Powering a center channel with a two channel amp

Yeah, I should have looked at my amps manual before posting.  I was going off a theater sound installers advice, which he said to just use one channel of the amp to power the center, and when I searched that, it wasn’t an option.

I learned that I can run my MC352 in either parallel or mono, to power my center.  My only concern is that when doing that, it cuts the impedance of the amp in half.  So the amp would be 4 ohms and the speaker is 8, with 3 being the lowest.

Huh, well, I guess I’ll have to talk with my McIntosh guy about that.  Everything I read on the web suggested or said that center channel audio couldn’t be amplified correctly with a left or right channel from the amp.  My take off was that a left channel would pull left channel audio and not the full center audio sound.  I have absolutely no education in this area, as to how the amp actually amplifies sound.  If an amplifier purely amplifies sound, which is what I originally thought, then what Jeffbig should work.  Not sure how muvluv’s set up would work correctly, I guess if you ran a 2 to 4 rca?

I got an email back from Mike, from Audio Classics, and he iterated the proper set up being parallel and mono.

Ok, I’m impressed with the quantity and quality of the responses.  Thank you so much!  I’m back to what I was originally recommended to do by the audio guy that I’m working with, in building a million + dollar home theater, in a 48 million dollar house.  I’m doing the wood work.  I wanted to confirm his recommendation, and AI just screwed with my head.  Thanks again!

Hey Jea48,

I’m curious what you mean, wrong advice?

One thing I never do is fallow feelings or gut.  I’m looking for correct information.

in reference to the 6015, yep, one thing at a time.  I do have an INNUOS ZENMINI MK3 MUSIC SERVER-STREAMER and a INNOUS POWER SUPPLY, and Kaleidescape for movies.

B&W CM10 LR & matching B&W CM Center 2.  I’m currently testing a HTM71 S3, and haven’t been able to make a decision between the two.  The vocals are definitely more pronounced on the new center, but not sure about blending in with my LR.  I’m waiting for my new amp to make that decision.

Thanks for that Erik!!

So, what Muvluv said was correct then.  You can use the left for the tweeter and mid, and right for the bass.  Currently, I have a bi wire cord, so I’ll have to change that.  I like this idea better than bridging, mainly for the reason of impedance.  I don’t even know how many cords I’ve changed out now, because of various changes 🙃