I currently have two BHK 250 vertically, passively biamped to my speakers (for each speaker, one channel of the amp powers the woofer, the other channel powers the mid and tweeter) Overall I am happy with the sound. I find it balanced. On a few songs, the treble may have too much energy and on other songs, I wish the bass had a bit more energy, but that may just be the content of the song and my ears. Overall, I am seeking a bit more musicality, emotion and warmth but am happy and love listening. I am musically greedy though and always want better.
I am considering swapping out the two BHK 250 for the BHK 300s. I don’t have a lot of experience but I really enjoy the voicing of the BHK amps. The consensus is that the 300’s are better than a single 250, but when I went from a single 250 to biamps, it was a nice improvement - not in power or slam, but in detail and imaging, better realism.
My system is an Aurender N150 streamer > Benchmark DAC3 > BHK Pre > biamped BHK 250 > Focal Scala Utopia Evo speakers. Shunyata PC and power cords.
Any advice from anyone is appreciated - not much out there in terms of biamped comparisons. Would two of the 300’s be an upgrade over two of the biamped 250’s? What might I expect in terms of change? Do you think it might improve the bass and add a bit of warmth? Would a different DAC be a better investment?
Yeesh, that’s a tough one.
I would start with a conversation with PS Audio about the sound characteristics of the 250 vs the 300s.
Maybe borrow a DAC that you might think is an upgrade over yours?
Part of your issue with the existing setup could be that you’re powering a single speaker with a single stereo BHK250 if I read your post correctly. So one amp channel powers the woofer and the other channel powers the mid/tweeter. Without any level control to better match the woofer output to the mid/tweeter output you may be either overdriving or underdriving the speaker drivers. Your amps might also be a bit unbalanced channel to channel since one is driving a woofer (usually higher power demand) and one is driving the mid/tweeter (usually lower power demand).
Ideally, you’d have one stereo amp driving both woofers and one stereo amp driving both mid/tweeters. You’d also need some form of crossover to control EQ, level, driver time alignment, etc. I’ve been using and been a big fan of active crossover control with an amp channel per driver. The dBx Venu360 is an excellent tool for the job and not crazy expensive.
NOTE: Not really sure what you mean by “passively biamped”.
Yes, many times. I wonder if the model number of the BHK 600’s was changed to BHK 666.
Wouldn’t it be twice as good as a 333? It is twice the rated power.
Hah. Mono amps have actually saved me money.
With Stealth interconnects (Sakra) and speaker cables (V18), costing way too much for each foot,
the shorter distance has saved much dinero.
The love affair with Stealth is another matter. More for my therapist.
Full Stealth cable loom, Gryphon power zone, multiple CAD grounding devices, NA Tempus, Muon Pro you can save all of us the saving dinero stories now! Lol
You blew past the saving dinero a long time ago!
