4343 biamping adventures

[Goldjazz]

Hi all I've just started playing with biamping. Just after some advice.

So I've got a JBL M552 external x-over. I'm feeding it with my Sansui au10000 for the highs and a Crown CE 2000 for the lows. Basically what I'm finding is the highs sound great but lows are muddy and not loud, no amount of tweaking makes the lows good. I've experimented with changing the x-over point all over the place as well as the gain for the the lows and highs etc. I'm wondering if the x-over itself is crapped out for the low pass section.

I just got the crown, its a pretty low end amp but when I'm feeding the crown with the preamp of the Sansui, using the internal x-over of the 43's it's the best I've heard to 43's sound...pretty nice. I've lost a bit of the finesse and clarity of just using the sansui but the punchiness etc with the crown is much better.

The result for biamping the highs is very promising. Either the internal x-over caps
are no longer great or dedicating an amp to the highs is producing better clarity. So I definitely want to persist .

Any ideas on how to sort out the external x-over appreciated. If there's no joy I'll be returning the m552 and getting the Ashley that many of you folks seems to have success with.

[hjames]

Hi all I've just started playing with biamping. Just after some advice. So I've got a JBL M552 external x-over. I'm feeding it with my Sansui au10000 for the highs and a Crown CE 2000 for the lows. Basically what I'm finding is the highs sound great but lows are muddy and not loud, no amount of tweaking makes the lows good. I've experimented with changing the x-over point all over the place as well as the gain for the the lows and highs etc. I'm wondering if the x-over itself is crapped out for the low pass section. I just got the crown, its a pretty low end amp but when I'm feeding the crown with the preamp of the Sansui, using the internal x-over of the 43's it's the best I've heard to 43's sound...pretty nice. I've lost a bit of the finesse and clarity of just using the sansui but the punchiness etc with the crown is much better. The result for biamping the highs is very promising. Either the internal x-over caps are no longer great or dedicating an amp to the highs is producing better clarity. So I definitely want to persist . Any ideas on how to sort out the external x-over appreciated. If there's no joy I'll be returning the m552 and getting the Ashley that many of you folks seems to have success with.

I'd drop the $100 or so for a used Ashly and give it a chance - it was much superior to the M552 that I had. Another tip might be to use matching amps - at least the same brand, if not the same model ... I started with JBL/UREI 6230 and 6260 - then switched to a pair of Adcom GFA-55s ...

[martin2395]

Connect the speaker cables from the Crown directly do the 2231A, not through the terminal on the back. The rotary switch and thin cables weaken the lows a lot.
In my case the difference in gain was enormous when I connected the woofers directly to the K2.

When you are done choosing the right xover frequency grab an active crossover with fixed freq. cards.
They are much more accurate and often sound better.

[grumpy]

You're flipping the polarity of the woofers when you're swapping in a 24dB/oct filter vs the stock 12dB/oct slope right? (or at least trying that, as your amps may or may not both preserve signal polarity). Just a thought.

[Goldjazz]

You're flipping the polarity of the woofers when you're swapping in a 24dB/oct filter vs the stock 12dB/oct slope right? (or at least trying that, as your amps may or may not both preserve signal polarity). Just a thought.

Yeah I tried a whole bunch of stuff last night, including changing polarity. Also just played the low section on it's own, muting the hi section, and tried two different amps to drive the lows.

[Goldjazz]

Connect the speaker cables from the Crown directly do the 2231A, not through the terminal on the back. The rotary switch and thin cables weaken the lows a lot.
In my case the difference in gain was enormous when I connected the woofers directly to the K2.

When you are done choosing the right xover frequency grab an active crossover with fixed freq. cards.
They are much more accurate and often sound better.

Yep there was a build up of corrosion in that switch so I spray deoxit and worked it back and forth. It then started clicking at the end of it's travel like something sprung was dropping in place, which I think is what should happen. But yeah as a final check I just went direct to the woofer and no real improvement.

[Goldjazz]

[QUOTE=hjames;367596]I'd drop the $100 or so for a used Ashly and give it a chance - i.... Another tip might be to use matching amps - at least the same brand, if not the same model ...

Yep the Ashly is the next stop if I don't get any love with the m552. I don't think the issue is matching the amps with each other, but perhaps both amps don't work well with that x-over with regards to the Low pass only, as the highs sound good with both amps.