Where to find a stereo amp with 2 outputs per stereo channel

di11on

Hi folks,

I have an old set of speakers from an old Hi-fi that I really like both in terms of their aesthetics and their sound. The stereo itself is bulky and the CD and Tape players are both dead - so I'm just using the aux input. The quality is nice, but the thing is big and bulky and I want to replace it with a small amplifier with just an aux and maybe bluetooth inputs.

The speakers have two inputs each, one for treble and one for bass I guess. For the life of me, I can't find an amplifier that has two outputs per stereo channel. I can find 2.1 amps, stereo amps, and even 4 channel amps - but none of these are doing what I want - a separate treble and bass signal per stereo channel.

I'm not even sure what search terms to use exactly. Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance!

andy1249

Post a picture of the connectors on the back of the speakers , also any label that might be on there.

It sounds like they are bi-wireable , lots of speakers are like that , and you don't need any special amp for that, but you need to post a pic just to make sure its not some weird proprietary setup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-wiring

All you should need is the impedance/power rating of the speakers and buy an amp that suits.

di11on

andy1249 wrote: »

Post a picture of the connectors on the back of the speakers , also any label that might be on there.

It sounds like they are bi-wireable , lots of speakers are like that , and you don't need any special amp for that, but you need to post a pic just to make sure its not some weird proprietary setup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-wiring

All you should need is the impedance/power rating of the speakers and buy an amp that suits.

Super, thanks!

What do I search for exactly to find amplifiers that support bi-wiring? So far, I've struggled with this.

Here are a couple of pictures

di11on

Hey - so looking into bi-wiring a little - it seems that normally it is the same amplifier output that is run via two sets of cables to the hf and lf speaker inputs. However, in my case, it looks like the stereo produces two independent outputs for the lf and hf inputs. Perhaps internally these connect to the same output, but I can't be sure.

Is there such a thing as an amp that produces separate lf and hf signals for each stereo channel?

Idleater

di11on wrote: »

Is there such a thing as an amp that produces separate lf and hf signals for each stereo channel?

Normally in these cases the 2 of the 4 binding posts for a channel would have a filter on them. Mine say HF/LF but if I just connect to the main ones I get the full range. You need 4 independent wires obviously for full bi wire.

di11on

Idleater wrote: »

Normally in these cases the 2 of the 4 binding posts for a channel would have a filter on them. Mine say HF/LF but if I just connect to the main ones I get the full range. You need 4 independent wires obviously for full bi wire.

Thanks for that. Is there a way to easily find amps that have these HF/LF outputs? What would I search for? Could you give me a specific amp model that has them perhaps and I could work form there?

Idleater

di11on wrote: »

Thanks for that. Is there a way to easily find amps that have these HF/LF outputs? What would I search for? Could you give me a specific amp model that has them perhaps and I could work form there?

Had a quick browse on richersounds and here's one random one I found
https://www.richersounds.ie/p-200349-cambridge-audio-azur-851a-silver-silver-stereo-amplifier.aspx

Having 4 binding posts is not necessarily a high-end feature - there are more expensive (I sorted price high>low) that have 2 posts. No doubt there are cheaper that have 4 as well.

di11on

Idleater wrote: »

Had a quick browse on richersounds and here's one random one I found
https://www.richersounds.ie/p-200349-cambridge-audio-azur-851a-silver-silver-stereo-amplifier.aspx

Having 4 binding posts is not necessarily a high-end feature - there are more expensive (I sorted price high>low) that have 2 posts. No doubt there are cheaper that have 4 as well.

It has 8 binding posts - but they are just the same signal, no - this amp says that it supports two pairs of speakers, but the signals are identical - i.e. no hf/lf split ?

Idleater

di11on wrote: »

It has 8 binding posts - but they are just the same signal, no - this amp says that it supports two pairs of speakers, but the signals are identical - i.e. no hf/lf split ?

8 binding posts
2 channels, left and right is 4 each
1 channel has HF + - and LF + -

I said it my earlier post that the signal at one is both HF + LF and the other is filtered to one of HF or LF.

If you want the same full signal at the full amp rating to each speaker look at bi-amping, but that's a whole extra world.

di11on

Idleater wrote: »

8 binding posts
2 channels, left and right is 4 each
1 channel has HF + - and LF + -

Thanks - this is exactly what I'm looking for - but I didn't see that information anywhere in the link you posted, so I was just checking. Where do you see that it has HF + - and LF + - ?

Idleater

di11on wrote: »

. Where do you see that it has HF + - and LF + - ?

I looked at the back panel image. In this case the outputs are a and b. The manual for the model number will explain the wiring options.

In this case the website has the blurb:

...while two sets of speaker terminals allow for bi-wiring or running additional speakers in a second location.

andy1249

OK , this is a case of the aforementioned "weird proprietary" system.

This is not a bi wired system , it has a subwoofer feed and a satellite feed to the proprietary speaker system.

Its a kind of very non standard "subwoofer + satellite speaker" system in a box.

Speakers can be used with the original system only and not with any off the shelf standard amplifier.
The manual is here ,

https://shop.panasonic.com/support-only/SC-PM25.html

Page 6 very specifically warns of a risk of damage or fire if these speakers are used with any other system, as does the label on the speaker.