A friend and I were talking audio today and a question arose as to wether one could link ("bridge") a couple of amps or channels in either a stereo amp or multichannel amp togethor to effectively double the output to a speaker. ( perhaps similar to what is done when you switch an amp/reciever to bridge mode )

ie: say one has a 50 watt stereo amp. Could one connect the same input to both channels and then both outputs to the same speaker to get the equivalent of 100 watts output to a single speaker?

Would there be any problems with doing this, other than a bit of complicated wiring?

(Note: I'm not asking about using the separate channels to Bi-amp, but wether one could combine the channels)

Thanks for the help! Cheers, Jag

Mike, it's possible even with amps that don't have built-in provision for bridging, but it would take a lot more than just wiring. What is involved in bridging two amp sections is sending the voltage from the positive terminal of both amps(instead of positive and negative of one amp)into the terminals of the single speaker. Now if this added those two voltages together, then the power would be theoretically quadrupled(not just doubled)because pursuant to one form of Ohm's law power is equal to voltage squared divided by resistance(P=V(squared)/R)so twice the voltage equals four times the power(losses make it more like three times in practice).

The problem is that with the majority of amps, which don't have bridging provisions, the voltages of the two amp sections are in phase with each other and would in effect run head on into each other in the speaker and cancel out, not add together. One of the amp outputs would have to be inverted in phase 180 degrees with respect to the other amp so that in effect one would be pulling in the same direction as the other was pushing and their voltages would then add. There are bridge converters, adaptors,inverters, etc. around or plans to build them.

Once again JohnK very informative and helpful.

Cheers, Mike