I have an idea for a stereo system design that uses 1 stereo amp for each of the 2 speakers. How do I wire stereo amplifiers to drive a single speaker. It seems to get a lot of discussion and is quite a common setup but I can't find any concise / explicit diagram which lays it out in such a way that there can be no confusion.
Stereo amps are the normal / commonly available product so they're easy and cheap to buy but obviously not designed to drive a single speaker. So how do you wire them to do that?
Stereo amps are the normal / commonly available product so they're easy and cheap to buy but obviously not designed to drive a single speaker. So how do you wire them to do that?
You can't do that with a normal stereo amplifier, you need one that is "bridgeable".
Some stereo amplifiers are designed to operate in "bridged mode" thus converting a stereo amplifier into a bridged mono amplifier.
https://soundcertified.com/how-to-bridge-amp/
Amps have to be designed to parallel the two outputs, to avoid blowup. Download the owners manual for your brand and model of amp for some tips. Sometimes the 2 channel drive from one input switch is internal. Sometimes you have to buy a Y cable to drive both inputs from one source. Some designs will not behave with the outputs tied together. No bridge instructions in the manual, do not do it.
As indianajo says, some stereo amplifiers are designed with a polarity switch to invert one channel internally.
Upon reading the link I supplied, I see that if a stereo amplifier does not have the internal polarity switch then you can add an external "amp bridge tied load (BTL) preamp board".
Upon reading the link I supplied, I see that if a stereo amplifier does not have the internal polarity switch then you can add an external "amp bridge tied load (BTL) preamp board".
Unless you are talking about one amp channel to the woofer and the other to the tweeter. Some speakers have four binding posts to allow this, not sure there’s any advantage though unless you remove the crossovers and use a line level crossover
Brian
Brian
Is this for bi-amping the speakers?
If not, you can just use one channel of each amp.
Or bridge the amp, if possible.
If not, you can just use one channel of each amp.
Or bridge the amp, if possible.
Looks too complicated. I'm going to go for an intermediate stage just to see and then possibly consider buying a second amp if I like how the first one sounds.