Moving from a stereo amp to a dual mono set up


I thought this would have been not much a change and easily accomplished.

Boy was I wrong.  I found a second Plinius SA102 on Audiogon a few months ago at a great price. I had it drop shipped to Ralph Abramo for a good going through.  A few weeks later and it was done so I drove to his shop to pick it up. I asked about how to set up the amp for dual mono. A easy thing to do. Change the position of a switch in the back and connect the speaker wires to both R / L positive leads and connect the input to the right channel.

My speaker wires are Straight Wire Cresendo 3's. The leads are not able to reach the 9" spread to the positive speaker connections of the amp.  I spoke with Straight Wire, they can alter the cables to a 12" long lead so they can reach.  OK, shipped them out yesterday.

Now considering my electrical plug issue.  One more plug is something I do not have. I have a older PS Audio AC filter that can receive up to 8 inputs.  But I do not like the idea of running 2 high power amps through it. I want to do directly into the wall for my power.

I called an electrician and he is coming over next week to do a Job Walk. to see what it will cost to add a new circuit to my power panel and run the wires for a new plug. 

Then there is the physical amp to deal with. I need a second stand to get the amp off the floor.

I will have to disconnect and move my existing equipment and stands around to make the system visually balance out.

Then there is still one question I am not sure of. Do my current XLR cables from Preamp reach across to the new positions of the amps. Are they long enough?

All this equipment is between the speakers. I like where the speakers are right now. 

128x128bill_peloquin

Any home that one considers to buy ought to have it's wiring checked for aluminum wiring prior to a signature on the documents.  It can function fine if kept within it's limits.  Lights and lighting are typically fine, but any circuit posed with a varying amp load ought to be replaced; however, if one circuit is being swapped out, it's better to bite the bullet and change everything and ignore the 'grandfathering' option.

We had a house that was all knob and tube next to live gas lines, the latter got disconnected and vented.  A latter one has one continuous ground for all the circuits, making 'short circuit searches' a real bug chase....

Know ahead of what you want to upgrade....copper and alum wiring together in one installation is considered a real hazard...

"Know thyself....Then, know everything else in close proximity to you and ;oved ones....." ;)

You really haven’t experienced the full benefit of “true” dual mono amplifier set up as you are using 2 stereo amplifiers “bridged”  where amplifier phase of one channel has been inverted - that is why you are now using the positive L and R terminals for a single speaker.  Bridging typically halves the minimum impedance the amplifier can safely handle, lowers the damping factor, and increases THD and noise.  Bridged amplifiers are typical limited to speakers with a nominal 8 ohm impedance with no significant dips below 6 ohms.  

No need to reinvent the wheel my friend. Everything that you’re wanting to do has already been done many times before.

Myrna Loy Chooses Her Paint Scheme

The "Mr, Blandings" film always reminds of the famous scene above which always suggests to me the discontents and headaches of audiophilia.