[mrsilver]

I want to bridge 125w Bryston 9b ssts. I have 4 ohm speakers - 4 Tower, center and powered sub (all Snell). Presently they clip at modest volume level, (zero on sp2 at zero level speaker trim and all speakers set small)mostly on party mode. The room is L shaped and medium to large. My question is this feasible - safe ? I don't want to risk harming amp or speakers.

Any replies would be welcome. Thank you.

[Levi]

I am interested to know.  Not that I need more power but it is good to know.  Hopefully, you don't have to send the unit back.

[mjosef]

A 4ohm speaker will be seen as 2ohm in bridged mode... you need to check if the amp can handle 2ohm or less impedance.
Rated output at 4ohm is 200W. You must be really rocking out.

[James Tanner]

I want to bridge 125w Bryston 9b ssts. I have 4 ohm speakers - 4 Tower, center and powered sub (all Snell). Presently they clip at modest volume level, (zero on sp2 at zero level speaker trim and all speakers set small)mostly on party mode. The room is L shaped and medium to large. My question is this feasible - safe ? I don't want to risk harming amp or speakers.

Any replies would be welcome. Thank you.

Hi,

The 9B SST has a 'phase' switch on the back of each channel so you can bridge 2 channels by switching one of the channels 180 degrees out. The channel which is not switched is the Positive side. The 2 RED terminals are used for the speaker leads and the 2 Black terminals are joined together with a wire. Both inputs must see the same signal. We have a kit for this if required.

Be careful though as the impedance of the speaker is 1/2 of the rating when your using a bridged amplifier. The amplifier wants more current under these conditions and may overheat. You can certainly try it and see. We do not usually recommend bridging the 9B into less than 8 ohm rated speakers but the kind of speaker load  and the levels you listen at all play a part.

james

[M3 EuroLTW]

Yes, I know its a very old thread, but its concerning bridging a 9BSST... so might as well keep it all together.

An interesting theoretical question.....

I've got some B&W Matrix speakers that I've traditionally driven with a single pair of wires from a single channel of an ST or SST amplifier.  They are nominally rated at 8 ohms, not dropping below 3.5 or 4 ohms (two sets of speakers, slightly different rating) They are rated for up to 200 watts at 4 ohms. Speakers can be bewired or bi-amped by removing straps on between the pair of speaker inputs.

Obviously I should do some listening to see what sounds best....

But does anyone have an opinion on whats likely to sound better?

Bridging the SST and maintaining the straps and having just a pair of wires go to the speaker..

or, removing the straps, and using once channel for each set of binding posts.... ?  ie bi-amping?  The crossovers appear to then have one amp for midrange and tweeter, and the other for the bass driver(s).  I'd have to create or buy an XLR splitting cable to feed both channels.... (commercially available?)

Obviously, test and listen, but I wonder if one is in theory "better" or more likely to sound better.