Bi-amping is the practice of using two audio amplifier channels to power a loudspeaker with multiple drivers.
Bi-amping is the act of using a single loud-speaker system, that is one channel of a speaker pair, with one channel handling only low frequency information and the other channel handling high frequency audio information.[1] The term derives from the prefix bi-, meaning 'two', and amp, a contraction of 'amplifier'. Bi-amping can be configured in two ways
A speaker system has to be wired to accommodate either configuration, typically with two sets of binding posts, one set for the bass and one set for the mid-highs. A single amplifier can usually power a woofer and a tweeter only through a crossover filter, which protects each driver from signals outside its frequency range. However, the crossovers themselves waste power; bi-amping along with active crossover components works around this problem by putting crossover networks before the amplifiers rather than between amplifiers and loudspeakers.
The technique is primarily used in large-scale audio applications such as sound amplification for concerts, in portable powered speakers and by hi-fi enthusiasts.
Most audible differences are subtle. If at all noticeable, benefits of bi-amping cannot be realized if passive crossover networks of a speaker system are not removed.[2] Benefits include transients are less likely to cause amplifier overload (clipping) and/or speaker damage, and reduced intermodulation distortion, elimination of errors introduced by low frequency passive crossover, reduction of load to the load presented to the power amplifier, better matching of power amplifier and speaker driver and others.[3]