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Anybody have an actively multi-amplified system?

Hello,

I am one of the very rare breeds that has a fully active system, 6 Jeff Rowland monoblocks running Klipschorns with an Accuphase F-25V electronic crossover in front of the amplifiers, and the passive crossovers taken out of the speakers. It sounds absolutely phenomenal, like nothing else out there. I've been in the business 35 years and have yet to meet anyone (in home audio at least) who has done something similar. It's done all the time in pro audio, yet nobody talks about it for home use. It's widely known that an actively amplified setup simply IS better than any passively crossed over speaker, since the dividing is done before the amplifier, each amplifier only amplifies a certain frequency range, and then the output of the amplifier is connected directly to an individual driver with nothing in between. If anyone has such a setup, is interested in learning more about one, or wants to throw in their 2 cents, please do! It's about time we did talk about this, and I can't believe in all these years more companies haven't actively (pun intended) embraced this type of setup. Also, if anyone has crossover cards for an F-25V crossover, please let me know!!!
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dentdog's avatar
dentdog
300 posts
 
While putting some components together for a system my mind tells me to go the actice route. Mind you, I've not had anything since my MCintosh 275s, JBL Pyramids and Winn Strain Guage cartridge in the 80s. So now for starters it's a Clearaudio Maestro cart w/ BAT VK P10 SE.and Zesto Leto pre.
Jim Smith (Get Better Sound) lives nearby so he's a resourse. My question is: If I tri-amp or bi-amp a set of Salk Soundscape 12s how do I get the right amps? Jim says in his book that for coherence identical amps are best. If I use 200-300 watts on the bottom end do I need the same for the mid-highs? On the other hand, Dennis Murphy crossovers in the Salks are nothing to sneeze at.
I have a pair of Mcintosh MC 60s tube amps being reworked by DeWick. How do I match amps for coherence?
ferrellms
12 posts
 
Yes - if you want loud and clean at the same time, it is the best way to go. I have Mackie HR624mk2 monitors - internally biamped with 100w for the woofers and 40w for the tweeters - and a Velodyne powered subwoofer. Tri-amped! When I started fooling around with stereo 40 years ago, I never would have expected to have a tri-amp setup. My current setup is much more dynamic than the B&Ws with the 400 watt amp I had before.
austinacoustic's avatar
austinacoustic
4 posts
 
I use a 4-way Accuphase F-25.
Fully active system with multi amps is simply a whole other level.
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soundsbeyondspecs
122 posts
 
I recently upgraded my front cabinets with 3-way stereo active crossovers, new tweeters and mid range drivers. My front end is a Proceed transport, AVP2+6, AMP5 and Lexicon LX-7. The SEA Millennium tweeters and SEAS 8” woven CURV mid bass drivers use the 125 watt AMP5, and the original 15” bass driver the 250 watt Lexicon.

Active crossovers greatly unleashed the drivers clearest musicality, plus, they seemed to remove problems I thought were upstream. The AC’s separate bass, mid, and tweeter volume controllers are the cleanest tone controls I’ve ever used to correct poor recordings. The Cello Palette owners manual has a good reference on how to adjust high end tone controls. The SEAS Millennium tweets and the 8” woven CURV woofer-mid is a seamless dynamic combo. Their active XO’s are set at 300 and 2K.
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