do bridged amps give the same sound as non bridged


i am looking into getting a rotel amp for my paradigm studio 60 v.2 speakers. i am looking at the RB-976 which is 60wx6 or 130wx3 bridged. i am just learning about using separates, but does bridgeibng the amp sacrifice anything? can i except this amp to sound as good as rotel's 130wx2ch amp? sound the same?
128x128fishcall
Bridging means that each side sees a low impedance, 4 ohms if your speaker is 8 ohms. 2 ohms if it is a 4 ohm speaker.
I note that amp distortion specs usually increase for lower impedance loads.
Fishcall, I made the same question some time ago when I relaized that the sound was better off a single amp than two of them bridged, someone also mentioned at that time the distortion issue when bridging.

Try buying something with a little more power and avoid bridging.

Regards,
Partly plagiarized from the FAQ I co-wrote at the Audio Asylum:

"Bridging is the summing of two channels to give one higher output channel. Because of the summing however, the speaker impedance is seen as half of its normal value. In other words, an 8-ohm speaker becomes a 4-ohm speaker load, and a 4-ohm speaker becomes a 2-ohm speaker load. Speaker impedance ratings are nominal only. Actual impedance may dip to a much lower value through part of its range. When an amp's current load has been doubled due to bridging, it can often fail to provide the required amount of current into the load. Sonic effects include harshness in the midrange and highs, and thin bass. In almost all situations therefore, biamping with similar amps will result in better sound quality than bridging."

The other problem with bridging is that it cuts an amp's damping factor in half, resulting in looser control of the woofer and generally sloppier sound. So to answer the question, yes, bridging sacrifices some quality in exchange for a few dB's of extra level.

My advice is to buy one better amp, rather than two lesser quality amps, but "better" doesn't really have anything to do with higher watts.
Just a note here, I am using that particular amp in my current setup. Rather than bridge all 3 channels I am using the left and right for the first 3 pairs to bi-amp my mains and center channel. I am running b&w 604 s3's and it gets very loud with no distortion that I can hear.