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Why bi-amp your speakers?

A beginner's guide to getting better sound from bi-amp capable speakers

Author's note: This article covers bi-amping with a home theater receiver, also known as "passive bi-amping." It's written for folks who have bi-amp capable speakers, and a 7-channel home theater receiver with unassigned channels of power. 

There's another approach called "active bi-amping" that employs outboard crossovers, power amplifiers, and expert-level tweaking to achieve even better sound. One reason I don’t go into detail about active bi-amping in this article is that we don’t offer the gear you’d need to do it.

Bi-amped speaker connections

A bi-amp capable receiver uses two different pairs of amp channels for a single speaker. Here we show the connection points for the front right speaker in a home theater system.

I like getting the most out of my A/V gear. If there are features available that will improve my listening experience, I want to use them. A few years ago I upgraded my 5.1-channel home theater receiver to a 7.1-channel model. This gave me a chance to engage one of its lesser-known features — bi-amping.

I designated the two rear amp channels that weren’t being used with my five-speaker system to bi-amplify my front left and right floor-standing speakers. In other words, instead of just one channel of power going to each speaker, I now had two channels of power driving each speaker. The increase in the performance of my speakers was audible.

Why did bi-amping make a difference? Let's talk about the nuts and bolts of how it works first. Then we'll dive into what you need to bi-amp your speakers.

How does bi-amping work?

On the speaker side

Bi-amping is a speaker connection method that uses two channels of amplification to power a single speaker. It's commonly used with the front left and right speakers of a home theater system.

Instead of a speaker's woofer and tweeter sections sharing one channel of power, they each get dedicated channels of amplification. This feature is found on select tower speakers and premium bookshelf speakers.

Bi-amped speaker connections

A bi-amp capable speaker has two sets of input terminals for connecting to two separate receiver channels.

On the amplifier side

Many of us have a 7.1-channel home theater receiver, but only use it to power a five-speaker surround sound system. Bi-amp capable receivers let you redistribute the power from the sixth and seventh channel outputs for other applications.

You might use this extra pair of assignable channels to power rear surround speakers, speakers in a second zone, or in this case, to bi-amp your front left and right speakers. Connecting these channels to a pair of bi-amp capable speakers increases the amount of usable power that each speaker gets.

How does bi-amping make a difference?

Bi-amping provides more usable current to the speaker. Instead of a single channel’s worth of power divvied up between the woofer and tweeter sections, each speaker section gets a full channel’s worth of juice. Increasing the total amplifier power to each speaker provides more headroom and greater control, which can yield better sound.

There's a lot of debate in the audio world about the effectiveness of bi-amping — the comments at the bottom of the article are a testament to that!

Some folks say they can hear a difference. Others say it's no substitute for getting a bigger, more powerful amplifier.

Since bi-amping is a feature found in many home theater receivers and speakers, I recommend trying it for yourself to see whether or not it makes a difference in your system.

Setting up a bi-amped system

Here's a short checklist of what you need to get started:

  1. A 7.1 (or greater) home theater receiver with an unused pair of assignable amp channels.
  2. A pair of floor-standing speakers or bookshelf speakers that each have two sets of input terminals.
  3. Four sets of speaker cables (two sets for each speaker).

Preparing your speakers

Speaker jumpers connected

The first step to bi-amping your front speakers is removing the brass jumpers that link the top and bottom speaker terminals together.

Speaker jumpers disconnected

Removing the jumpers lets you connect separate receiver channels to each set of terminals.

Dive into your receiver's settings

To bi-amp your speakers, you need to enable this feature in your receiver. This setting is usually located in the speaker setup section of your receiver's menu. Designate the unused assignable channels to bi-amp your front speakers.

Assignable speaker connections

On this Denon receiver, the surround back outputs are assignable as bi-amp channels. Each one pairs with a front channel to increase power to your speakers.

Connect each set of speaker terminals to the receiver

Once your receiver is set up to bi-amp, it's time to connect your speakers. One set of speaker cables connects to the front left and right outputs on your receiver. The second set connects to the assigned bi-amp channels.

Since each speaker cable is carrying a full-range signal it generally doesn't matter which channels plug into the top or bottom sets of speaker input terminals. But refer to your owner's manuals to see if there's a preferred connection point.

Make the right connection

There are a few different types of speaker cables that you can use to connect your bi-amped speakers.

A popular choice is buying bulk wire, cutting it into four equal lengths for each speaker, and adding banana connectors on each end. This gives you a simple, secure way to connect your gear together.

Pre-terminated speaker cables are also a good option for bi-amping.

Passive versus active bi-amping

The bi-amping method we describe in this article is sometimes called “passive bi-amping." That means the speaker’s internal crossovers are solely used to direct the traffic of the incoming signal.

Passive bi-amping doesn’t make any changes to the signal the speaker is receiving — it only increases the amount of available current being sent to each portion of the speaker.

This is different from "active bi-amping," which employs multiple amplifiers and external crossovers to achieve better sound. Active bi-amping can offer greater improvements in performance, but requires specialized gear and set up knowledge to pull off.

How is bi-wiring different from bi-amping?

Bi-amping uses two channels of amplification to power a speaker that has two sets of input terminals. Bi-wiring uses just one channel of amplification to power the same type of speaker. Bi-wiring is useful when you have a single stereo amplifier or receiver as your power source.

