Sh-t I am agreeing with George. I am going to have to increase my Haldol dose..
Bridging an amplifier
I recently watched a YouTube video, a few years old, that featured Flemming Rasmussen, the highly regarded founder and engineer for Gryphon (now retired I believe). Flemming was speaking of his class A monoblock amplifiers in the Antileon Evo, Colloseum and Mephisto. Flemming was expressing his disdain for Monoblocks that are actually 2 internally bridged amplifiers, (such as DNA 500,Clayton M300s and also class A Luxman that can be used as Monoblocks in the BTL mode (bridged tied load), calling these types of Monoblocks inferior and not true Monoblocks. He claims dedicated Monoblocks where all push pull transistors are paralleled, are vastly superior to summing the two channels via bridging (antiphase summing). I’d love to know if most audiophiles and engineers agree with Flemming. I have owned and found both the DNA Monoblocks and Clayton M300 Monoblocks to sound excellent, and a friend uses two M-800A Luxman class A amplifiers in bridged tied load mode (BTL switch) with great clarity and power. Thank you for your thoughts!
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Everyone’s tastes and ears are different, of course. Mr Moncrieff may have, indeed, needed additional haloperidol in 2004, I believe, when that volume of IAR was published. Just found it interesting that his choices for the two most natural SS amplifiers (at that time) were bridged designs....proves nothing....just his opinion without mention or possibly knowledge of circuit design. My personal SS favorites for natural sound are the Gryphon Antileon Evo, GamuT M250i and Clayton S-2000, two non bridged and one dedicated bridged design, two class A and one class AB, and two bipolar and one mosfet design....lots of flavors and excellent designers. |
@georgehifi Pro’s= More watts. Con’s= Worse damping factor Higher output impedance (has relevance to damping factor) Lower stability (especially into low impedance’s) Current ability is reduced (especially into low impedance’s) Higher distortion. Whether these con's are a real, audible issue depends on the amplifier in case, no? Looking at the Luxman's M-900u specs, doesn't it still have great specs when used as a monoblock? Sure, damping factor and current ability take a hit. But 600/1200/2,400w into 8/4/2 ohms and a damping factor of 300+ still sounds pretty good. Please explain if you disagree, I'm kinda new to this :) |
Please explain if you disagree, I’m kinda new to this :)Just search Google "cons of bridging amplifiers" or "disadvantages of bridging amplifiers" there’ll be pages and pages to read. Looking at the Luxman’s M-900u specs, doesn’t it still have great specs when used as a monoblock?If they put them in print, only the ones they want you to see. Almarg (rip) will also tell you the cons. https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/1762093 Cheers George |
I would say many comments made here are made by people without a deep understanding of amplifier design and are just parroting comments made by others without deep amplifier design knowledge. Potential advantages of bridged amps (if properly designed for the purpose). - inherent cancellation of even order distortion products which can be especially beneficial at low power (biggest advantage) - reduced distortion by reducing voltage swing allowing devices to operate over more linear ranges of operation - improved power supply rejection ratio - related to above, better rejection of IM and THD products from audio modulation of the power supply |
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