400 & 260 biamping

[Steinway]

Hi,

I plan to use dma 400 and 260 with a MIT Shotgun Y Connector from a DMC 15SS.
Its a interim system and the Speaker need more power than the 400 alone can deliver.. When I get new speakers I will sell the 260 and use just the 400s.

Anyone did this before or knows if that can work? Can this damage the amps or have the amps unequal volume levels?

thanks,

Matthias

 

[Steve Williams]

Wow

I thought the 400 could drive anything.

 

[Steinway]

I havent baught the 400s yet so I dont know exactly. What I know is that a 260 is not powerful enough and a 500 Wpc 4 ohm Amp from Linn had not enough bass and control too.

 

[zztop7]

Hi,

I plan to use dma 400 and 260 with a MIT Shotgun Y Connector from a DMC 15SS.
Its a interim system and the Speaker need more power than the 400 alone can deliver.. When I get new speakers I will sell the 260 and use just the 400s.

Anyone did this before or knows if that can work? Can this damage the amps or have the amps unequal volume levels?

thanks,

Matthias

Assumption: you are connecting the 260 to midrange & treble / 400 to bass /
Contact Spectral Audio.
You should have 2 left & 2 right outputs on the preamp that should take care of it [instead of the MIT].
You will be splitting the preamp output signal to the amps' inputs - that would not be a problem if the signal strength falls in the Proper Parameters of the 400 & 260 -CONTACT THEM after Spectral.
At this point I would NOT be concerned about volume differences / at this point "Do No Harm".

zz.

 

[Steinway]

The 15SS has only 1 pair of outputs and a tape output. Is it that what you mean? The 30SS has 1 unbalanced and 1 balanced output but not the 15SS. Does anyone know if the amps share the same gain?

 

[zztop7]

The 15SS has only 1 pair of outputs and a tape output. Is it that what you mean? The 30SS has 1 unbalanced and 1 balanced output but not the 15SS. Does anyone know if the amps share the same gain?

Therefore, back to the MIT.
Everything else written before remains the same [minus multiple outputs].
What did Spectral say about the MIT split?

zz.

 

[TooCool4]

You have not tried the DMA-400 and yet you think it will not drive your speakers based on a Linn amp that can’t drive your speaker?

Just a couple of questions 1, what speakers are they? And 2, how big is your room that you need 500 watts / channel into 4 ohms?

Spectral’s specs say DMA-400 mono blocks will output 560 Watts RMS into 4 ohms load and 705 Watts RMS into 2 ohm load.

Like has been said, the DMC15SS has only one output to the power amp.

 

[Mobiusman]

As a former non-believer that Spectral amps were truly finicky, after having a 260 and trying not to use MIT cables, it was clearly apparent that I was quite wrong and that MITs are required, both as IC's and speaker wire. Also, be very careful to judge Spectral amps by other amp standards. The 400's are quite powerful presuming that the sensitivity of the speakers is reasonable (89db and above) AND have a reasonable impedance curve that does not go below 2 ohms at ANY point. The protection circuit does not like significant output at frequencies with low impedances. Also the 400's have refined sound that the 260 cannot match, regardless of how good you think it is. I would prefer to play at a lower level than take away from its resolving power of the 400's. I have a 260 and my friends 400's give me great envy.