I would like to find a pair of mono amps to match to my existing pair for bi-amping. I have a pair of Restek Extract and want to find a pair of tube amps for the tweeters to match. I had contacted 1-2 manufacturers but all I get back is some muffling and waffling of the sort 'tweeters don't need much power...' - great, I knew that much - The best I got (I think) is that I was told that the amps need to have the same gain. But it does not say what the gain is in the specs, so how do I get to that and am I on the right track here at all? It feel like I am the first dude to every actually try this, despite every speaker having 2 pairs of posts ;) Many thanks for your input!
If you are going to an ACTIVE line level crossover, something like a MiniDSP will help with adjusting gain.
It should be possible to level match HF / LF using test tones and a calibrated mic. Or check out REW which will I think, do sweeps and generate graphics.
Thank you very much. Why are people omitting such important details when showing off the occasional highend system? Can there be "too much power"? I mean, the obvious thing is to scrap the tube amp idea and go for identical amps, but can I simply pump a tweeter with an e.g. 200 W amp? (in a passive setup) Or is that structurally what I would do anyway, if I were to use a single amp with much more power? Other than the Resteks, I had a pair of Audiolab 8200 MB rated at 250 W each, which I passed on to a buddy of mine, and when we are drunk and talk about audio, he always wants to get another pair for his little 2-way speakers (the old Infinity Modulus from the 1990s)... outside of the 100 ways this does not make any sense, is this a concern in terms of harming the speakers/tweeters? If you care, the all Audiolab-system looks pretty outrageous on a custom glass shelf up the wall, so having 4 fat black lumps of amps would be simply for the looks and nothing else, so it is hard to argue with that ;)
In short? The power needed for HF and LF is partly a function of crossover frequency. If you cross at a very high 10khz, you probably only need 10% to 15% total power ABOVE the crossover. As it turns out, the 50:50 point for power considering a 'normal' distribution is about 350hz. Yep.
Total power needed is maybe a function of a couple things. How sensitive is the speaker? (measured in db / watt / meter) How loud do you like it? What is the speakers power handling capacity. There are a couple ways to measure this, so do not rely entirely on the manufacturers advertising. Speakers get 'worse' as they warm. Warming is caused by electrical resistance in the drivers and crossover. And amounts to most of the power generated by the amplifier. It goes up as heat.
I'd recommend finding out more about biamp. I'll try to find an article but can't offhand, so it'll keep for a day or so.