Answered Bi-Amp’ing, multi-channel vs 2x Amps

1jay5

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Hi everyone,

I have a couple of options and wondered what opinions you could share about bi-amp’ing.

Having got hold of a used Arcam P1000 (waiting for it to be delivered), and already having a P85, would I get better results from 2x P85’s (buy an additional one) or the p1000 doing Bi-amp duties?

As I understand; the general school of thought is that separate power supplies (ie 2x amps) would be better than a single power supplied multichannel amp used to Bi-amp my speakers.

Also, what do we think about either daisy chaining, so one P85 handles bass and the second treble, or use the mono-link and use one P85 per speaker? Is this even how mono-link works? The only thing I do know is mono-link is not bridging the amp.

If I go with the P1000 to bi-amp, would I be better off using a splitter interconnect or daisy chain across the channels? I can say that splitters are cheaper than the extra cabling daisy-chaining requires.

I’m not trying to go louder, just improve the quality of the stereo performance. I like movies as much as music, and mostly want to improve the stereo performance as much as possible on a limited budget.

My set up is:
MacBook Pro as source for music and movies
Arcam AVR360
Arcam P85 driving L&R
Kef Q35.2 L&R (set to large)
Kef Q95.2 Centre (set to small)
Kef HTS7001 rear & sides (set to small)
Kef C4 sub

I got the P1000 for £15 more than a P85 sold on the same day on eBay, so surely could sell the P1000 and get another P85, but can’t really afford/be allowed by ‘she who must be obeyed’ to have 2x P85’s and the P1000 at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any opinions or insights you share.
 
The P1000 (see sig) is spec'd at
All channels driven, 20Hz—20kHz, 8Ω - 135W per channel; 945W total
so you don't suffer from using all channels.

If you biamp between the P1000 and a P85, don't forget to set the P1000's gain to 31.5dB, to match that of the P85.

Since the P1000 has bespoke connections on the rear panel for biamping, you do not need to use splitter interconnects or other workarounds higher up the chain.

The P85's mono link serve to pass a single channel input to both power amplifiers, making it simple to use a P85 to biamp one speaker.

Since I use hybrid ESL's with a passive panel and an active woofer, I cannot answer your question as to which combination provides the better biamping pair. Since your KEF q35.2's are two-way systems, I rather feel that biamping will not yield much in terms of sound quality or headroom in your case.
 
Thanks @Mark.Yudkin

The main reason for getting the P1000 was to bi-amp the front three (and it was cheap), but now looking at the Frequency Response of my centre, I don’t think it’s worth it. I’m trying to buy a house and might be lucky to get a cinema room, then I’ll buy three towers for LCR and bi-amp them. ‘Til then, I’ll try every combo I can, I just think it’s an interesting experiment.

Luckily, the front three speakers, AVR and power amps have been bought used and not only are in excellent condition, they were all cheap, even for used gear.

I thought more people would have experience running similar set-ups, Arcam seems very popular and these bits are common on the used market.

Thanks for explaining mono-link, no one else has explained it with such clarity, it’s surprising how convoluted other people have explained it on other threads.

Maybe if I can find another P85 for reasonable money, I’ll try both stereo bi-amp’ed and mono-linked bi-amp’ed.

Thanks once again
 
Hi @Mark.Yudkin
Just an update, I just installed the P1000, bi-amp’ing the front three, and I have to say the sound has improved quite a lot.

Far more depth to the bass extension and a bit more clarity over all. The bass is where the real improvement is obvious, to the point that my sub is now redundant, but I’ll keep it anyway. It could just be the power increase, but what ever it is it sounds better.

One issue is the power lead fuse keeps blowing, what amp fuse do you use on your P1000?
 
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