Will my Krell drive a 2 ohm load?

After doing a bit of research, it's hard to say what the answer is.

One clue is that the specs show a power rating for bridged mode only for 8 ohms, and not for 4 ohms. In bridged mode the amp would "see" a 4 ohm load as a 2 ohm load. So that is not encouraging.

Also, these measurements of the three-channel version of the amp, which is specified identically to the two-channel version in terms of power capability per channel, indicate that the amp falls somewhat short of doubling max power into 4 ohms (498.7 watts) compared to 8 ohms (294.8 watts), based on the 1% distortion numbers. That is also not encouraging.

On the other hand, though, the specified 8 ohm power rating for bridged mode is 4x the rating in stereo mode, which suggests that the amp has robust power supply and current capabilities. Also, I suspect that the impedance of the bass panels is much higher than 4 ohms at frequencies above the bass region. (You might want to ask Magnepan about that). So those factors are encouraging.

Regards,
-- Al

P.S:  I'm not sure what the reference in your initial post to an "active biamp setup" means.  That would seem to imply that there are two sterero amps.  Is that the case?

Regards,
-- Al

P.P.S: Ok, I see in your other thread that the Krell amp is only powering the bass panels of the Maggies, with a Classe amp handling the mids and highs, and with an active crossover ahead of the two amps. So that would seem to be another encouraging factor, since the Krell amp would only be handling a small part of the spectrum, albeit a part that often requires more power than higher frequencies.

Regards,
-- Al

jji666

Your Krell while good, isn't the typically pictured brute Krell that can drive a locomotive, or maybe a 2ohm load properly with conviction. 
I would say no to it driving that combined load well. The KSA150 type  Krell's would be better.

Cheers George

Thanks to all for the input.  I'm looking for a second one to drive the DWMs.