To bridge or bi-amp ??

[draconus]

Have a pair of B&W 683's currently bi-wired. I like what I hear - is good !

Anyway, I may have the opportunity to pick up a 2nd Rotel RB-1070 for a really good price. It's new but things arn't shifting in the shop, apparently.

Anyway was thinking I have two options here; a) to bridge them and get 300W per side (compared to the 130 I have now) or b) to bi-amp.

I have heard good things about bi-amping but have never had the opportunity to listen or play. Apart from a brief listen to a pair of Gale GS401 hooked up to a pair of Accuphase 500W mono's back in the 80's.

If it was your money, would you go the bridging option or bi-amp ?

 

[Jon_Logan]

It depends on your goal. If you want voltage swing (louder), go with a bridge. But many B&W's are 4 ohms rated. This would represent a 2 ohm load to each half of the bridge, which is not recommended. ...especially at high output levels.

 

[whoaru99]

I'm going to throw out a third option; neither.

IMHO, if you need (or merely want) more power, don't buy the new amp and sell the one you have, then buy one new or used amp that is more powerful (by at least 2x what you have now).

From my experience with biamping using the in-speaker crossover, the expenditure for another amp wouldn't be worth it.

Ultimately, if you buy the second Rotel amp, you have the ability to try both ways and see what you prefer.

 

[Old1625]

Bridging can give you lots of power. I've done it, and it works to increase the volume a bit.

But with bridging I've also seen heartache, and have examined and repaired many blown power amps, and noticed that those used in bridge application usually have a lot more damage--some where flameproof resistors have gotten hot enough to burn holes in the pc assy.

When bridged setups go down they go down hard.

 

[draconus]

It depends on your goal. If you want voltage swing (louder), go with a bridge. But many B&W's are 4 ohms rated. This would represent a 2 ohm load to each half of the bridge, which is not recommended. ...especially at high output levels.

You're right...I don't need louder, I have more than enough. I felt the bi-amp option might be the next logical step up from the bi-wire (which gave me good results).

Where are the changes typically heard with bi-amp?? - I'd expect the imaging and detail to be more defined. Having said that, the 683's image pretty well as they are - so might then the change be too subtle to justify the $$ ?

..mmm think I just answered my own question - the wife wants a new coffee machine anyway !

 

[JimJ[VT]]

Depends on if you're actively bi-amping or just using the passives already in the speaker.

If you were using a kludge of raw drivers that never had a crossover to begin with, or you had specific issues with your room that the passives don't address, then I'd recommend actively bi-amping with an external electronic crossover, but I'm willing to be the passives in those B&Ws are pretty good, already.