Hi all,
Sadly, my trusty Onkyo NR-808 has died in the move over to the UK. However, I am fortunate in that it will be covered by my insurance. With that, I am currently looking at the Denon AVR-X3500H as it's replacement.
Previously, I used to bi-amp my mains off the Onkyo (my mains are the DLS R55
found here), but given that the Denon is 180w per channel at 6ohm:
1. Is it still necessary to bi-amp or would the power from the Denon be sufficient?
2. Am I buying more power then I need? Should I look at the X2500H instead?
3. Given that my budget is around £500, should I be looking at other options as well when doing my research?
Thanks all.
First of all, if your amp RMS far exceeds your speaker power handling, dont bother bi-amping since bi-amping is an optimisation step which seeks to improving the power handing of the amp, or improve on a less than optimal passive X-over. The latter is an unlikely scenario in a quality set of speakers, the former is best when your amp RMS is in the same ball park as the speaker your driving (or lower than the speaker). If your amp has much more power than the speakers RMS, then you stand to gain very little.
I would think It depends on how well Dennon designed their Amp stages. In theory, if you have front speakers which can be bi-amped, you benefit from driving your tweeters and mid's separately. A mid range driver will request much more power from an amp than the tweeter will. Typically a key audio quality metric regards amplifiers is in how it handles clipping and damping. If your running both speakers on a single amp, mid range clip harmonics might interfere with the tweeter output. By isolating each speaker so it connects to its own amplifier, you can limit the affect of clipping and harmonic destruction to the speaker causing it, rather than allowing it to colour the full spectrum. This can improve the overall sound quality. The alternative is it ensure your amp is of a higher power handling capacity so your ears give up before the amp enters clipping and associated side affects - but this is at the risk of over driving your speakers,... just know those limits and this can possibly be the best solution, or at least rule out amp related SQ issues related to power handling.
Bi-amping needs you to understand the Thiele-Small parameters of your speakers to ensure you pick the correct crossover frequency and slope. Passive x-overs inside high end speakers do many things to ensure the speakers are time aligned and ensure the frequency response fits the characteristics of the speaker and enclosure. This is a bit of a creative art form that quality speaker manufactures take very seriously within their x-over designs.
Sometimes its not as simple as setting the x-over frequency and slope in the DSP, since the analogue domain being truly an art form is hard to replicate with low end DSP equipment and it can be futile.
Replicating what the creator of the speaker intended can therefore be difficult without a full understanding of what's going on inside a given x-over or a very good self equalising solution.
In theory, as long as the slope and the frequency are set to the spec of the speaker, a powerful EQ should be able to compensate to ensure the speaker delivers the same frequency and time alignment such that you attain the desired response. However, the basic EQ you get within many domestic amps might not have the resolution to compensate for odd peculiarities in the two speakers that the manufacture of the speaker accounted for in their x-over - so your mileage may vary.
Typicality speakers these days suffer less peculiarities due to better manufacturing tolerances, speaker resonance and x-over point harmonic management should be less of an issue. This is good since it should place less demands on your DSP to compensate.
Bottom line is there are quite a few variables so best thing is try it and listen at YOUR volume levels. Then make your own mind up. The difference might be unnoticeable, in which case It might be better to step back to bi-wire, and free up your amp for more speakers since the only affect of your bi-amp is to lose a set of speaker terminals, in other cases you might be jumping for joy.
Just set the right x-over frequency and slope in the amp setup and see how Audyssey gets on
If it sounds the same at -20DB, up it to 0DB and see if the sound is 'less bright' smoother and less fatiguing. Try music to movies, get a full feel for the sound. You will only be able to do this if your tonally familiar with a particular track at a particular volume and your sound memory is good enough, save for any obvious differences of course.
If right now on a bi-wire standard setup your squinting at the high notes, that's often a sign of distortion OR the need for much more sound deadening in your room to kill the destructive harmonics caused by reflections. But bi-amping in theory allows for better power handing, since each speaker is not only better isolated, but by having its own dedicated amp the power that each amp needs to deliver is reduced since your reducing the number of speakers the amp needs to drive and the frequency band that each amp is having to output similarly. Maybe bi-amp just the one speaker, then drive the second speaker on the rear channel. Then use a suitable input source that is able to toggle between them and output the same signal across each of the 5 channels ensuring that you set the correct speaker settings for the rear speaker.
This article explores the technical reasons why audio amplifiers can sound different. Audio measurements can help explain why things look different but audibility isn't always so cut and dry.
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