Can any stereo amp be bridged to mono ?


I came across some professional audio pdf's when researching a Yamaha P2200 amp. They state this is easily done ( with their amp ) with a splitter transformer on the input with one side out of phase with the other going into each channel; then connecting the speaker to the 2 positives. Would this work with any amp ?
The pdf is at this address - check section 6 page 17
http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/pa/english/amp/P2201E.pdf

Your expertise required, expected and I am eternally grateful
drguayo

Showing 1 response by erik_squires

Possibly.

You cannot bridge amps with balanced outputs. Assuming your amp is single ended, then yes, you could do so but whether you could do so safely is another issue.

Bridging doubles the voltage at the speaker inputs, which would double the current an amp sees at any given Vout. Another way to put this is the amp sees half the impedance it used to.

If you notice, most bridgeable amps limit the speaker impedance. For instance, maybe only bridgeable into 8 Ohms.

So, assuming you had a way to invert the signal by using a transformer or active circuit, AND your speaker impedance was high enough AND your amps were single ended outputs, then sure, no problem. :)

Best,


E