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#1
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? Both amps have the same signal going to it. Can I just connect the wires which lead from the amps together and then connect that to a wire going to the speaker? Is there anything I must watch out for? I have mics and instruments going into a mixer. Their signals go equally to the right and left amps of a stereo power amp. I.e. the "pan" controls are all set to the middle position. The power amp is a NIKKO 220 (120W + 120W) and the speaker is a Yamaha SM15IV (Program [whatever that means] 500W, MAX 1000W). The amp takes bare wire at the speaker output and the speaker takes a phono plug. I appreciate your advice. Alan |
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#2
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo
amp to one speaker? Yes. Unless you're very lucky, you're likely to let all of the Magic Blue Smoke out of the amplifier's final transistors. Both amps have the same signal going to it. Can I just connect the wires which lead from the amps together and then connect that to a wire going to the speaker? Is there anything I must watch out for? Unless the signal amplitudes coming out of the two amp channels are precisely identical, all of the time (and this is going to be very difficult to ensure) you'd be wandering along the ragged edge of disaster. If you ever feed different signals to the two channels of the amp - for example, if you happen to bump the "pan" control, or change the bass or treble boost on one channel more than the other - then the two amp channels will be "fighting" one another for control of the speaker. Each channel is likely to look like something between a low-impedance load (even a short circuit) to the other. Again, if you're very lucky, the amp's output-protection circuitry will react rapidly and successfully enough to keep you from blowing up the amp. There may be nasty side effects (e.g. the amp may shut down, or make distressing noises from the speaker when this happens). If you're not very lucky, the output transistors will obligingly sacrifice themselves ($$$) to protect the life of the amp's fuses ($.10) and you'll be in for a big repair job. I appreciate your advice. As you can guess, my advice is "Don't Do That!" -- Dave Platt AE6EO Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
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#3
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
On Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:25:42 -0700, Maestro Mysterieux wrote:
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? Yup. Each amp will shunt the other. It will reduce the total output and, perhaps, blow the amp. Kal |
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#4
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Maestro Mysterieux wrote ...
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? Yes. The two amplifiers (left and right) will fight with each other over who gets control of the speaker. Both amps have the same signal going to it. Can I just connect the wires which lead from the amps together and then connect that to a wire going to the speaker? NO. Is there anything I must watch out for? A good deal on a replacement amplifier? (Or a good deal on repairing your broken amp) I have mics and instruments going into a mixer. Their signals go equally to the right and left amps of a stereo power amp. I.e. the "pan" controls are all set to the middle position. The power amp is a NIKKO 220 (120W + 120W) and the speaker is a Yamaha SM15IV (Program [whatever that means] 500W, MAX 1000W). The amp takes bare wire at the speaker output and the speaker takes a phono plug. Use only one side of the amplifier if you have only one speaker. Or use your amplifier in "bridged" mode (look it up in your amplifier's user manual). This is somewhat a generalization. There may be SOME amplifiers that could take paralleling the outputs, but it would not be reasonable to advise you from this distance to try it. |
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#5
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Maestro Mysterieux wrote:
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? Both amps have the same signal going to it. Can I just connect the wires which lead from the amps together and then connect that to a wire going to the speaker? Is there anything I must watch out for? Yes, you must watch out for bad sound and blown-up amplifiers. I have mics and instruments going into a mixer. Their signals go equally to the right and left amps of a stereo power amp. I.e. the "pan" controls are all set to the middle position. The outputs are still likely to be not *identical*. Faders will not track perfectly. It will be like having two car lashed together driving down the motorway, each doing a slightly different speed (smell burning rubber and strained powertrains ?). The power amp is a NIKKO 220 (120W + 120W) and the speaker is a Yamaha SM15IV (Program [whatever that means] 500W, MAX 1000W). The amp takes bare wire at the speaker output and the speaker takes a phono plug. I appreciate your advice. Don't do it. What you could do (but not a good idea if you needed to ask...) is get/make a bridging adaptor and use the amps in bridge mode ( + out thru speaker to + out on other channel. But the speaker impedence would need to be double the individual channel recommended output impedence. Or you could just use one channel, or buy another speaker. geoff |
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#6
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
On Thu, 07 Sep 2006 13:25:42 -0700, Maestro Mysterieux Maestro wrote:
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? No problem if you don't mind having it sound like **** and lasting only a few weeks. |
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#7
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Thanks, everyone for your advice. Apparently the amp I have is not made to be bridged. You might want to see and possibly correct this Wiki entry: http://www.wikihow.com/Bridge-an-Amplifier Here is another interesting link: http://sound.westhost.com/project14.htm |
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#8
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Maestro Mysterieux wrote ...
