Question Arcam A85

[Basinguy]

Hello

I'm new to the arcam section of this forum having just picked up an A85 having used an AV amp previously and I'm really impressed with the performance so far but I've got a few questions someone can hopefully answer for me.

I was under the impression that the amp came with BFA connectors as standard and i was prepared to re-terminate all my cabling but to my surprise mine has standard banana plug connectors, even the manual says it has BFA connectors ... How come mine is different?

Also there is 2 sets of speaker terminals and using the buttons on the front sp1 and sp2 can be turned on at the same time, does that mean I can bi-amp without a power amp

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies

 

[gtrev]

Hello

I'm new to the arcam section of this forum having just picked up an A85 having used an AV amp previously and I'm really impressed with the performance so far but I've got a few questions someone can hopefully answer for me.

I was under the impression that the amp came with BFA connectors as standard and i was prepared to re-terminate all my cabling but to my surprise mine has standard banana plug connectors, even the manual says it has BFA connectors ... How come mine is different?

Also there is 2 sets of speaker terminals and using the buttons on the front sp1 and sp2 can be turned on at the same time, does that mean I can bi-amp without a power amp

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies

I think it was only the very first models that had bfa. I brought mine new around 2001 and it had standard bananas

 

[spl23]

Also there is 2 sets of speaker terminals and using the buttons on the front sp1 and sp2 can be turned on at the same time, does that mean I can bi-amp without a power amp

There's only one power amp per channel, so you wouldn't be bi-amping; you'd just be bi-wiring. Unlike bi-amping, bi-wiring is of rather questionable benefit - it was all the rage for a while in the late 80's and early 90's, but has rather fallen out of fashion, as any improvements it produced were pretty minimal.

 

[SimpleCheese]

There's only one power amp per channel, so you wouldn't be bi-amping; you'd just be bi-wiring. Unlike bi-amping, bi-wiring is of rather questionable benefit - it was all the rage for a while in the late 80's and early 90's, but has rather fallen out of fashion, as any improvements it produced were pretty minimal.

h

Hi Nerox, I have used bot speaker terminals before I went bi-amping this Christmas and have to say i't gives improvement, and if you already have the cables.. why not ;-) I think part of the improvement is that you can also get rid of your factory speaker links..

 

[spl23]

I think part of the improvement is that you can also get rid of your factory speaker links..

I doubt it - the factory speaker links are very short - a few cm at most. Effectively replacing them with a few metres of cable isn't in general going to be an improvement!

The improvements, such as there are, from bi-wiring are simply because you are effectively halving the resistance of the speaker cable, which will give you a tiny increase in volume; you could achieve the same effect by just buying thicker speaker cable in the first place. (Arguments about the high frequency signal being separated from the low frequency signal are nonsense, as anyone who understands the basics of electrical conduction can tell you...)