question concerning my amps... please help

Hi there, (my first post)
I have a quad 99 system and have recently purchaced two 99 monoblocks to improve the system. I still have the stereo amp... however In the 99 amp manual it recomends using all three amps (stereo for mid and treb and the two monos for the bass).
I do have the correct wiring to do this setup however i am curious to know if it is necessary to go this extreme (will it make much difference?). Having a seperate mono for each speaker's base drivers (quad 22l) shld add depth to the base and increase soundstage, and using the quadlink it will balance all three amps. Can anybody give any advice (i would like to keep all three, but if its not worth it i will sell the stereo and simply biamp).
Thanks for any help/advice
Matt

 

Matt - welcome to the forum

If you have the correct and necessary cabling to try it then do just that and decide for yourself if the improvement (if any) in sound quality is worth it or whether you'd be better to sell the stereo amp and perhaps upgrade something else (speaker cable, source etc).

Technically it might seem to make sense but I've never been especially convinced of the real benefits of bi/triamping , biwiring etc, especially with a relative standard speaker like your Quads.

 

thanks,
well my cable is chord rumour 4 terminated 4-4, so it 'should' work well with the system.
Curious to know what you mean by 'standard' speaker, i was under the impression that the 22ls were alot above standard, i auditioned them over many 'higher priced' speakers (proac, totum and monitoraudio) and they really stood out.

 

I don't think he ment that ....standard in terms of cones rather than electrostatics ..maybe.

For my take on it .....I think you will be supprised by the effect of letting the monos do the bass!

 

Also try other configurations, I would thing the better separation the mono's offer would better serve the mid and treble.

 

yea that was the alternative setup, having the stereo do the bass and have one mono per mid and trebble, so would you think this would make more of a 'better' difference?
thanks

 

and btw... Thanks for the support, this is by far the fastest and most helpful hifi forum i have visited, i think i'll stick around...

 

Try it and let us know - I use a separate amp for each driver in my system. I think you will hear an improvement.

 

WOW...i am using the system in a smallish room, and i hooked the monos up to the bass and (even though it is supposed to balance it through quadlink) the bass was rather dominating. I then switched the wires so the monos went to the mid and treb and the stereo powered the bass, and it has made a nice difference, the bass isn't so swamping and the mid and treb shine through more, thanks for the advice (i had always assumed monos were better for hokking up with bass)... but wow what a difference, thanks. Any more advice/thoughts??
cheers

 

The general thought is to put the better *quality* amp on the top end. That's not always the same as the more powerful. It depends on the spcific sytem to a degree, but passive multiamping often does not make much difference. If the sound quality were the same, I'd be tempted to put the beefier amp or the one with more power supply to itself, so to speak, on the bass end, sine that is where most of the actual watts are consumed, as Quad seem to advise (reading between the lines). There'd probably be a bigger improvement with an active option, if they offer one, though down that road lies much expense, at least in the Linn world.

 

would it be better perhaps to use the two monoblock 99 amps for the base, and purchace a set of valve amps to handle top end?

 

Only a good idea if they all have the same gain.

 

And only if you like the amp

 

Yes, the gain is not always clear in the manufacturer's figures, and is a separate concept to the watts RMS output: it's the ratio of the output voltage to unit input voltage expressed in dB. )Linn's amps are all about 28.5 dB regardless of the watts out, to help the addicts mix and match in active amping.) Not to mention that some circles for some reason don't advise mixing brands, or even different models from the same manufacturer. The latter is suspect, but the gain issue is certainly real.