Talk:Bi-amping and tri-amping

Diagrams
It would appear a user has attempted to link diagrams from an external website - this obviously will not display. For copyright reasons I shall eventually remove the images and work on similar diagrams to demonstrate bi-amping. Berniewilson 18:42, 11 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Added link to diagram from active crossover page. Egmason (talk) 03:21, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Rationale?
While the page does describe different ways of bi-amping, it says nothing about the purpose of bi-amping; why is it done? Is it because of the difference in impedance in low and high-frequency speaker elements, or what? MagnusW (talk) 22:57, 12 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Motivation includes power efficiency, driver protection and improved crossover precision. ~Kvng (talk) 13:30, 21 April 2022 (UTC)

Some info
Multiway amplification for each driver typically increases efficiency, as much as 400% over a passive crossover-based speaker system. The direct connection from each drivers amplifier to the speaker with no passive filters (ie inductors resistors capacitors) can also result in improvements with such things as damping factor.

See the Wiki article "Damping Factor" - a decent article that begins to describe the dynamics of the amplifier/speaker system - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping_factor. Some decent references are listed at the end. Also the discussion page on that topic is "colorful"...

In a typical bi/tri/whatever speaker system, typically a device known as an active crossover sits between the line-level source of each amplifier, taking the full bandwidth line level signal from say a mixing console, as an input and outputting multiple line level signals for input to each of the amplifier/speaker systems. In pro audio, two, three, and four way active crossovers are available from most gear manufacturers. Typically, various topologies of op amp-based filters are used, hence the term "active crossover".

As shown in the Damping factor article, references and esp. the discussion, doing the split of the frequencies in the lower power line-level signal path is thought to be "better" and more predictable than using high power inductors, caps, and resistors in the amplifier-to-speaker(s) connection.

In some cases, the actual audio souce can be thought to provide this low/band/hi pass line/mic/instr level signal, such as the case with rick-o-sound guitars, where each pickup is routed to a specific type of amplifier/speaker combo. But this is not typically what I think of as "bi/tri/x -amping...

Another advantage to using an active crossover, is that they are usually tunable, and can provide more flexibility/higher Q's in filter response for each band without dependence on the amplifier/speaker matching effecting the filter response, since the splitting of the bands happens at line level.

I hope this helped, probably not.... Wamnet (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 03:01, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Thank you very much, it did help me! Now add it to the actual page! :-) MagnusW (talk) 00:05, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

This is not what is generally accepted as bi-amping
The article describes active loudspeaker systems. In audiophile circles though, bi- or tri-amping refers to the act of hooking up multiple amps to the individual binding posts of a passive speaker where each amp and speaker terminal receives the full signal and the passive crossover still does what it always does. 80.115.81.41 (talk) 07:11, 24 November 2023 (UTC)


 * Yes, most powered speakers use bi-amping. Sounds like there could be another meaning of the term in audiophile circles. Do you have a reliable source that explains this? ~Kvng (talk) 15:54, 27 November 2023 (UTC)