Brigid Monos or Mono Blocks?


What are the advantages or disadvantages of running two Stereo amps in Bridged mode vs running two mono amps from the same supplier. I have noticed some companies sell Stereo amps with the ability to run them in bridged mode and similar mono amps. Specs are similar and price is close as well. 

jfrmusic

So am I interpreting your response correctly in that it would be better to use mono blocks rather than bridge two Stereo amps? SimAudio has a unusual way of Bridging the 330A Stereo amp. They sell a XLR Y-daptor cable that on one end is two XLR connectors. One for each input channel and a single XLR on the other end to accept your source.

In "most" cases, yes that would be my assertion for solid state amps (tube amps are generally fine either way): you’re better off with dedicated mono amps than a pair of bridgeable stereo/mono amps. However that is always subject to the specific amp in question.

If SimAudio does what you say, it sounds like they’re bypassing the need for any special "bridging" input circuitry by utilizing the + and - phases already present in a balance source signal (L channel gets + and R gets - or vice versa). That might work really well, but you’ll run into trouble if your source signal isn’t truly balanced (e.g. if you used RCA - to - XLR adapters). And you’ll still be driving the amps harder, so at that point in depends on how well the amp does when seeing half your speaker’s impedance. If it can handle that without too much added distortion, then the positives might outweigh the negatives by enough to make the extra expense worthwhile.

@mulveling 

Thank you. If I decide on the SimAudio I’ll most likely get the two 400m mono blocks. 

I'd prefer monos; however it depends on how the equipment is designed.

I have used to own Moon's M400 mono blocks and they are excellent.  The 330A is a heck of an amp and I chose the M400 versus having to buy 2 Y adapter XLRs.

I currently own the Moon 860A V2 and it has a switch on the back to run as a mono.  If I saw another black Moon 860A V2 at a great price I'd consider picking it up :) and running them as mono blocks.

@overthemoon 

Please give me your impressions of the M400s. Would love to have some first hand experience as to their SQ. 

The M400s were awesome - they were dynamic with clarity and capable of reproducing music with finesse or punch.  I think they are excellent value for the price as I compared them to McIntosh and Audio Research.  They blew away the McIntosh in my opinion and were close to ARC while being significantly less than expensive than both.