BI-AMP ALTEC 19'S ?

[BRAD OURSO]

Has anyone ever bi-amped model 19's, and if so what type of crossover is best?
Also, what kind of sound improvements may be expected?
I own a pair now with the original crossovers and have been thinking of bi-amping......just wondering if it is worth it?

[Jim Easley]

Brad,
I have bi-amped the Model Nineteen and it is worth it. Many any of the recent 24 bit DSP based speaker system controllers are perfect for the application. You can expect much better dynamics and much more user control.

[boltupright]

Brad; I'm in the same boat as you,I just bought a pair of Quad II power amps & I'm planning to use them for the horns & I want to use solid state for the 15" drivers.A friend lent me an old Pioneer 3 way crossover that I need to figure out how to use it 2 way. I'll post more after I get it working.

[Altec19]

Greetings All,

Here are some comments from Todd W. White, the esteemed owner of this board, made in an earlier posting:

When I was an Altec contractor, we used to build Model 19 reproductions after Altec quit building them.
The crossovers, as are all GOOD ones, are designed specifically for the Model 19, and do NOT sound "right" when used on other speaker systems. Not only do they "cross" the sound "over", they also provide important equalization for the speaker, based upon it's performance characteristics, as measured anechoically.

Electronic bi-amplification doesn't always work, either, because it is often more work than it is worth to keep tweaking the electronics when you can just use the original design.

http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...c&f=3729&t=526

Later . . .

[thevott]

I have have not tryed bi-amping my Model Nineteens but I do bi-amp other Altec systems. I am so happy with bi-amplification---its flexibility and other advantages---that I find passive networks to be somewhat obsolete, though it does allow for a self contained passive system. The Model 19 is clearly an excellent speaker system with a properly tailored network but will surely sound good and rock the house down either way you run it.
thevott

[boltupright]

HEY.... perhaps there is something to what Todd says about bi-amping 19's I figured out how to use the crossover but to my dismay,the closest to the 1200 point I can get is 1000 herts it sounds good but not great.Would 200 herts make that much difference? The definition is better but it lacks the snare drum sweetness that the standard crossovers provide.Should I get the active crossover modified to cross over at 1200 or should I just leave well enough alone.The Quad II tube mono blocks sound incredible but the bass isn't defined & I like to play a little loud.

[boltupright]

I got the crossovers working better & now am happy with the sound of my 19's bi-amped!