Hypothetical amp question

Pycroft

If you have an amp that is not being fully used, will it provide more power to what is using it? For example, if I have a two channel amp, but only one speaker hooked up (3 channel with 2 speakers, etc.) rated at 100 watts per channel, will it give more than 100 wpc if there is only one speaker using it?

dorokusai

Nope, only if you changed the actual load impedence.

w_coyote

Ok, This is just a wild guess but I think you can bridge your 2 channel amp and get more power since your only running one speaker. I think your stuck with your 3 channel the way it is now. DO NOT do this without getting more info but seems like I've read that this is possible. Again DO NOT do this without more info cuz like I said this is just a guess. I don't know enough about it but maybe worth looking into. I'm sure others could tell you if you can do this and if it's a good idea or not.

dorokusai

I have no idea what he owns and just responded to the actual question at hand. I'm presuming he read his manual but I could be wrong. My wife says I'm wrong all the time....I disagree but then I still end up washing dishes.

Pycroft

I got it. Was wondering without bridging if it gave more power. Thanks for the quick response!

TNRabbit

Depends on the topology of the amp. Some amps DO provide additional power to a single channel if they share rails. What amp are we talking about?

kawizx9r

+1 to everything said up above.

Just wanted to add that, whether or not you'll get more power (amp dependent) you won't see that power anyway if you're not pushing the amp to higher levels. It's just like hooking up a pair of speakers to a 100 watt amp, if it's at a lower/moderate volume you're not seeing all 100 watts all of the time but instead a small portion of it until you start cranking it. It is nice to have plenty of headroom though

concealer404

What's the amp in question, Pycroft?

Pycroft

It was actually a hypothetical question. I see a bunch of 2 channel amps around me. I am happy with the amps I have, but my center channel - CS400 is very underpowered, and it would be nice to eventually (Within a year probably) get an amp to power it. I know a mono amp would be best, but I never see those locally, but do see 2 channel. Was thinking if I find a 50 wpc amp and only use one of the channels, it would perhaps be better than my HK AVR354 powering the center channel.

James

kawizx9r

If you get a stereo amp (much more common to find), why not bridge it to power your center channel instead of just using one of the amps channels?...that is of course if its capable.

concealer404

kawizx9r wrote: »

If you get a stereo amp (much more common to find), why not bridge it to power your center channel instead of just using one of the amps channels?...that is of course if its capable.

Yeah, that's the rub. Seems a lot of them aren't capable. I'd be a very happy camper if i could bridge my amp, but i can't.

Pycroft

I was told that usually bridging would change the sound quality. Again, we're speaking in generalities...hence my question about extra power if using just one channel I'm not looking for anything now, just for my general knowledge. Thanks guys.

concealer404

Eh... with how cheap decent stereo amps pop up for, i wouldn't really worry about it. So you may have an extra channel, i'm sure you can find a creative use for it.

Bridging changing sound quality? Yeah, i've heard that too, but i can't really comment based on experience other than from a car audio aspect, and that's not going to help much here.

adam2434

Another option with a 2-ch amp is to bi-amp the CS400 to use both channels of the amp. In this case you would split the center signal to feed the left and right channels of the amp. Then run the left speaker wire to the top set of posts and right to bottom set of posts (or vice versa, doesn't matter). Make sure the binding post straps are removed.

Just another option...

The CS400 has bi-amp/bi-wire posts, right? I know my CS400i does.