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Does bridging give you the monoblock sound??

I have a Parasound HCA 1500a which is rated at 205wpc @ 8 ohms. I'm considering buying a second one and running them in bridged mode which will give me 630 wpc @ 8 ohms. Will this have the same effect as using actual monoblocks? From what I've read is that the major plus that monoblocks offer is imaging. That's what I'm striving for,,,,,,,,,,,pinpoint imaging. I know that there are a lot of other things that contribute to good imaging but I'm just curious about this aspect of it.
meech33
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
A lot of bridgeable amps sound worse in bridged mode than in stereo. I cannot say about yours. An alternative would be to use one amp to biamp each of your Studio 20s with one channel powering the tweeter terminals and the other powering the woofer terminals. Essentially you will have the benefits of bi-amplification and mono blocks. It should be easy to compare the mono mode if you set them up like this.
sean
6,229 posts
 
Viridian hit it on the head. I would try vertical bi-amping, horizontal bi-amping and then bridging as listed in that order. Vertical bi-amping offers several advantages IF the speakers are a more demanding load in only one of the frequency ranges. If both the top end are demanding i.e. highly reactive and / or low impedance, horizontal may be better. With your speakers, i would think that vertical might work best. Sean
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detlof
1,899 posts
 
Viridian and Sean are deadright. Basically I have nothing to add. I've used two Spectral 200 class A amps, one for each speaker-side , to drive two pairs of Stax F93 stators to this day. I suppose that is ( a subform of ) what Sean calls horizontal biamping. Also in my experience bridging amps can constrict the midrange and noticeable increase grain, the only exception I know of are the DMA50 Spectral amps, which retain their speed and pristine clarity also when bridged.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Detlof, this is the first time in my life that I have been dead right on anything. I was wondering if you could tell my wife.
Regards,
Marty
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
Whether you want it or not in bridged mode you have a case with cancellation of out of phase signals. If amps are dual-monos than more-likely you would want to vertically biamp.
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