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Bridging amps, Good idea or bad idea?

I own a Cambridge Audio 840W, which can be bridged, which makes each amp a 500w mono block as opposed to a 200w stereo amp. That's 1Kw PER CHANNEL! Are there any downsides to doing this? Will there be added distortion, or will it chnage the sound any negatively? I already high pass my speakers because I use a sub so they only get 80hz+ as it is.
nemesis1218
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
Hifihvn
The different times I tried it,I was disappointed with the results of the sound.
My experience exactly. Always preferred one of the amps alone in stereo as opposed to two of them bridged. Now biamping with two amps did seem to yield improvement. Of course you need an extra set of speaker cables.
dob
577 posts
 
If you search for on-line reviews of Spectron amp owners then, as far as I know, without exceptions - all states theat then they move from stereo mode to monoblock sound quality more then double.

I am also one of these. Spectron attribute this achievment to the proporly build power supplies most of all and high tolerance of its parts. Simon says that when you switch from stereo to mono - you hear practically distortion-free music.... I am not EE, will not argue techno stuff but I know what I hear. Improvments are STUNNING !!!!!!
rwwear
2,873 posts
 
Not all amps suffer when run in mono. If an amp is a high current design from the beginning there should not be a problem. ARC Classic 120's are essentially a pair of Classic 60's converted to mono and a pair of Krell KMA 160's is two KSA 80's converted as well. Likewise with many of Krell's and ARC's earlier designs. Many others do this also.
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