Bi-Amping with AU-717

[buckski]

Looking for comments or suggestions on the following bi-amping (tri-amping??) arrangement:

1/ Ren90 speakers
2/ Marantz 2325 for high-end
3/ Sansui 717 for low-end

Could I get a second 717 and have two amps driving the low-ends in each enclosure??

Is this all worth it?

Thanks

Buckski

 

[BeatleFred]

Hi there, bucksi:

How are things with the fabulous Ren 90's? Have you been on the Yahoo website which has an Infinity Group? Those particular New York Ren 90's that you took back to Poland are beauties, those photos of them (see example below) are super.

You can biamp the Ren 90's with two AU-717's. If you use a Sansui preamp like the CA-2000 or CA-3000 which has two outputs, its then easy to connect it to each AU-717's power amp section. You can then have one AU-717 drive the left speaker and the other AU-717 drive the right speaker ("vertical biamping") and a single volume control on the preamp controls the volume going to both amps driving the speakers.

B/F

 

[BeatleFred]

For those interested to see, here are the biamp-capable speaker terminals on the back of a black-ash Ren 90:

 

[buckski]

Gonna Try

Thanks B/F.

I now got a CA-2000 as you suggested, and have a 2nd 717, will try some bi-amping after re-reading the infamous EW/Flip/Eric posting.

Will let you know later.

Also....believe it or not , I got a 2nd pair of Ren90s -- from Germany as you suggested!

Buckski

 

[BeatleFred]

Hi Buckski:

Congratulations on your latest acquisitions per my recommendations. Since it doesnt seem to take much to persuade you, perhaps you'd like to follow my next suggestion and buy that BA-5000 thats currently on Ebay and send it to ME

Anyway, go ahead and 'double your pleasure' with the biamping arrangement using two 717's and let me know how it works out. How much better it may sound is hard to predict but its certainly a feasible thing to do. After all, the preamp has two outputs, the amps can be switched over to their power amp sections, and the speakers are biamp-capable with the 2nd set of terminals, thus you are just utilizing what the system offers you, therefore why not give it a try, I say.

Hopefully you'll be pleased with the results, then maybe some good will have come out of that 'infamous' post.

B/F

 

[BeatleFred]

Ps- when you do biamp, remember to take those shorting straps off from the speaker terminals.

Are the Ren 90's you acquired from Ebay Germany in blonde oak or black ash? I probably emailed a copy of that auction to myself not too long ago, so I suppose I can check back and have a look, but in case I didnt, and since Ebay Germany doesnt have a Completed Auctions section, just curious what the cabinet finish is. Also, did you go to Germany to pick them up or did you have them shipped?

By the way, in case you didnt read about it on the Yahoo site's Infinity Group, there is a date code to the serial # on the Ren 90's. I had a hunch that there was but when I asked Infinity/Harman in an email I sent them, they claimed there wasnt- but after I mentioned what I thought the code was on the Yahoo site and other Ren 90 owners told me their particular s/n's, it confirmed that my hunch was right.

So now, I can only wonder why Harman told me wrong information. I suppose the answer to that is they either did know there is a s/n code but its "top secret" information for whatever reason, or that they didnt know there was a date code to the s/n because the company is now made up of employees who possess the IQ level of a piece of soggy toast.

B/F