Help please with power amps for bi-wire speakers & Arcam SR250

michaelgordon

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I have very little idea what im doing here.

I have an Arcam SR250 stereo amp and have just bought a pair of Dali Opticon 5 speakers, these are bi-wireable so im thinking id like to try that. What i think i know is i need another 2 channel power amp connect that to the pre out of the 250 and then drive the low from one and the high from another. Am i correct?

If so what am i looking for, i think id like to stick with Arcam and spend as little as possible so its going to be used and probably old so either classifieds here or ebay.
 
Please, forget the whole idea and just wire the speakers with a single line of wire, spend the money on something worthwhile 😃
 
I would agree with @muljao as it won't give you any more as the 250 has more than enough good power to drive those speakers within an inch of their life if you really wanted to push them

My speakers are tri-wired and I have no option but to run three sets cables to each speaker, but I still run these single ended into my amp as its got enough power to get a grip of them. If it was lesser, then I may use multiple amps to drive different parts of the speakers drivers, but as I don't need to as I'm happy with the sound the reason they are tri-wired is because Robin Marshall designed them that way with minimal crossover and one driver having no crossover at all
 
Cheers.

So it wouldn't really add anything?

I've not had bi-wireable speaker before and while not why I choose I thought it may help produce a better sound that just a single cable, splitting the signal but if it won't improve, I'm not looking to spend for no gains.
 
Cheers.

So it wouldn't really add anything?

I've not had bi-wireable speaker before and while not why I choose I thought it may help produce a better sound that just a single cable, splitting the signal but if it won't improve, I'm not looking to spend for no gains.
Bi-wire is a hifi cable makers short for buy wire
 
Just to be pedantic (who me???) -

Your speakers are b-wirable as they split out the bass and treble drivers on two separate binding posts.

If you remove the bridging jumper on the speakers and run two wires from the amp to the speakers, one per pair of binding terminals you are Bi-wiring (IMO waste of time, just costs you double the price of the cable = double the dealers profit, assumes cable is capable in the first place, 2.5sq.mm cross section OFC).

If, as you are planning, run two stereo amps, one feeding the treble and one the bass (after removing the jumper) you are Bi-amping (not Bi-wiring). There is another option to run one stereo amp per speaker running the right channels to the treble and the left to the bass, you obviously need the same amps in this case.

As others have said, the marginal change in sound is not usually worth the cost especially give the SR250 can drive the speakers perfectly well.
 
Bi wiring from the same amp is generally a waste of time especially using the same type of cables.

Bi amping on the other hand can improve the sound. In my experience it's more noticeable on complex music.

I used to bi wire using copper for the tweeter and silver plated for the woofer as the silver plated cable was a little bright on the tweeter.
 
I used to bi wire using copper for the tweeter and silver plated for the woofer as the silver plated cable was a little bright on the tweeter.
Should have supplied the tweeters with some Raybans, works well for bright cables :lesson:
 
Enjoy your SR250. It is such an underrated product, and I didn't realize how much I needed it until my cheap Denon receiver completly blew up (smoke and fire) trying to drive my B&W speakers. The plastic had started to melt. The Denon did last 4yrs so I'll give it credit, but it was struggling the whole time and couldn't drive the speakers properly...and I couldn't tell as the sound was still good (not excellent though).
 
I really like the SR250, well i like DIRAC and the way it can correct the room, my room is very awkward, its square but i have an inside porch that extends 1.2m in from the front door, on the opposite wall is a chimney breast. One of the speakers is infront of the door between front nd back room and the left is about 5cm from the chimney.

DIRAC has made such a massive difference id never go back. This is likely my last amp although should the SA30 drop in price in time, i may invest in one of those
 
I would agree with @muljao as it won't give you any more as the 250 has more than enough good power to drive those speakers within an inch of their life if you really wanted to push them

My speakers are tri-wired and I have no option but to run three sets cables to each speaker, but I still run these single ended into my amp as its got enough power to get a grip of them. If it was lesser, then I may use multiple amps to drive different parts of the speakers drivers, but as I don't need to as I'm happy with the sound the reason they are tri-wired is because Robin Marshall designed them that way with minimal crossover and one driver having no crossover at all
Why cant you use 4 bits of speaker cable to connect all the terminals together on the speaker instead of having 3 runs of cables from each speaker?
 

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