Hello,
Last night I added two more channels to my amplifier chassis. I was using a stereo p3a for a couple months now with diy 2 way speakers. I wanted to try bi-amping, and now I can clearly hear the difference with my own ears. I have 2 p3a channels going to the tweeters, and the other two going to the midwoofers.
The first thing that I noticed when I bi-amped one side and left the other alone is the improvement in bass. After listening to spanish harlem by rebecca pidgeon a number of times, I noticed that the bi-amped side sounds more open. Her voice seems to be more forward compared to the single amp speaker.
I played Scott Ambush - Down The Wire next. To my ears, bi-amped side does not run out of breath when pushed hard. When the bass solo and drums are present, speaker stays put and plays with authority compared to a single channel side.
Anyway, just wanted to say if you have a chance to bi-amp go for it
Last night I added two more channels to my amplifier chassis. I was using a stereo p3a for a couple months now with diy 2 way speakers. I wanted to try bi-amping, and now I can clearly hear the difference with my own ears. I have 2 p3a channels going to the tweeters, and the other two going to the midwoofers.
The first thing that I noticed when I bi-amped one side and left the other alone is the improvement in bass. After listening to spanish harlem by rebecca pidgeon a number of times, I noticed that the bi-amped side sounds more open. Her voice seems to be more forward compared to the single amp speaker.
I played Scott Ambush - Down The Wire next. To my ears, bi-amped side does not run out of breath when pushed hard. When the bass solo and drums are present, speaker stays put and plays with authority compared to a single channel side.
Anyway, just wanted to say if you have a chance to bi-amp go for it
Excellent Jean.
Could you tell us about the crossovers? What is the crossover frequency and are you using active, passive or passive line stage?
It would be interesting to know exactly what causes the improvements. I wonder what it would be like with one amp that had double the power. Also, I'm not familiar with the p3a but I believe that with the biamping configuration each amplifier can operate more in class 'A' mode. Am I right?
Anyway, more power to your elbow (and speakers).
Steve
Could you tell us about the crossovers? What is the crossover frequency and are you using active, passive or passive line stage?
It would be interesting to know exactly what causes the improvements. I wonder what it would be like with one amp that had double the power. Also, I'm not familiar with the p3a but I believe that with the biamping configuration each amplifier can operate more in class 'A' mode. Am I right?
Anyway, more power to your elbow (and speakers).
Steve
audionut said:
The output of each amplifier channel goes to the passive crossover components. ch1 -> left low pass, ch2 -> left high pass and finally to the components. I have crossover components just relaxing on top of the speaker cabinet since I am always changing things. Each cabinet has two sets of binding posts for ease of wiring.
Ive been thinking about these for biamping a set of my speakers:
http://www.adireaudio.com/diy_audio/amplifiers/active_home.htm
I was thinking of making a sort of poor mans HD-1.
One of the advantages I like about this solution is being able to absolutely minimize the length of the speaker cables.
http://www.adireaudio.com/diy_audio/amplifiers/active_home.htm
I was thinking of making a sort of poor mans HD-1.
One of the advantages I like about this solution is being able to absolutely minimize the length of the speaker cables.
Hi guys,
I just finished my bi-amping project, and boy what a difference. One day at school between classes I drew up the plans for the system, and I had the entire thing complete within the week... My fastest project ever. And I think its my most sucessful as well.
The difference is amazing. There is a lot more clarity in the high end, more eveness in the low end and lower bass. I think the main reason I benifited so much from the change was due to the active crossover I used. I previously had a bi-polar electrolitic for the tweeter, and although I have limited experience with crossovers, I think bi-polar electrolitic isn't the way to go (I'm sure all will agree).
The speakers are two way, with a 5-1/4" mid-bass and a lower end vifa tweeter. I'm very happy with the tweeters for what they cost and also the small woofers.
Anyways, I'm rambling, but the point is that bi-amping is amazing, even though the four amplifiers I'm using are just LM12 op-amp based.
Pete
I just finished my bi-amping project, and boy what a difference. One day at school between classes I drew up the plans for the system, and I had the entire thing complete within the week... My fastest project ever. And I think its my most sucessful as well.
