Bridged and paralleled amplifiers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
this is bridging....
this is bridging....
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The title of this post was "A Bridge Too Far". Hopefully he reads this before he melts his amp.
Paralleling will drive a lower resistance load better. Not really required for a 6 ohm load with a Badger. Usually with a subwoofer you are looking for more power, = bridging. Which was what started that whole 2X / 4X power argument. I'm just hoping jdg123 doesn't invert one input with a .2 ohm load on his outputs thinking you were talking about bridging.
Completely flawed maths = fiction
And I am not the only one telling you this.
There are three already here saying that the before bridging is exactly the same as after bridging.
There is NO EXTRA POWER available.
WHERE DO I STATE THERE IS EXTRA POWER??? Have you guys ever followed physics classes and or relativity? Don't you know what an observer is?
To make it even clearer, I agree fully that FROM THE AMP'S PERSPECTIVE there is no difference in 2x 4Ohm loads or one bridged 8Ohm load. Same power.
ALL of you are speaking and reasoning FROM THE AMP'S PERSPECTIVE and you are perfectly right. I, in addition, gave an example from ONE SPEAKER'S PERSPECTIVE that THAT one speaker sees a near quadruple increase in power as long as the amp ALLOWS for this power.
3rd: I know what bridging is. I've been bridging TDA2030's since I was a kid. [Swallowed mumblings about shame]
Last edited:
Oh, and the "Speaker's perspective" is certainly useful to anyone thinking of connecting their 100W/8 Ohm speaker on a 2x100W/4 // 2x50W/8 amp in a bridged fashion. Speaker on one channel: 100W > 50W/8 for that channel: Happy speaker. Speaker bridged on 2 channels: 100W < 200W/8: Bust speaker.
I'm not changing a thing until I really understand what I am changing. Now I have to research the difference between paralleling and bridging. It's a good chance to learn a bit 
At this point in my estimation I am better off with a second sub woofer as it presents a better load for the HB and will push then twice the air Down side is taking up the extra space but since when did a real stereo junkie care about that?
One channel right now drives the 89dB/W sub OK just not with true authority. I could experiment with room positioning too.
At this point in my estimation I am better off with a second sub woofer as it presents a better load for the HB and will push then twice the air
Down side is taking up the extra space but since when did a real stereo junkie care about that?One channel right now drives the 89dB/W sub OK just not with true authority. I could experiment with room positioning too.
Hi guys, sorry for dropping out, had company.
I was asking to see if I could "bridge" my stereo Honey Badger to use it on my single driver (6 ohm ) subwoofer.
If bridging is only a matter literally of applying a couple of jumpers to connect the two channels then Wahoo
Each channel will see half the subwoofer impedance. I don't know the Badger's specs, but I'd guess it could do 4 Ohm (which in practice may dip to 3). Loading it with 3 Ohm per channel and the associated practical dips to maybe 2 Ohms may be strectching it too far for the amp, unless you'd make the outputs 2 or 3 Ohms nominal capable. But this requires adding outputs and possible other (compensation) changes.
You describe the subwoofer as having not enough "authority". I don't think this is a volume/power issue. In this aspect you could add decoupling capacitors on each output transitor to improve the "current-on-demand" aspect for the output stage, which may translate to a more accurate punch. But the issue I don't think can be solved by either bridging or paralleling another sub.
A side note: You could safely bridge 2 subs in series though. They represent ~12 Ohms together; each channel sees again the 6 Ohms.
As for picturing "bridging" in your mind: Split the load into 2 series resistances of half the total resistance each and ground the connection between the two resistances.
Last edited:
I wish you could get yourself out of that amp for once and put yourself inside the speaker
I'm not changing a thing until I really understand what I am changing. Now I have to research the difference between paralleling and bridging. It's a good chance to learn a bit
At this point in my estimation I am better off with a second sub woofer as it presents a better load for the HB and will push then twice the air
One channel right now drives the 89dB/W sub OK just not with true authority. I could experiment with room positioning too.
This makes me wonder a couple of things.
1) What are you driving the amp with? Could it be that you just have a weak signal?
2) What is the gain of your Badger? Maybe you can just increase the gain.
Yes, twice the woofers with twice the amplifier channels, is going to be more effective than increasing power to only one woofer.
I suggest to replace C4 with 220uF (so the total -in coupler is 440uF) for a possibly more fortunate bass harmonic balance, and see if you like that.
Andrew. you are talking about the total power the amp CAN deliver.
he is talking about the power a spesific driver impedance WILL recive.
you have ONE single coil 8ohm sub. and a 2x100W@8ohm 2x200W@4ohm amp.
in stereo mode you can only use ONE ch at 8ohm load. thats 100W.
with the SAME sub and SAME amp wich is bridged you use 2ch that each see 4ohm. thats a total of 400W to THAT SAME SINGLE COIL SUB.
4 times the power the you can deliver to THAT SAME SUB with ONE ch of the stereo amp.
(yes there will be some voltage sag. so it will be some losses)
you can also get 400W out of the amp in stereo mode. but NOT into ONE single 8ohm load. you then need 2 seperate 4ohm loads.
Last edited:
a bridge IS too far
Thanks all for the excellent advice. I will seek to add another driver/a second subwoofer and I'll look into increasing the gain of the HB. I will also try the 220uF in for C4.
All this makes me wonder if ever someone will put forth a purpose built subwoofer amp that is as good as the HB.
The HB is a rockin good amp! I guess I'm asking it to do something it was not designed to do...never a good thing. I'll leave a good thing alone.
Thanks all for the excellent advice. I will seek to add another driver/a second subwoofer and I'll look into increasing the gain of the HB. I will also try the 220uF in for C4.
All this makes me wonder if ever someone will put forth a purpose built subwoofer amp that is as good as the HB.
The HB is a rockin good amp! I guess I'm asking it to do something it was not designed to do...never a good thing. I'll leave a good thing alone.