Sony N55ES (bridged mono) into 4ohm speakers...

[msg1975]

Hi. In my current setup, I'm running an E1000ESD into an N55ES into a pair of vintage Rectilinear Mini III 4ohm speakers. It sounds great, but the Speakers are power hungry. I have a spare N55ES, so I'd like to run the pair in bridged mono. I can't find any documentation on whether I can run these mono into 4ohms. My other option is to dig my N77ES out of storage, which I know will work with 4ohm speakers.

Opinions?

 

[llwhtt]

Will each channel handle 2 Ohms in stereo mode? That's the load each channel will see if run into 4 Ohms mono. My guess is no.

Craig

 

[Powertech]

I would say no. The reason being that a) running most amps into 2ohms is likely to lead to catastrophic failure of the output stage. 2) Running bridged mode on amps is not just a case of setting them up in parallel. There are also changes made (usually via switches) of the amplifiers internal negative feedback loops. I have amplifiers that have a bridged mode and they have complex internal switching to allow this. Most amps are rated at 8ohms minimum in bridged mode.

 

[msg1975]

Thanks everyone. The manual doesn't specify this anywhere, but I realized there's a nice little chart on the back of the actual unit that specifies A or B in bridged mode is 8ohm minimum, and 16ohm minimum if using A&B speakers in bridged mode. So question answered. I decided to use a second pair of the same speakers in stereo mode in the far corners of the room on the second amp.