running a stereo amp in mono?

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blungo2
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running a stereo amp in mono?

Post by blungo2 » Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:52 am

I'm sure this is another dumb question, but i have a little 20w t-amp that i would like to power just one of my avantone speakers with. Would it be stoopid to run four wires out of the speaker to run to both channels of the amp, or could i fry the amp, or present it with the wrong kind of load?

Or failing that, would it be bad to have one channel of the amp not driving a speaker? I know tube amps always like to see a load, but i don't know about solid state.

Thanks!

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Post by The Scum » Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:20 am

Leaving one channel unused isn't a problem for solid state amps.

The simple version of wiring both channels to one speaker is more likely to cause problems.

If you really want to use both channels, the correct way would be to use "mono bridging." Invert the signal on one channel, and then hang the speaker between the two + terminals, and leave the - terminals disconnected.

Any chance you can post links to specs of said amp?
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vxboogie
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Post by vxboogie » Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:41 am

Running four wires from the speaker is shorting the output of the power amp together and NOT a good thing to even try.

Why are you thinking of doing this? Do you need the extra power? IF the amp will run bridged(as described above), you will essentially double the power, but that only means a 3db increase which is not much louder.
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blungo2
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Post by blungo2 » Mon Apr 09, 2012 5:11 pm

Thanks for the replies. I'll just run one channel to the speaker.
I just didn't want to harm the amp by having one channel not loaded.

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