Got some Linn ninjas and have a few QSC 1500A's, was wondering if I should Biamp. Most of the posts , say not any advantage to speak of and really not worth doing . Doesn't make sense to me that all the speaker makers make it available and especially on the linn's with the reversing terminal plates. Also on the QSC's I thought hooking them up conventionally they are 8 ohm , do they go into 4 ohm automatically when hooking up 4 ohm speakers?. Thanks RJ
Linn Ninkas and QSC1500A Amps
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The speaker manufacturers do it in order to compete with one another because people continue to believe that passive biamplification has some value. The audio industry makes a living pandering to beliefs and myths.
Amplfiers simply deliver the current drawn by the speakers, whatever that is. Lower impedances draw more current than higher impedances. The problems occur when the speaker draws more current than the amplifier can deliver. The amp has no idea what the impedance rating of the speaker is. It just delivers the current demanded by the load.
The speaker manufacturers do it in order to compete with one another because people continue to believe that passive biamplification has some value. The audio industry makes a living pandering to beliefs and myths.
Amplfiers simply deliver the current drawn by the speakers, whatever that is. Lower impedances draw more current than higher impedances. The problems occur when the speaker draws more current than the amplifier can deliver. The amp has no idea what the impedance rating of the speaker is. It just delivers the current demanded by the load.
Depends on what you are talking about.
If you are talking about this hookup:
http://www.lotus340r.net/manuals/linn/Linn-Ninka-user-manual.pdf
Then that is passive biamping and it will get you less than 2 dB more SPL based on an optimistic analysis. That's a barely audible amount of increase in max SPL. Seems hardly worth the trouble and risk.
If you are talking about this:
Then you can obtain better results and it might be worth the trouble. I recommend that you also have a good measurement system on hand such as one centerpieced by Room Eq Wizard (freeware) and a good measurement-type microphone for setting levels for maximum smoothness, etc.
Frankly, I've heard Linn-based setups like this that were adjusted by ear and I felt that the sound was gosh-awful. IMO it would have been better with the speakers hooked up the simplest possible way. However, with the right technical support it might be advantageous.
I think that sometimes features like this are just hedges against loosing a sale to some other manufacturer who is able to get the sale by offering a questionable feature that is made up of a few pennies worth of wire and speaker terminals.
Really robust amps like the QSCs are usually designed to thrive with 2 ohm loads per channel, let lone 4 ohm loads. They are loafing with 4 ohm loads. They don't need any internal or external adjustments to happily do what they do.
Depends on what you are talking about.
If you are talking about this hookup:
http://www.lotus340r.net/manuals/linn/Linn-Ninka-user-manual.pdf
Then that is passive biamping and it will get you less than 2 dB more SPL based on an optimistic analysis. That's a barely audible amount of increase in max SPL. Seems hardly worth the trouble and risk.
If you are talking about this:
Then you can obtain better results and it might be worth the trouble. I recommend that you also have a good measurement system on hand such as one centerpieced by Room Eq Wizard (freeware) and a good measurement-type microphone for setting levels for maximum smoothness, etc.
Frankly, I've heard Linn-based setups like this that were adjusted by ear and I felt that the sound was gosh-awful. IMO it would have been better with the speakers hooked up the simplest possible way. However, with the right technical support it might be advantageous.
I think that sometimes features like this are just hedges against loosing a sale to some other manufacturer who is able to get the sale by offering a questionable feature that is made up of a few pennies worth of wire and speaker terminals.
Really robust amps like the QSCs are usually designed to thrive with 2 ohm loads per channel, let lone 4 ohm loads. They are loafing with 4 ohm loads. They don't need any internal or external adjustments to happily do what they do.
thanks so much for the info. I had bought 10 of the 60 QSC1500A amps they had when the IMAX theater closed and sold there equipment . Put 5 in a rack with a Yamaha 2010 Advantage Receiver( seems to have a very good auto EQ measuring system) . The Amps sure looked nice lit up but the fans resonated along with the projector fan, so I piped them downstairs . under the HT. had all the 12Ga wire run for biamping all surround sound speakers just never bothered with the paradigms I had , but setting up the Linns , it looked like they were deffinetly encouraging the Biamping procedure ,
maybe in an attempt to upscale there tri amp card system . Very Very Happy with the Linn Ninkas running on the common passive
left /Right channels. Also on Biamping , do the components crossover at the same points with internal crossover. Thanks RJ
maybe in an attempt to upscale there tri amp card system . Very Very Happy with the Linn Ninkas running on the common passive
left /Right channels. Also on Biamping , do the components crossover at the same points with internal crossover. Thanks RJ
I'm not a Linn fan or guru, but AFAIK the Aktiv crossover cards are tuned by Linn for the Linn speaker system they are used with.
If the particular flavor of Linn Aktiv cards that you need are not in new production, then it is probably up to you and the used equipment market to find what you need. You might want to start on Audiogon and eBay.
Linn Ninka Aktiv cards are just circuit cards and need an appropriate card cage. Naturally one place to find a card cage for Linn Aktiv cards is a Linn Power amp.
I'm not a Linn fan or guru, but AFAIK the Aktiv crossover cards are tuned by Linn for the Linn speaker system they are used with.
If the particular flavor of Linn Aktiv cards that you need are not in new production, then it is probably up to you and the used equipment market to find what you need. You might want to start on Audiogon and eBay.
Linn Ninka Aktiv cards are just circuit cards and need an appropriate card cage. Naturally one place to find a card cage for Linn Aktiv cards is a Linn Power amp.
Thanks, but i am not interested at all in the active bi amping .Just thought since I have a few amps setting idle in the rack if there was any real literature out there that states any reason
to biamp other than be able to utilize and control the High end with smaller smaller amps .
.
to biamp other than be able to utilize and control the High end with smaller smaller amps .
.
I have had these speakers for a week now and think there great . When I got the speakers the plates were set up to use the bi/tri amp aktiv two pair of inner terminals like pictured in second diagram . Rereading your post , I'm thinking that maybe your saying I can hook them up that way and use the Yamaha RX-A 2010 internal automatic EQ setup system . I had been thinking that only the Linn aktiv amp would work with these terminals . Now I'm thinking maybe the Linn aktiv system is merely an Automatic/manual EQ system similar to the inboard Yamaha YPAO system.
If this might be the case ,it might be nice to hook them up the way they were when I got them.
Should I set the QSC amps hooked to the tweeters to a lower setting then the woofers . Always wondered where to actually set the level knobs on the power amps , when using the automatic EQ systems . It does concern me when I read that maybe should be using smaller amps on the tweeters, but they are all the 1500A's. Thanks for the response RJ
If this might be the case ,it might be nice to hook them up the way they were when I got them.
Should I set the QSC amps hooked to the tweeters to a lower setting then the woofers . Always wondered where to actually set the level knobs on the power amps , when using the automatic EQ systems . It does concern me when I read that maybe should be using smaller amps on the tweeters, but they are all the 1500A's. Thanks for the response RJ
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