[thsmith]

I have a friend that has a Yamaha 663 that he was bi-amping (not opening a can of worms) to his mains which are Polk RTi10s.

He has installed big watt Yamaha Amps now for his mains.

Without entering in a debate about bi-amping I am interested to know if this matters.

He will be using the 663 as a pre now, Should he contnue to bi-amp coming out of his 663 to the Amps and then Bi-Amp to his mains

or

Turn off bi-amp on his 663 with one channel going to each AMP and the Bi-amp out to his mains

or does it matter

?

I think the only advantange of not bi-amping coming out of his AVR is he now frees up the side rears to use 7.1 if he wanted too.

 

[salvasol]

He has installed big watt Yamaha Amps now for his mains.

How many and Which models???

I think the only advantange of not bi-amping coming out of his AVR is he now frees up the side rears to use 7.1 if he wanted too.

I also think it will be a waist ... there's no benefit. If he wants to bi-amp the speakers, it needs to be done through the new amps :yes:

 

[tonyvdb]

Bi-Amping the Polk RTi10s is a total waist of time and effort. Like David said there will be no sound quality difference. If he insists on going ahead with it anyhow he heeds to use only the external amps and not the receiver or he will cause all sorts of issues.

 

[thsmith]

I am not sure which model they are but they put out 175watts per channel.

 

[tonyvdb]

Are they the older M80 amps with the large LED meters in the center of the front of the amp?

 

[thsmith]

No, they have analog meters with sort of slightly orange/red backlight.

I can find out if it is important.

 

[thsmith]

I guess I was wrong, they do have LEDs and are M800s or MX800s, something like that. He has quite a few amps so it is hard to keep track.

 

[Dagoods]

Hi Guys,

I am "the friend". I agree that it is not a good idea to use the Bi-amp in the receiver along with sepreate amps. Tracy and I were talking about the different ways to Bi-amp speakers using combinations of the AVR and sepreate amps.

I have read all the threads on pros and cons for Bi-amping and I understand that everyone has their own opinion. I have already made up my mind as to what I prefer. As he said I have a lot of amps that I have "collected" over the years and talked myself into bringing them out and hooking them up. I would rather use them than have them sitting in a closet.

Just to clear up the configuration that I am running.

The configuration that I put together:

Yamaha RX-V663 Bi-amp off in the AVR
2 MX-800's One on each RTi10
1 MX-800 on the CSiA4 (plan to swap out for a CSi5 or CSiA6)
2 MX-600's One on each RTiA3
BFD 1124P
2 Outlaw LFM EX's
1 HSU MBM

The sound quality did improve. The amps gave it a much warmer sound and the RTi10's came alive. the amps in the 663 are ok but now I have a seperate power supply for each amp and it will take part of the load off the AVR.

One of the cool things about home theater equipment is their is so much of it out there and so many views on what's good and what's not. I have learned a lot from Tracy, this and other forums. I do appreciate everyone's views and opinions. It is a big help when making decissions on what direction you want to head in. No two systems are configured the same. In the end we all make our choices and decide what we like, since we are the main one's who will listen to it day in and day out.

So please do not take my comments wrong, for me part of the enjoyment is trying different things and changing it up from time to time.

 

[tonyvdb]

I am confused as to how you are so called Bi-Amping them. Are you saying that you are using one side of the amps to drive the highs and the other to drive the lows on the Polk RTi10's?

 

[Dagoods]

Yes I am using one amp for each speaker. Left channel for the lows and right for the highs.

 

[tonyvdb]

be very careful as you can easaly blow the highs going this rout as you wont need more than 35Watts to drive them. I bet that if you use just the one channel to drive both the highs and the lows on each speaker you will hear no difference. The difference that your hearing with the amps over the receiver is more than likely simply because you need to reset your YPAO in the Yamaha as your levels to the highs and the lows are going to be different because of the Bi-Amping. There may be a little bit less distortion at higher levels due to there being more power available as well. The Polks have an efficiency of 89 dB so not bad but not great either and will require a little more power to drive them as the Yamaha is only 95watts per ch at best.

 

[salvasol]

That's the fun in this hobby ... trying new things to get the best out of our system.

You mentioned that you're happy with your set up, and That's what it counts ...:T

Yes I am using one amp for each speaker. Left channel for the lows and right for the highs.

Now that you have listened to your current set up (left for lows and right for highs) ... can you do a test ... bridge the amp to power the speaker, do not remove the bridging plate on them and see if there's a change on the sound :yes:

 

[Dagoods]

Tony,

Agreed that the 663 is not as strong on power. That's one reason I chose to use seperate amps. I do think that the power is cleaner from the amps than the 663. Also many thanks for the tips and cautions!!! On the highs I have lowered the gain on the right channels of each amp as a precaution.You are also correct, I have not reset YPAO since I hooked up the amps on Monday. I plan to go through the whole calibration process again this week end as well as running REW.

David,

The amps do not have a bridging capability and I have the bridging plates removed. So I can't try that yet. I have two Hafler amps (DH 200's) bridged for mono that I have to get serviced before I can use them. Once I get them back I can try what you are suggesting.

Thanks again guys for all the tips and things to watch out for. I appreciate any and all help.

David

 

[salvasol]

Is this the same amp you're using??? ....http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/av/english/SepA/MX-800.pdf ... if it is, the manual shows that you can connect up to five pairs of speakers :yes:

 

[Dagoods]

Yes that's the one. I have one on each of the mains. I had one of them since the 80's. A friend brought it back from Singapore for me and cost me $60. It was part of my 2 channel system back then. The second one I bought on ebay about 3 weeks ago for $225. It works and looks as good as my other one. I also got the MX 600's on ebay for $350. They all match up and sound fine.

I had been looking at the Outlaw 2200 mono blocks (200 watts each). Five of them run around $1,700. So I firgure I have some good amps and save myself a few bucks. Besides, I could always upgrade the amps later if I wanted to get a little more power.