"Robert M. Bratcher Jr" wrote in message
...
OK here's my setup. A pair of Mcintosh MC-275's each one bridged to
mono for 150 watts out to a B&W 801 speaker. Basically one bridged amp
for each speaker. Sounds very good however when the volume is turned
all the way up each amp sounds a bit strange, not clipping but like
they are running out of power or something. It's hard to explain
exactly how that sounds. Anyway each speaker can handle anything from
50 to 1000 watts. What I'm wondering is can I bridge 2 of these amps
into one (4 amps total, 2 per channel) for 300 watts out without
damaging these expensive amplifiers? If so then how would I do this? I
like to crank up my 50's to 80's vinyl records from time to time and
would like to have twice the power using tube amplifiers. Does anybody
make a 500 watt vacuum tube amplifier? If they do it might be a better
(but expensive) idea.

I can get 300 to 1000 watts using solid state however I love the sound
of tubes!! My first amplifiers (in the mid 1970's) were some Heathkit
5 watt units (I had the tube preamps too) bought at a garage sale. One
amp & preamp per speaker whatever brand they were. Cheap yes but it
was part of my first compnant stereo system. Each amp had a pair of
807's for it's output tubes. WA-P2 or something like that. I don't
remember the model number......

Does your setup have a rumble filter switch? If not, you could be hearing
some distortion caused by very low frequency (nearly inaudible) turntable
rumble. It will modulate the higher frequencies to the point of causing
audible distortion when cranked up. Try your maximum volume test with a CD
player and see if the distortion is still there. If you don't hear the same
distortion with a CD player, the problem is rumble.

tube.guy