bridging tube amps for mono

what affect does this have (if any...) on sound quality? clearly you get a power boost, but what are the pros and cons of using tube amp in this configuration?

 

does anyone have experience bridging stereo tube amps for mono?

 

I don't think it will really gain you anything.

Bridging will make the amp see half of the impedance of the speakers ie 8 ohm becomes 4 ohm. Valve amps are great within their operating parameters but frequently fail when trying to drive low impedance speakers.

IIRC paralleling may be a better option, not that I know how to do it. Paralleling will give more apparent drive by upping the voltage/current but not the watts. This may be a better option.

 

Watts = Voltage x Current.

However, almost universally power outputs are quoted as a function of the output voltage (VxV/R), so I guess you mean increases the current, which paralleling would do, but I am not sure how you'd do this...

Bridging requires the amplifier to be designed for it (the amplifier must have a single-ended output and requires one channel to be inverted) really, unless you really know what you're doing with modifying it.

 

i know that my amp can be converted in bridged:

http://pages.prodigy.net/jimmcshane/mods.htm

 

Issac, that's why I leave the clever stuff to you guys.

I'll try and get an answer from a guy I know who has both bridged and paralleled up some Quad II's. All I know is that he prefered the results with paralleling them.

 

my amp has a switch to turn it into a mono (bridged configuration) amp. i was trying to figure out if it was worth getting a second one to then run in this state. it is supposed to give 110 watts like this. it sounds nice the way it is, and i was curious if it would affect the sound quality running it bridged. i thought the increase in power would perhaps, tighten the sound up at high spl's....