2. amps-preamps
  3. 1051998323

Can I/Should I Bridge my power amp?

I use a 6 channel parasound amp (HCA-806) and my main speakers are Totem Rokks. I can bridge four channels to two, but the speakers' impedance are 4 ohms, and as I understand it, bridging channels effectively halves the impedance the amp is seeing, so that with 4 ohm speakers, I'd be asking my amp to drive a 2 ohm load. I'm a little worried about straining the amp and/or feeding too much power to the speakers. The Parasound is a high current amp with a plenty beefy transformer, but I don't want it to melt on me. Please help if you can with advice on whether I can safely bridge my amp.

Thanks.

D

The amp is rated as follows:

Continuous Power Output:
80 watts RMS x 6, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 ohms, all channels driven
120 watts RMS x 6, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 ohms, all channels driven
Continuous Power Output - Bridged
180 watts RMS, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8, each bridged channel, 3+4, 5+6
Current Capacity
30 amperes peak, per channel

The Speakers' specs:
� Impedance: 4 ohms
� Sensitivity: 88 dB/W/m. Maximum SPL 102 dB before dynamic compression.
� Minimum power: 20 watts at 4 ohms
� Maximum power: 80 watts
dkidknow

Showing 1 response by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
When an amp is put into bridged mode, it effectively sees half of what the rated impedance of the speaker is. In this case, a nominal 4 ohm load would look like a 2 ohm load to the bridged amp. While the Parasound might drive such a load without major problems, my thoughts are that the tonal balance would be noticeably altered. You can give it a try and see how things work, but i would refrain from standing on the throttle until you were pretty sure that things were holding together and that the sonics would be something to your long-term liking. So long as you've got the proper fuses in the amp, all i can see happening is popping a fuse prior to things went into melt-down. Sean
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