Thanks, everyone for your advice. Apparently the amp I have is not made to be bridged. You might want to see and possibly correct this Wiki entry: http://www.wikihow.com/Bridge-an-Amplifier A prime example of how a wiki can go wrong. This is the most incompetent thing I have seen online in several months. If the rest of that wiki is equivalent, the entire website should be shut down before someone starts a fire or electrocutes themselves. Here is another interesting link: http://sound.westhost.com/project14.htm OTOH, Rod Elliot knows what he is talking about. |
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#9
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Maestro Mysterieux wrote in message ... Thanks, everyone for your advice. Apparently the amp I have is not made to be bridged. You might want to see and possibly correct this Wiki entry: http://www.wikihow.com/Bridge-an-Amplifier **Complete ********. I suggest that, unless you know exactly what you are doing, you should not attempt to bridge an amplifier which is not specifically designed to be bridged. BTW: Bridging is not what you originally asked about. Here is another interesting link: http://sound.westhost.com/project14.htm **Yep. Nothing wrong with that. Read it and ignore the nonsense on with Wiki site. -- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com |
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#10
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
"AZ Nomad" wrote in message ... Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? No problem if you don't mind having it sound like **** and lasting only a few weeks. A few seconds more likely. MrT. |
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#11
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
In article , Maestro Mysterieux wrote:
Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? Both amps have the same signal going to it. Can I just connect the wires which lead from the amps together and then connect that to a wire going to the speaker? Is there anything I must watch out for? I have mics and instruments going into a mixer. Their signals go equally to the right and left amps of a stereo power amp. I.e. the "pan" controls are all set to the middle position. The power amp is a NIKKO 220 (120W + 120W) and the speaker is a Yamaha SM15IV (Program [whatever that means] 500W, MAX 1000W). The amp takes bare wire at the speaker output and the speaker takes a phono plug. I appreciate your advice If you put enough series resistance on each output, it will work. Some amps are designed to do this, most all are not. greg |
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#12
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
In article , Maestro Mysterieux wrote:
Thanks, everyone for your advice. Apparently the amp I have is not made to be bridged. You might want to see and possibly correct this Wiki entry: http://www.wikihow.com/Bridge-an-Amplifier Here is another interesting link: http://sound.westhost.com/project14.htm Some bridge an amp with the line isolators talked about here on RAT. All you do is reverse the connections on one side. It works, but you can't load down the amp with too little impedance. greg |
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#14
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
In article , (Don Pearce) wrote:
On Fri, 08 Sep 2006 12:36:12 GMT, (GregS) wrote: In article , Maestro Mysterieux wrote: Is there a problem connecting both the left and right amps of a stereo amp to one speaker? Both amps have the same signal going to it. Can I just connect the wires which lead from the amps together and then connect that to a wire going to the speaker? Is there anything I must watch out for? I have mics and instruments going into a mixer. Their signals go equally to the right and left amps of a stereo power amp. I.e. the "pan" controls are all set to the middle position. The power amp is a NIKKO 220 (120W + 120W) and the speaker is a Yamaha SM15IV (Program [whatever that means] 500W, MAX 1000W). The amp takes bare wire at the speaker output and the speaker takes a phono plug. I appreciate your advice If you put enough series resistance on each output, it will work. Some amps are designed to do this, most all are not. greg Most all.... Which? Most, or all? Can't be both. If you take all amps, most are not going to work. I never really tried it. I have not even tried it with my Crown amp. I think I have a Peavey that also parallels. If you have a beefy amp, paralleling will at most provide only twice the power, where bridging can quadruple the power. greg |
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#15
Posted to rec.audio.tech
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Connecting left and right amps to one speaker
Richard Crowley wrote:
Maestro Mysterieux wrote ... Thanks, everyone for your advice. Apparently the amp I have is not made to be bridged. You might want to see and possibly correct this Wiki entry: http://www.wikihow.com/Bridge-an-Amplifier A prime example of how a wiki can go wrong. This is the most incompetent thing I have seen online in several months. If the rest of that wiki is equivalent, the entire website should be shut down before someone starts a fire or electrocutes themselves. A wiki is only as good as it's contributors. Sorta like usenet. Don't believe everything your read on the internets. In the case of WikiHow (the wiki with the article), they've got serious QC issues... On another topic, did you know that the population of elephants has tripled? //Walt |
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