Using Adcom GFA-555s as monoblocks to power magnepan 3.3s in active biamp


Yeah, a long title but it says it all.  Presently I have my rebuilt Magnepan 3.3rs actively biamped through a Marchand active crossover, then using 2 stereo amps to power bass and mid/treble respectively.

I am considering taking two Adcom GFA-555s and bridging them and using one each to power the bass panels of the maggies. 

Since the Magnepans are 4 ohm rated, however it's only the bass panels I'd be powering, what are your thoughts on stability?

Appreciate the help.  Don't need suggestions on "selling all my amps and buying one bigger one" - I have a lot of different amp options but am a tinkerer and want to see if the power of a bridged adcom would be good to control the bass panels. 

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Showing 1 response by decooney

@jji666 jji666 Since the Magnepans are 4 ohm rated, however it’s only the bass panels I’d be powering, what are your thoughts on stability?

 

Bridged.., unstable. Not that desirable. Sharing an experience if it helps, and firstly:

Why? What are you trying to accomplish? More bass...? Quality bass?

Quality-stable amplification is more important than driving amps bridged into 2ohms or 1-ohm for that matter. Speaker PLACEMENT and the ROOM itself what I found challenged or benefited me most on the 3.6s I demoed for a few weeks. In my case, it turned out the speakers were just way too big for my room. Smaller Maggies did much better in my situation. A friend brought a pair over. Way better. We tried moving them all over the place, wider, more forward, straight forward, toed in/out, try everything. And, why does a single GFA-555 not do it for you, sounds like a room issue or some kind of a synergy mismatch. A 555 is no slouch in stereo mode, 331.9W into 4 ohms. If that’s not enough power, something else going on there, Best of luck.