4 amplifiers to drive 1 pair of speakers?

thegreenman, excellent job of thinking creatively in terms of system setup! Most people do not have the vision to see such potential. It is through exploration of options that would not necessarily be considered that some very cool things can happen. Note well: multiplicity of amps does not equate with superior results. Many factors go into the result, and simple higher quantity of amp channels is no guarantee of superior sound. 

You have been given superlative advice from seasoned veterans that it may not be an ideal setup. In general, over many years of building hundreds of systems, it has not been the quantity of amp channels, but the quality, i.e. not only the build quality and preference for SS or Tube, but Watts and current delivery, that has been THE most important aspect. 

I have many times tried unusual configurations such as splitting the pre output in order to do additional channels, and nearly always a simply superior amp yields a much preferable result to use of several amps. There is a HUGE difference in systems set up with even one stereo amp and bi-wiring versus multiplication of lesser amps, or additional amp channels. That may sound counter-intuitive to you, but you need to trust me and others who are guiding you.  :) 

Listen to the old warriors; they know whereof they speak.  :) Personally, I would not dream of using so little power on any nearly any speaker, regardless of its efficiency. I have speakers above 90dB sensitivity, and I drive them with hundreds of Watts. I would not wish to drop down in power, because even they would sound relatively anemic in comparison. You may disagree now, but that is lack of experience. You are absolutely wasting those speakers with 18Wpc.  :(  You are getting nothing close to what they could do, and with zero loss of beauty of tubes.  

You will get a fresh take on amps in my upcoming article at Dagogo.com in regard to the Legacy Audio i.V4 Ultra Amplifier. The world is changing, and in this case, much for the better!  

Now, there will come along someone who will suggest i have it all wrong, 
that even the 18Wpc is "plenty" to drive the speakers. True. Is it superior, the best you can do? No, not even close, imo. Of course, opinions will vary, and you must choose your authority - and get your results.  :) 

Was reading up on it. How about what if I do not monostrap? Monostrap kind of puts the amplifiers in series if Im not wrong? So if I place the amplifiers at parrallel will they actually sound more musical/less harsh and heavy handed?

I think you'll find that by monostrapping you'll be able to drive the speakers far more easily! The only tricky bit it you need two identical stereo amps to pull it off.


BTW instructions on how to do this are in the Dynaco ST70 manual. I used to run monostrapped ST70s when I was in college.


BTW you **can't** use this technique with solid state amps- you'll blow them up!! It is possible to monostrap them too, but the technique is entirely different.

Hello,
Nope, this will not work. There are so many high efficiency speakers and KEF Reference 5s are not one of them. You need a much better damping factor. Those woofers need a decent amount of power. There are so many good tube amps. Rouge, Macs, BAT, prima Luna. One thing these amps have in common is they usually have high power. I think you should buy a pair of Tekton or ZU speakers but I will have to warn you the wait time is really bad. Similar sound and frequency response but high sensitivity. You have no need for a second 300b amp. So either buy a new amp from the list above or sell you KEFs and buy the Tekton/ Zu speakers. I am going to suggest getting a new amp. The Rouge Chronus Magnum. 55 watts per channel integrated amp. You will lose too much on the KEFs. If you are in the Chicagoland area the Hifi store where I shop has the full line of Rouge. https://holmaudio.com/If you have a preamp you like I would suggest the Rouge ST100 or DragaN if you want to try the new 300 watt per channel hybrid. They are a KEF dealer so you can listen to these amps on the KEF Reference speakers in the store. If you are out of the area call the store about trading in you 300b amps for something new. I did this with some of my gear last year. You will lose less money on the amps than you would on the KEFs and are much easier to sell due to being able to ship them. 

Hello the greenman! You're thinking creatively and that's good. My own system uses eight channels of amplifier for a pair of four way speakers. Each speaker has it's own amp - but - I use an electronic crossover, so each speaker (tweeter, upper mid, lower mid, and bass) has it's own amp. Your suggestion proposes four amps for two speakers if I am understanding you correctly. Doubling the power to a speaker only results in a 3 db increase in volume in the room. You won't get much "bang for the buck" that way. I have several low wattage amps - all sub 10 watts. I find I can play any speaker system in the house with a single set of input posts to satisfying volume with any of them. If you want to play your music loudly, that's where you need POWER. What I would call "normal listening levels" seldom exceed five watts. If you want to play at the actual sound level of real combo or orchestra in your listening room - so you can't hear the phone ring, or your partner calling you to dinner, or the baby crying - you may want more power, but not just a little more. To hear your music 10 db louder, you need an amp with 10 times the power of whatever the starting point is. If you have watched power meters dancing on the faces of expensive amps, you know a 10db difference only sounds three or so times louder. So . . . now you know why lots of folks like the sound of 100 watt + amps.

You are unlikely to do any damage by using you 300B amp to drive your speakers directly. If you run out of power, the sound will just become unpleasant, that's all. If heat problems worry you, use one of the really fine class D amps out there. I use  three Starke Sound AD4.320 amps on my main system which uses 11 channels of sound. It is big, heavy, and non-descript but it sings like a choir of angels and costs less than $1500.
Four 200 watt channels for way under two grand. The best bargain in amps! As good as the fancy NADs which are getting great press.

Just be sure you are using decent speaker wires (14 gauge zip cord for starters) to get your 300B's output to the speakers. Yours are efficient enough to a good job with 8+ watts. I have filled a huge room with background music for a fancy dinner with a nine watt class A amp driving Magnepan 1.7i speakers (notoriously power hungry). Don't let anyone talk you out of being happy with what you've already got! Enjoy the music. If it doesn't play loud enough, get an amp with at least 10 times the existing amp's power. If you want to roar - 100 times the power. If you go that way, be sure you can afford speakers that won't catch fire when their voice coils melt!  Enjoy your music. If it sounds fine, buy music, not electronic gear! Remember, in the early days of quality audio, 20 watts was considered a lot of power.  Keep Smiling!

Get a high powered SS amp and be done with all this stuff!

 Or save and get the carver 350 amps. 
  4 amps on 1 speaker?.
  HUWWHHAAAT!!