Audio Systems: Biamping, vinyl lp recordings, tweeter etc

Question
QUESTION: Hi,My kit..Tdl rtl3s...Cambridge A1 & A5.Have biwired ok,but how do i biamp these two amps.Many thanks.Dave

ANSWER: Not sure I understand your question, but let me answer generically about bi-amping.

To bi-amp a two-way loudspeaker you use two amplifiers; one to drive the tweeter and one to drive the woofer.  The amps must have a crossover network in from of them so that the tweeter amp feeds the frequency band suited for the tweeter, etc.

In a conventional, non-biamped speaker system, the crossover is build into the speaker box and is referred to a passive crossover.

The advantage of bi-amping is two fold: ONE, the crossover is easy and accurately designed and TWO, power level into each speaker driver is easily adjusted by the gain control of each amplifier.

To use a stereo receiver for biamping you must be able to insert the crossover network in between the preamp output and the power amp section input.  Not all receivers have such external connections on the back panel.  I do not believe the A5 has such interconnections so they would have to be brought out and new jacks added to the panel on the back.

Hope this helps you understand what is going on with bi-amping.

Let me know should you have further questions.


C


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,Many thanks for your quick response.On the A5 back panel, it has a pre amp phono left and right,so do I connect these up to the cd phono on the A1.Regards Dave

Answer
No, the Cambridge A1 is a small integrated amp with several "line" level inputs and a 30w/channel output.  Whereas the A5 is about the same only 60w/channel output.

The A5 has an optional phono input - yours may have that - which is for the connection of a turntable with low level cartridge pickup for tracking vinyl/lp recordings.

You can run the cd player output into any of the inputs except for the phono input on the A5.

Is it clear enough for you?  Cheers,
C