Bordering on criminal, I know…


Greetings and salutations!  I recently purchased a pair of new MartinLogan 11As.  Unfortunately, all I have to drive them is a Pioneer SC-57 home theater receiver.  While I’m saving my ducats for a Pass Labs 350.8 amplifier, I am left wondering if I may be better served by bridging a couple of unused channels to power these new speakers.  Your thoughts are most appreciated!     

an10490413
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I don’t think you’re really ‘bridging’ the amp channels as understood in a typical 2 channel amp where the option is provided by a switch. This is just reassigning unused amp channels in a 9 channel amplifier. However, and it’s a big however, the ML’s have a powered bass section, and the speaker has pretty high sensitivity, so the extra power is probably superfluous. 
I see the ML’s only have one set of binding posts. I know multi-channel receivers sometimes provide a menu option to assign spare channels so they may be used in a bi or tri-wire setup. I guess I don’t see how you would do this, unless of course bridging is specifically addressed in the manual. If so, the other posters are spot on.
Or, as Emily Litella would say- “never mind.”

A most sincere THANK YOU to all!  This type of advice is truly invaluable!  I know of no other forum where this information could be obtained.  Thank you for saving me from making a terrible decision!  Most sincerely appreciated!!

there are some very good amps and integrateds that cost way less than the Pass and sound way better than your Pioneer while you're saving...