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Biamping Mac Tubes and SS

I think you just proved my point :D

...but you are right about one thing...there must be some equation to help out.
 
My guess is this will work AND it took me all of 2 minutes to figure it out (already had forumla in Excel)

Having an active, then would allow me (or someone) to simply dial them in on the fly.

I could swap amps and once above numbers are known, have them dialed in in less time than it would actually take to do the physical swapping of them.
 
unfortunately it is not only about levels...also frequency range, impedance behaviour, phase behaviour come into play. The McIntosh amps with autoformers are a blessing when it comes to impedance matching. When I mentioned "gain matching" I referred to all the above.
 
Jem666 said:
unfortunately it is not only about levels...also frequency range, impedance behaviour, phase behaviour come into play. The McIntosh amps with autoformers are a blessing when it comes to impedance matching. When I mentioned "gain matching" I referred to all the above.
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I WILL admit that I am somewhat of a techno-dummy on most of this stuff (though I'm biamping quite effectively)

The OP's original post said he was trying to match amps to the speakers. I would have thought the speakers manufacturer would be able to tell someone 'cross over at X, Y and Z" and that would take care of most of his issues.

I'm not familiar with the B&K Nautilus "Shell" speakers but I can't see how triamping them is technically different than biamping a 2 way?

Either way, I think for the $60K he's got involved, he certainly should have received better setup information from the seller. Kinda seems he was left out to hang??
 
Coytee said:
I'm not familiar with the B&K Nautilus "Shell" speakers but I can't see how triamping them is technically different than biamping a 2 way?

Either way, I think for the $60K he's got involved, he certainly should have received better setup information from the seller. Kinda seems he was left out to hang??
Click to expand...

The B&W Nautilus is a four way design, an external active crossover is supplied, be it without the possibility to set levels as "syaudio" pointed out.
As mentioned in the specifications by B&W: "each channel to have identical gain and phase"

I guess B&W's recommendation is to power them with Classé amps of the same type (I think they own Classé). I was never a fan of Classé amps, I find them very uninvolving for lack of a better word...but that is a matter of personal taste.

When actively bi-amping, you are still using a part of the internal passive crossover for mid's and high's. Crossovers are designed taking into account the behaviour of the whole speaker; drivers, enclosure, internal damping, porting etc etc.

Going for a three or four way active design basically means you have to re-discover the synergy between all those factors...and that is as much an art as a science.

I am pretty confident that 8 MC501's will save the day...but then...its not my money.
 
Bi-Amping

Finally, Mac-lovers I did it:banana:

I used Accuphase DF45 channel divider (US$7000) to hook 8 amps and feed them to B&W Nautilus. The amps range from MC1000, MC501, and MC2000's. took me while to adjust the gain and slopes, but after a few days of trials and errors, I finally settled on a setting which is somewhat manageable.

After a few weeks of listening, I am starting to discoover that the sound is too "honest" and less musical. I don't know if this is a setting issue, or B&W "shell" is designed this way. I don't have problems with 800D's or 802D's. Any feedback from other users? I am thinking of switching to Wislon Grand slamm X-1. Has anyone used X-1 with Mac?
 
Hi syaudio...glad to hear you managed to tame the Nautilus :thmbsp:

However, the Nautilus is very revealing and analytical by design and that makes it somewhat of an acquired taste.

Why not check out McIntosh speakers...I auditioned quite a few of them last sunday and was pleasantly surprised by their performance.

If you are considering a different speaker, maybe you could also consider the only real alternative to active multi-amping...one pair of MC2KW's...I have had the pleasure of auditioning these amps three times now, and everytime I am caught off guard on how they litteraly obliterate any preconceived notions you could have on amplifiers. There is no substitute for power.

BTW...Wilson's current TOL is the Alexandria X2
This is a picture I found Image Googling, I think it is an older Grand Slamm with the MC2KW's

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Thanks JEM666,

X-2 is priced 2x of X-1 which is already over $50,000 for used ones in my part of the world... The picture looks awesome!!!
 
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