Martin logan monolith III with marantz ma500's

[monolith]

Hi all, Not sure if this os the best place for this question. Direct me away if someplace else is better.

I have Martin Logan Monolith III's and would like to run them with Marantz ma500's bridged together. The manual for the MA500's suggests that the amps connected together in bridged mode will run at 8 ohms. The speakers are rated at 4 ohms. Is there going to be any trouble with running this set up? I will run 2 amps for the ESl panel and 2 amps for the woofer. They will run through the normal crossover as well.

Thank for helping the new guy. I can no longer spend big money on amps to run these.

 

[ski2xblack]

I would advise strongly against driving your ML with bridged amps, for fear of letting the magic smoke out. Bridged amps will see half of the speaker's normal impedance, be asked to deliver the correspondingly higher amount of juice, and get real hot, followed by the magic smoke escaping. The amps were not intended to drive such a load, which is why it is mentioned in the manual.

Passive bi-amping is an exercise in wheel spinning anyway, don't waste your time. If you need more power, you simply need a bigger amp.

You don't have to spend big money for amps. For example, a Crown XLS1500 goes for ~$400, and puts out 300/525/775 watts into 8/4/2 ohms respectively. It would drive your ML, no problemo.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I would advise strongly against driving your ML with bridged amps, for fear of letting the magic smoke out. Bridged amps will see half of the speaker's normal impedance, be asked to deliver the correspondingly higher amount of juice, and get real hot, followed by the magic smoke escaping. The amps were not intended to drive such a load, which is why it is mentioned in the manual.

Passive bi-amping is an exercise in wheel spinning anyway, don't waste your time. If you need more power, you simply need a bigger amp.

You don't have to spend big money for amps. For example, a Crown XLS1500 goes for ~$400, and puts out 300/525/775 watts into 8/4/2 ohms respectively. It would drive your ML, no problemo.

I agree with all of this. Times have changed for amps. In the '90s high-ends amps were special, not so much anymore, unless you're talking stuff like Krell or Pass.

As an aside, to this day I still remember the life-altering listening session I had at a dealer in San Diego with Monolith IIIs (powered by Threshold amps). When the IIIs are good they are beyond belief. You're lucky to have them.

 

[monolith]

Thanks guys, I had the Threshold amps when I bought the ML's many years ago. The demo was what sold me on them but they passed away years ago to a good friend when I moved overseas for 15 years, now I am back and wish I had them back.

So, let me get this right. The MA500 manual says they are stable at 4ohms but only lists 8 ohms when it talks about the bridged mode. Does the ohm rating half when you bridge any mono amps? Is that just they way electricity works? I think I will just run one amp for the panel and one for the woofer to be on the safe side as all of this gear is 20+ years old, but still sounds great.

 

[gpoole00]

I have your same sp. system. you are using the wrong amps. I have owned sound lab acoustat my 2plus two was used to build your monolith. we can blow amps up if u like. my dad was a engineer on the team. you really need need class a power. see so many companies lie about there power. for stats go class solid state with tube pre amp. unless you can sfford audio research aor good tube amps. see stats need volts not watts

 

[gpoole00]

im sorry about my spelling in sitting here doing 3d mathematical modeling but I love stereo. im using 2 krell monoblocks and Conrad Johnson pv-7 preamp to drive mine. plus I have a sunfire subwoofer seems to be ok. my knowledge is I owned bw 801, kef 105/2 spica tc-50 acoustat 2+2 martin logans, apogee grand, and stage. used audio research, and every kind of amp known to man

 

[gpoole00]

I have 3 systems in my home
music only martin logans , movies I use magnepan mgt 1.6 I have 4 with sunfire sub

 

[gpoole00]

oh and if you no martin logans im sorry friends they dip to 1 ohm

 

[gpoole00]

I just asked my dad they are ideal