Need schoolin'.

Texas Ed · #1 07-25-2007, 03:28 PM

With my small club system (It's a Yamaha Club Series 5 system) I use Yamaha P3500 amps

....to power my subs (dual 18's per side.)

I bridge each amp. Each dual 18" cabinet has their own amp so I can run 1000 watts continuous with plenty of head room.

Some smarty pants told me last week that I should not bridge and give each cab their own amp. He said that I should run BOTH cabinets out of ONE P3500 to get the most out of the system.

I ain't the smartest fella on two legs. But that just don't make sense to me. Could somebody please explain how I can get better sound just using one amp for both cabinets? I feel pretty stupid.

billfitzmaurice · #2 07-25-2007, 03:58 PM

He's probably figuring that a four ohm load per channel will 'get the most watts out of' one amp. A common error. That's like saying a 4 cylinder engine running at 9,000 RPM will make a car go just as fast as 8 cylinders running at 3,000 RPM. Perhaps, but care to venture a guess which engine will last longer?

mrokern · #3 07-25-2007, 07:36 PM

Smarty pants is wrong, and I used to do this for a living full-time, on tour...

Amps love being bridged...it is actually a very efficient use of the amplifer.

Rule #1 of long amp life:

1) Have large enough amps that for most of their life they are just coasting along, not pushing their limits.

Rule #1 of long speaker life:

1) Run a larger amp rather than a smaller one, even if (actually preferably) the output power of the amp is more than the speakers are rated for. An occasional shot of power over the rating of the drivers will NOT fry the speakers. Clipping your amp and sending DC square waves into your speakers will blow them in no time flat. A good rule of thumb is to pick an amp that has a peak power that is about twice the RMS of the speaker.

-Mark

**Kelly Lee** · #4 07-26-2007, 02:24 AM

Is this about a PA system or a bass rig?

Texas Ed · #5 07-26-2007, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly Lee

Is this about a PA system or a bass rig?

Both...sorta....it's about my bass bins (subs) in my PA... and the amps that push them. See post #1.

Texas Ed · #6 07-26-2007, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrokern

Smarty pants is wrong, and I used to do this for a living full-time, on tour...

Amps love being bridged...it is actually a very efficient use of the amplifer.

Rule #1 of long amp life:

1) Have large enough amps that for most of their life they are just coasting along, not pushing their limits.

Rule #1 of long speaker life:

1) Run a larger amp rather than a smaller one, even if (actually preferably) the output power of the amp is more than the speakers are rated for. An occasional shot of power over the rating of the drivers will NOT fry the speakers. Clipping your amp and sending DC square waves into your speakers will blow them in no time flat. A good rule of thumb is to pick an amp that has a peak power that is about twice the RMS of the speaker.

-Mark

That's what I figured as well. Thanks for the input guys.