Stereo power amp: single, or bridge?

[smventer]

Hi guys,

Firstly - I realise this is a forum geared to surround systems, but I've not been able to get any advice on this anywhere else - and I guess the principles of amplification is somewhat universal.

I've recently purchased a new pre-amp and need to match it up to a power amplifier solution. The speakers I'm going to drive are somewhat power hunry bookshelf, similar to say B&W CDM1 or Epos ES-11 (assuming anyone remembers those).

My key question is, should I buy
1 x big output amp, e.g. 130w p.c. (say, Rotel RB-1070..), or
2 x small output BRIDGED, e.g. 70w x 2 = 150W p.c. (Rotel RB 06/03/970..)
1 x 5 or 6 channel, of which I bridge 2 sets of channels (f.e. Rotel RMB-1066 support bridging two sets of channels to give 3 x 150w p.c.).

My music is all over the place including classic/alt/electronic/ etc. I do watch movies but surround is not a concern except maybe a center channel so in that way a five channel amp would be a bonus.

Can anyone offer some comments?

Thanks -- S

 

[Rickster71]

Hi smventer, welcome to Audioholics.

It would help to know some more details.
Like the actual speakers you're driving, and the room size.

If you know you want an amp and not an AV receiver, I'd go with http://www.emotiva.com/
Check the review section in Audioholics. Check the XPA-2

Why complicate things with bridging, when you can get the XPA-2. See review here: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/amplifiers/emotiva-xpa-2

 

[fmw]

Bridging amplifiers is not a magic bullet. Understand that the load the bridged outputs will see is 1/2 the nominal impedance of the load. In other words, 8 ohm speakers will look like 4 ohm speakers and require more current to deliver a given volume level. 4 ohm speakers will look like 2 ohms etc. So you bridge the amp, get more watts of power and then need more current to drive the load. I recommend you simply buy a stereo amplifier and and use it as a stereo amplifier.

If you are dead set on bridging amplifiers then I suggest you buy something from the pro audio world rather than the consumer audio world. Pro audio amps are built to take abuse and they are designed to operate properly under low impedance load conditions.