[cliffy]

I have a small Electro-Voice E-V 1180 receiver.  I am using it to power 2 small Energy Take-2 speakers in my office. 

I am wondering if I could also power the Energy Take-1 center channel at the same time.  The center speaker would be 'bridged-mono' with the R and L speakers at the binding posts of the receiver.

The speakers are 8 ohm each and the 1180 is okay with 4-ohm loads. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[Wayner]

I think you better find out if the speaker (-) terminals are all commoned together, before such an undertaking. Dynaco had a wiring scheme that could use a stereo amplifier and wire it into a 3 channel. Give me some time to find it.

Wayner

[cliffy]

I believe they are common. The terminals are labeled as such.

[Wayner]

That is not what I mean. The (-) of both channels should be connected together, that is called a common ground amplifier. You are going to  have to take the cover off to find out. Unplug the unit before you take off the cover.

Wayner

[Wayner]

Here are a couple pages out of a Dynaco Pat-4 manual. After confirming that the amplifier is a common ground veriety (it should be), the front 3 speakers (Left, Center, Right) can be hooked up according to the wiring diagram, omitting the rear speaker.







Make double sure, tripple sure you have wired the speakers up correctly to avoid the big bang (and it won't be a theory).

Good Luck!

Wayner 

[Bill Thomas]

Also remember that you will have VERY little control over the balance between the side speakers and the center channel.  If the center channel speaker is too loud, you can wire a variable resistance pad across the center channel speaker terminals to reduce the center channel output, but if the center channel is too LOW, you will have a much more difficult problem to deal with.

Just something to keep in mind.

Bill

[cliffy]

Thanks for the info!  I really appreciate it. I have confirmed that the negative terminals are strapped together internally. I will let you know what happens next. Stay tuned......

[Wayner]

Good point Bill. Dynaco recommended that all 3, (4) of the speakers were of the same ilk as Bill mentioned, there could be an output level discrepancy between different speaker models.

Wayner

[cliffy]

Done!!

Thanks again for all of the help Wayner and Bill.

No sparks and no relative loudness problems.

AudioCircle is a great place to find helpful and knowledgeable individuals on a variety of topics.

Thanks again.

[Wayner]

Just monitor what's going on for awhile and it should be fine. The thing you don't ever want to do is somehow have the positives of the left and right channel to short out. Then it will be the Big Band Theory!!!!!

Enjoy the listening.

Wayner