Is it safe to run cheap wires?

Your monster cables will work fine unless they have been physically damaged. Sound quality might suffer compared to to other cables, but you should experience no damage to your equipment whatsoever. While the amplifier will respond to the difference in impedance that it sees when it tries to load into the cable / speaker interface compared to the originals that you were using, that would happen regardless of make, model, brand or cost of the cables being used. The only way that a cable could damage your amplifier is if it was a highly reactive design (Goertz, Polk, CAT 5, etc..) that was not dealt with accordingly (Zobel Network) or if the insulation was damaged in some way as to allow a short circuit to occur. Even at high power levels, the breakdown voltage of the dielectric insulator in most commercial cables is WAY above that of what most amplifiers are capable of putting out. While it is true that a speaker cable CAN limit power transfer, that would be due to its lack of CURRENT capacity and NOT its ability to pass voltage under any normal or reasonable circumstances. Unless you have a VERY long run or extremely skinny wires, i see no problems whatsoever. Hook them up and have at it. Sean >

Perfectimage: This is just a guess, but I'd say Rosebud was pulling your leg. (Btw, so are the cable manufacturers!)

Perfectimage; Thanks for answering the one amp versus two amp question. Steve McCormack suggested that I could do it the way you are, but I'm seriously considering sending them to SMC for mono-bloc conversion and matching as well as upgrading work. Happy Listening. Craig

Craig. If you decide to have them converted I would like to know how it works out for you. I have always questioned what you are loosing when an amp can be bridged by throwing a switch. I would think that a mono block and a bridged amp would be two different designs. I would think that having them converted like you are would be a much better option.

PI; I think you're right as SMC uses an expensive HQ Jensen transformer in the conversion process, and they also match the amps as closely as possible. According to Steve M. the matching is important (but not essential). Craig