Monoblocks, passive bi-amped or passive tri-amped?


I have been doing lots of research, but to no avail. Some writers & speaker builders say you will get sonic benefits from passive bi or tri amping, some say you get nothing. Some say running 2 identical amps will give a 50% increase in power to the speaker…some say zero. IMO it seems logical that an amp pushing 1 driver, as opposed to many, would have an easier load, and thus more headroom, control, speed, detail, etc.

The options I’m considering:
250W D monoblocks
220W D bi-amped
140W A/B tri-amped

I can’t active amp…so need technical info on which of these would sound best, and why. Thanks!
manoterror
@Elizabeth: I'm gonna make a big assumption here...so don't hurt me. :-) I'm assuming that Mirage built them this way, and recommends multi-amping, as a means to better sound from the speaker. I've read the same of B&W speakers. Maybe it is a bad assumption...I just want to get the best sound out of them.

I look at it like a multi-processor PC...a PC with multiple processors, in general, runs better than a single processing PC. Just an analogy...not trying to get into that debate. Or a 12 cylinder engine as opposed to a 4...12 will perform magnificently comparatively. Does that make sense? Sometime I don't explain well. :-D
Bi-amping, whether you advocate it or not, is one of the largest wastes of Internet bandwidth. It is argued and discussed incessantly and each side of the argument never convinces the other. Even active bi-amping is disputable these days.

In this case, if the OP really believes his speakers are underpowered, I would advise him to buy a good 200wpc amp with the emphasis on good.
Yes the speakers mentioned by the OP (you) do have that option. Some posting is part for the OP and part for the years of searching and reading going to go on long after the OP forgets about the topic.
So I do tend to write a bit more than is needed.
Sorry.
(and i do tend to disparage multi amping. Folks CAN use it well, the trouble is folks who do not know much, wanting to do it. It is NOT easy to do well, and most people are better off just buying a bigger two channel amp straight up. Instead of buying a second amp, finding out it does not work out well, then pissed because they bought TWO amps and are still not happy.
Buy one better amp straight off will usually be much better, unless you are very lucky, or get professional help, or wait until you really know a LOT about it, (and then you would not need to ask a question about it here!)
So IMO you (and most folks) are far better off forgetting about biamping or triamping.
(and I am not disparaging people who do it, just so many ask about it who are in over thier heads about it, when usually it is not very practical. Like you need at least two sets of speaker wires, two or three sets of pre to amp interconnects, and the proper way to handle those if your pre does not have multiple outputs.)
Just trying to be helpful.
Thanks
Mano -- "I'm assuming that Mirage built them this way". That is unlikely: they would have supplied the crossovers separately had that been the case.

In my passive days, I invariably found that "single amping" with the (sonically) better amp invariably outperformed multi-amping with mediocre amps.

All things considered, you're probably best off using a good quality amplifier spec'd at, or above 100W / 8ohms.

If you opt for a multichannel amp, choose "quality" over higher power output specification... and drive the woofs separately.

IF you opt for a super multichannel amp, with discrete PS for each channel and you have channels to spare after hooking up whatever, you might as well drive the mids separately too.
I'll throw my 2 cents in. I currently have a pair of Mirage OM-9 that I am running in a passive horizontal bi-amp setup and they sound absolutely fantastic this way. I tried an normal stereo setup with them and they sounded ok, but nothing special. I went to the the bi-amp setup and it was like I went out and bought new speakers, the OM-9s just came to life. IMO Mirage designed their crossovers for exactly this type of setup. The amps I was using initally were NAD 2100 now I'm using a NAD 2100 for tweeters and a NAD 216 for the drivers.

I would suggest if you have or maybe can borrow and extra amp, give the bi-amp or tri-amp a try and see what you think. If you run the amps horizontally then they dont all have to be the same amp and will give you an idea if its worth spending the extra on more amps. If you are using different brand/model amps you will have to pay attention to phase as the amps may be out of phase with each other, but that is just a simple matter of flipping the wires around till you get the best sounding combination.