A bi-wire cable has one pair of connections on the amplifier end, but two pairs of connections on the speaker end. This lets it take a full-range signal from the amp and send it down separate paths, which can improve treble and bass performance.

Bi-wiring also removes the connective brass jumpers from the signal path, which are typically less conductive than bi-wire cables.

Personalized advice from our team of experts

Have questions about planning your new bi-amped system? Our expert Advisors know the gear inside and out. Contact us today

Free lifetime tech support is included with every Crutchfield purchase.

Please share your thoughts below.

  • knotscott from Rochester

    Posted on 11/26/2023

    "Deepak from San Jose Posted on 11/23/2023 Can you use the B speakers output from the receiver to bi-amp front speakers?" Most receivers that offer "A" and "B" speaker options end up running the A and B channels in parallel, which really just draws from the same amplifier output (which is why you need to be mindful of the speaker impedance if running two pairs of speakers from those). The scenario you described really ends up as "bi-wiring" vs "bi-amping". It's still a step in the right direction IMO, but is likely to offer only very subtle improvements. To bi-amp you'd need to add a second amp somehow (there are several ways). What improvements you can actually hear is always a variable that depends on the system resolution, setup, listening habits, source music, etc.

  • knotscott from Rochester

    Posted on 11/26/2023

    "Deepak from San Jose Posted on 11/23/2023 Can you use the B speakers output from the receiver to bi-amp front speakers?" Most receivers that offer "A" and "B" speaker options end up running the A and B channels in parallel, which really just draws from the same amplifier output (which is why you need to be mindful of the speaker impedance if running two pairs of speakers from those). The scenario you described really ends up as "bi-wiring" vs "bi-amping". It's still a step in the right direction IMO, but is likely to offer only very subtle improvements. To bi-amp you'd need to add a second amp somehow (there are several ways). What improvements you can actually hear is always a variable that depends on the system resolution, setup, listening habits, source music, etc.

  • Deepak from San Jose

    Posted on 11/23/2023

    Can you use the B speakers output from the receiver to bi-amp front speakers?

  • timothy powers from Hampton NH

    Posted on 8/8/2023

    Hello, This is more of a question and hopefully an educated one. I am an electrical engineer specifically a power conversion design engineer which although not audio amplifiers they are amplifiers. I dabble in audio but this concept although I understand it is new to me. One question I have is the terminology of the output power of the amplifier. I have a Denon AVR-X2700H which is rated at 95W/channel "2 channels driven"?? The 2 channels driven is my question. Are all outputs of the amplifier capable of the 95 watts per channel independently? If that is the case I am effectively (I'll use the word offering as the impedance determines the current used), 95w/channel to each side of my tower speakers (RP-8000II). So to sum it up would the power available be balanced using the main speaker output and the extreme rear speaker outputs to drive my speakers in bi amp mode

  • RC from Southbridge

    Posted on 7/26/2023

    I have focal three way components with a passive crossover with two sets of inputs . Focal does a lousy job of explaining what needs to be done ! I understand the second set of inputs drives the mid woofer only .the second set of inputs drives the midrange and tweeter . Do I have to send midwoofer signal thru active crossover first to cut the highs or does the passive crossover do this ? In other words if I send the same exact signal thru both inputs going into passive crossover will the mid woofer also get the mids and highs ? This is a very basic question I think and its odd its not covered in focal owners manual For 165KRX3 ( now superceded by 165 KX3) K2 three way components

  • PAVEL from Chicago

    Posted on 6/14/2023

    So, when using a single 7-channel receiver for bi-amping, since power module is same for all channels involved in bi-amping how does that increase current available to speakers?? Wouldn't we need separate amplifiers with dedicated power modules to actually increase available current?

  • Michael

    Posted on 5/30/2023

    There are very few scenarios in which bi-amplification will not benefit sound reproduction. Please note that amplification sections must very closely match each other on a per-channel basis so tone-matched amps are a necessity. It is not necessary to use physically separate amps so a multichannel receiver can perform the job if it has the ability to bi-amp. And these assignable multichannel amps have only recently become available to us in the past decade or so whereas bi-amp speakers predate that by at least another decade.

  • WENG KEE

    Posted on 5/22/2023

    Hi, I am interested to bi-amp my system. I am currently using E480 Accuphase integrated amp & would like to bi amp another Accuphase Power Amp. Should I use Class AB power amp or I can use Class A power amp to bi-amp? Thank you in advance for your advice & feedback.

  • WENG KEE

    Posted on 5/22/2023

    Hi, I am interested to bi-amp my system. I am currently using E480 Accuphase integrated amp & would like to bi amp another Accuphase Power Amp. Should I use Class AB power amp or I can use Class A power amp to bi-amp? Thank you in advance for your advice & feedback.

  • guci macu

    Posted on 4/28/2023

    For clarification please. I am trying to understand the application of Bi-Amp. Using a capable AVR (Denon 3313CI) to Bi-amp a pair of tower speakers (Emotiva T1). My understanding is this would increase the available current to each set of speakers in the cabinet. This would be good for increasing volume as well as separate the mids/highs and the lows. However, if the lows(subs) require more power than the mids and highs (ribbon tweeter) then wouldn't the mids and highs be overpowered as the volume (current) is turned up. Would this not cause a disproportionate amount of power to the mids/highs and low/subs. (ie. to much high/mids and not enough low/bass.

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