bi or triamping is really for higher end sytsems, really good speakers, proper placement etc.

you actually 2x the aparent power, in other words, you would need 200 watt amp covering the full range in order to get the same dynamic range as 2x 50 watts biamped with Exovers.

Sr SQ

iTrader: (5)

Ok, I kind of understand that for a active xover but I don't understand the benefit of it with the passives? My Quart passives have a bi-amp feature but I don't see how it would make any difference at that stage to wire them that way?

20Sunfire05

iTrader: (1)

I have a similar question. Would bi-amping from my HU with passive crossovers be acceptable? I am on a budget and I want to build my system slowly and carefully.

zoomer

iTrader: (3)

Not sure what you mean by that. The only way would be to run the front HU speaker ouputs thru the passive high pass to the tweets and the rear HU speaker outputs to the passive low pass to the midwoofer. Is that what you plan do to? That would work.

But again not ideal. you will only get a bit of benefit from this. Some decks do have build in cross overs so that you can do this properly. Alpine 9813 type comes to mind. Others are available to.
But honestly there are tons of electronic cross overs on ebay for under $100. It is worth it iif you have external amps. There is no way that I know of to use an external electronic crossover with the internal HU amps.


Keep in mind that with external passive crossovers before after the amp, the low frequencies will still cause the high frequency amp to clip. They are still there in the signal. Now since the amp sees no speaker load at those low frequncies there is less current draw and therefore less power supply voltage pulldown or output transistor distortion. But really diminishing returns.

This topic has been covered before in this forum with some good links for a more technical explanation of the advantages of biamping with electronic crossovers.

zoomer

iTrader: (3)

There is some benefit but it is minimal. Manufacturers like MBquart and Alpine recomend to use their external passive xovers even in biamped configurations...Why?

a few reasons I think
1: if you have to ask, then you dont know enough about car audio to make the decision yourself!
2: prevents blowing expensive tweeters by incorrect connections or wrong crossover frequency settings
3: most higher end component systems with passive crossovers have some sort of frequency response correction networks and other adjustments possible.
4: you wont complain about spending so much for the set and not even using the fancy passive crossovers.

Keep in mind that even a single good 150watt rms per channel amp is more than enough power to drive a component set in the normal passive xover configuration

You will find that many OEM premium systems actually have electronic crossovers. It is very cheap to make an amp with e crossovers built in driving many smaller lower power amps for each speaker. No need for a big switching power supply etc.

Sr SQ

iTrader: (5)

Thanks zoomer,
I have been considering going with a active xover system but I still cant decide on the unit I need to do the job. Then once I started thinking about why the quart xovers had the bi-amp feature it all faded out LOL. Right now I'm using 2 old PPI AM2150s one for the tweets and one for the mids and I think it sounds great but I also have a AM2300 that I could use for the same combined power and just run it non-bridged to the xovers and I just wondered if there would be any difference in sound? God I got to stop thinkin

zoomer

iTrader: (3)

Thinking is good... Doing is better. Try it. Nothing better than trying things out and learning for yourself. That way you have an opinion that is based on experience.

theboy

but it should sound better with the speakers bi amped.A step beyond that is an amp for every speaker.(independent power supply for each component)

zoomer

iTrader: (3)

it all depends. I suspect that it may be hard to notice at normal listening levels. Good sound quality is not just a matter of amp power. Many top SQ cars have only 50watts per channel, not biamped.
I looked at your setup and you are in a high class already. I would suggest you first try to think about what you want to improve. What are your current system's shortcommings? if any...