Biwire Martin Logans?

[Khanhrad]

Hi All,

I am a newbie to audiophilia and Martin Logan in particular. I have ML Vantage as my fronts in a 5.1 setup. I recently purchased a Sunfire Signature 400~5 amp. Should I biwire the Vantages? Does biwiring (not biamping) makes a difference with MLs? If so, do other Sunfire amp owners use the "Current" or "Voltage" option, or both? Thanks all!

 

[Spike]

Bi-Amping by default

The Vantages with their built-in bass amplifiers (and internal crossover) are by definition bi-amp ready. The SunFire amplifier only needs to power the panels to complete the bi-amping configuration. Given this is the case, I really doubt that you will realize any benefit with bi-wiring the Vantages at all. Theoretically, bi-wiring with SunFire may work well with older ML models (without internal bass amplifiers) but not with the Summits nor Vantages.

Spike

 

[roberto]

Hi All,

I am a newbie to audiophilia and Martin Logan in particular. I have ML Vantage as my fronts in a 5.1 setup. I recently purchased a Sunfire Signature 400~5 amp. Should I biwire the Vantages? Does biwiring (not biamping) makes a difference with MLs? If so, do other Sunfire amp owners use the "Current" or "Voltage" option, or both? Thanks all!

Hola and welcome to the club. Your new Vantage are capable to use your biwired cables, because you already have them, so you don't loose your bought of an expensive cables...or the need to buy a new cables. The truth is that they don't need to be biwired. Use always, "current mode" on your Sunfire amp, due that the impedance of the stat panels are almost a short circuit at 20Khz. (less or closed to 1 ohm) and are very difficult to drive. Your Sunfire is capable to drive this very low impedance in the current mode. Hope this can help...happy listening,
Pura vida,
Roberto.

 

[Khanhrad]

Thank you everyone for the input. Spike, you're right about not biamping the Vantages. I'll try the Current source on the Sunfire, but I heard that the Voltage source is "tighter" in response... Oh well...

 

[Craig]

You can try both "Current" or "Voltage" source outputs on your Sunfire but most of find the "Current" source output from the Sunfire amp more pleasing to listen to. It sounds a little smoother, less bright, more "tube-like" than the
"Voltage" output so-to-speak.

I currently have a Sunfire Cinema II driving my Aeons and I have them Shotgun wired meaning I have a pair of wires from the "Current" output to the panels and another pair going from the "Voltage" output to the woofers. This configuration should be the best of both worlds. If I was using the Sunfire to drive the Summits (or a pair of Vantage) then I would not bother with Shotgun wiring or Biwiring becuase these new speakers are literally Bi-Amped and their bass is very tuneable. I would just use the "Current" output for either of the new speakers.