Ok, it's rare that I have to ask a techie question, but this one has me a bit stumped.

On a 4 channel bridgeable amp, I see two possibilities of bridging:
Bridging front and rear channels (Left Front - with Left rear +, same with right channels) to get one Left and one Right -- basically 2 channel stereo
or
Bridging front and rear channels seperately (Front L and R, then rear L + R) to get 2 mono channels.

My questions are: Are both possibilities actually configurable?
Does it depend on the amp?
I only recall the second method as the only way, but someone told me otherwise in a long debate over this.

I never really found a need/want to run a 4 channel amp, but this may soon change, so I need this info. Thanks.

 

Just curious, but why would you want to bridge front and rear channels together? I recently bridged my 4 channel amp (jbl bp80.4) to run a pair of 4 ohm components, such that I could get a 2 ohm stereo load out of the amp to achieve full power. I bridged using the 2nd way you mentioned (Front L and R, then rear L + R). I still have full stereo seperation among the two sides.

 

1) I don't think there is any way to bridge front and rear channels together. Look at the way the amps are built. There are gain controls for front and rear inputs, not left and right inputs.

2) Why would you want to? With an amp that makes (I'm assuming) 4xwhatever watts, there is no benefit to bridging one front and rear pair together. You get the same as bridging a front or rear pair together.

Lardass.

 

Ok, now I still don't understand how you can bridge down to 2 channels and still have stereo separation. Bridging front left and right gets a full mono signal. Bridging rear left and right gets a second mono signal. I don't see how it could still maintain a stereo signal using 2 simple mono channels. Once you bridged into mono, haven't you killed the stereo effect?
Some 4ch amps also have higher current rear channels, so if they are bridged to 2, they'll be imbalanced.
I had just thought bridging left and right sides separately would get me 2 channels and maintain stereo. But I guess you're right about the gains bit, L.
I still need to get clear on which channel designates to which when you bridge a 4ch.

 

Oops? Did you mean 'You get the same as bridging a left and right pair together'? Or should we say, two sets of left and right together.

 

Yes, I got that answer in another forum. Makes so much more sense now. I no longer have to bang my head against a wall anymore. Phew.