The difference is amazing. There is a lot more clarity in the high end, more eveness in the low end and lower bass. I think the main reason I benifited so much from the change was due to the active crossover I used. I previously had a bi-polar electrolitic for the tweeter, and although I have limited experience with crossovers, I think bi-polar electrolitic isn't the way to go (I'm sure all will agree).
The speakers are two way, with a 5-1/4" mid-bass and a lower end vifa tweeter. I'm very happy with the tweeters for what they cost and also the small woofers.
Anyways, I'm rambling, but the point is that bi-amping is amazing, even though the four amplifiers I'm using are just LM12 op-amp based.
Pete
I think it was 89 or 90 at the fall AES in NY. I had just finished building a small but high budget studio for editing and mixing television audio. I was walking through the exhibits in one the hotels and found myself in a demo suite hosted by Harrison. The room had been packed all weekend and suddenly here I was in the virtually empty room. George Massneburgs triumphant Little Feat “Let it Roll” cd was playing. One end of the room had the console set up in front of blue drape the other end had a large RGP Difractile diffuser array. I headed straight for the diffusers and spent several minutes walking back and forth turning my head about, listening, and trying to locate any sense of boundary effect or comb filtering.
After several minutes of unembarrassed poinderxterness I headed for the sweet spot in the room wanting the evaluate the diffusers effect on the overall imaging and sound field. There I stood rocking this way and that, likely with my eyes closed. Eventually someone dressed better than myself came over and started talking to me. I figured I was being busted for acting weird and was about to get a polite, “move along and let the grown ups listen”. Real fast the conversation turned to, so what do you think about the speakers. My quick response was that they sounded great, but I didn’t see any reason to hide the subwoofer, and everything else behind the curtain. The amused gentleman showed me that there was nothing but empty shipping crates behind the curtain. We spent a few more minutes talking about these amazing little speakers and George Massneburgs technical and creative talents. It wasn’t until we were parting that I noticed that this guy didn’t even work for Harrison. It was some guy named John Meyer. A few paces through the crowd later the light bulb slowly came on and I understood why he was so interested in what I thought of the speakers. My first experience the HD-1.
Over time the company I worked for expanded and we purchased several sets of these speakers. I had the opportunity to compare them to many other near field monitors. Most near fields sound great when listening to material that was recorded with them. The HD-1’s tend to sound great with everything. We had a complement of near fields that we could move from room to room matching engineers, client and project needs. The HD-1 got more use than anything else. I was also a big fan of the HD-2 but moved on to new careers before I could spend any significant time with them.
If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m green with envy that you’ve got a set. Were I to have the financial means, they would be my first choice. I read that your building a set of Aleph-5’s for a bi-amped set of speakers. Are you thinking of hot rodding your Meyers or starting from scratch? Off hand I think a Meyer, Aleph hybrid could be a killer combination.
After several minutes of unembarrassed poinderxterness I headed for the sweet spot in the room wanting the evaluate the diffusers effect on the overall imaging and sound field. There I stood rocking this way and that, likely with my eyes closed. Eventually someone dressed better than myself came over and started talking to me. I figured I was being busted for acting weird and was about to get a polite, “move along and let the grown ups listen”. Real fast the conversation turned to, so what do you think about the speakers. My quick response was that they sounded great, but I didn’t see any reason to hide the subwoofer, and everything else behind the curtain. The amused gentleman showed me that there was nothing but empty shipping crates behind the curtain. We spent a few more minutes talking about these amazing little speakers and George Massneburgs technical and creative talents. It wasn’t until we were parting that I noticed that this guy didn’t even work for Harrison. It was some guy named John Meyer. A few paces through the crowd later the light bulb slowly came on and I understood why he was so interested in what I thought of the speakers. My first experience the HD-1.
Over time the company I worked for expanded and we purchased several sets of these speakers. I had the opportunity to compare them to many other near field monitors. Most near fields sound great when listening to material that was recorded with them. The HD-1’s tend to sound great with everything. We had a complement of near fields that we could move from room to room matching engineers, client and project needs. The HD-1 got more use than anything else. I was also a big fan of the HD-2 but moved on to new careers before I could spend any significant time with them.
If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m green with envy that you’ve got a set. Were I to have the financial means, they would be my first choice. I read that your building a set of Aleph-5’s for a bi-amped set of speakers. Are you thinking of hot rodding your Meyers or starting from scratch? Off hand I think a Meyer, Aleph hybrid could be a killer combination.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.