Will the 4 ohm double if I bridge my Mcintosh???

The reason that most amps aren't rated at 4 Ohms when bridged is that bridging effectively drops the load in half. In other words, the "300 watts bridged into 8 Ohms" is twice the "150 watts into 4 Ohms" rating, because both channels are driving half of one 8 Ohm speaker. Putting a 4 Ohm load across a bridged amp makes each channel think it is actually driving 2 Ohms. The amp isn't rated for it, and will likely get very hot if you drive it at high levels (which is usually the justification for bridging in the first place).

Thanks for the input guys. Looks like my new speakers will be limited to Newer Klipshes & Or Paradigms then. Or Maybe a "Big O' Mac" will be in my future as well, LOL. I'll hate having to get rid of the 7100 it's really a nice sounding\looking amp.

Yeah, The Book on My Rotel RB 976 states that when bridged do not connect anything less than a 8Ohm load as well.

Kzelin: your right about these amp ratings. I've only seen a couple that claim to have ratings down to 2ohms and they were from Mega-buck Comapanies like Krell, Sunfire, and I think Mark Livengston (sp?). It's hard to beleive how people are getting power to such speakers like ML's which are known to get as low as 1ohm for the highs.

I guess I'll hang onto the MC7100 to try on whatever speakers I chose, as JCBtubes suggested. But, I'll always keep notes of what the dealers were powering My final speaker candidates with.

Hello Jalen, just try Tannoy's Definition line on your (s) 7100 and it will sound wonderful. The Mac-Tannoy couple is one of the best. If you go for a bigger Amp like 2255, 7270,7300 or 352, just test the D700 and D900, they're amazing loudspeakers. Good luck. Yannick.France.

Jalen,
if you are still looking for the manual,go to www.berners.ch/McIntosh
In the section Amplifiers 2 you'll find the manual to download for free