Advantages of bi-amping with one amp?

摘要

Recently I bought an Onkyo TX-SR605 AV receiver for my separate home theatre only set up. Your lab tests [HFN, Oct '07] showed that it delivered 2 × 130W and 5 × 95W. It runs hot and sounds very nice and I am beginning to listen to more and more music on this set-up, increasingly ignoring my stereo music-only system. As I do not use the rear channels of the Onkyo I can reassign them and bi-amp the ATC SCM 7s I use as front speakers. While there may be theoretical advantages to passive bi-amping when using two completely different amps, what are the advantages, if any, of this set up? The reason I ask is that as they share a common power supply am I not correct in thinking the total wattage is likely to drop? I don't want to trade any potential advantage of bi-amping with the prospect of clipping due to inadequate power, as I listen at rather loud levels. By the way, in the November '07 issue of Howe Cinema Choice the same Onkyo receiver was measured at just 30W with five channels driven. I have to say that I am a bit puzzled by this.