NAD 2600 in *bridging*.
Gianni Rainoldi
I need some suggestions about an idea that came in my mind just
a couple of days ago.
Actually my stereo system is done by a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10,
a NAD 2600 (150w+150w) and a pre-amp NAD 1300 plus CD player and
tape deck. The idea is: buy a second NAD 2600 and use the two amplifiers
in "bridging" mode, this should take to have a 300+300 stereo
system.
Does anyone have informations about how the NAD 2600 sounds in
bridging, should I expect a better quality sound ? or just
more power ?
I think that the Dahlquist DQ-10 may improve their sound if
driven by a more powerfull amplifier, am I right ??
Thanks for any contribution.
Gianni Rainoldi
AT&T Bell Labs Denver
303-538.3749
druwy!gianni
Stephen G. Graber
> tape deck. The idea is: buy a second NAD 2600 and use the two amplifiers
> in "bridging" mode, this should take to have a 300+300 stereo
> system.
>
> Does anyone have informations about how the NAD 2600 sounds in
> bridging, should I expect a better quality sound ? or just
> more power ?
I used to have two NAD 3150 integrated amplifiers (50W, or 125W
bridged). IMHO the sound actually got much worse when they were run
in bridged mode. The soundstage was affected most, though the tonal
characteristics also became even more grainy and harsh. Don't know
much about the Dahlquist speakers you have but my opinion would be that
if they need more power you should get another amp. By buying another
amp you would also have the opportunity to get something better than
NAD. No flame on NAD, they're ok but you can do better if you're
willing to spend more.
MindWalker
> tape deck. The idea is: buy a second NAD 2600 and use the two amplifiers
> in "bridging" mode, this should take to have a 300+300 stereo
> system.
>
> Does anyone have informations about how the NAD 2600 sounds in
> bridging, should I expect a better quality sound ? or just
> more power ?
OK, buy the second amp, buy don't bridge them. Bi amp the speakers instead.
Let one of the amps drive the woofers, and the let other drive the mid
and/or tweeters. This way, each amp has got more resources for the range
they drive. Ideally, put an active filter between the pre and power amps,
so that the amps only have to deal with "thier" range. The result should be
better tonal qualities and generally a better "grip" of the music. They
ought to handle more complex music better this way.
/mvH
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Peter Tapscott
I would expect this to be the case. Bridging doubles the current
required from the amps, so you will only be able to drive fairly
high impedance speakers effectively. A lower impedance speaker
won't allow the amp to reach its voltage limits, so part of the
reason for bridging (to get double voltage on the speakers) is
lost.
Since one common characteristic that high-end amps have is
huge current capabilities, I would avoid making a mid-fi amp
produce double the normal current. One common characteristic
of mid-fi and low-fi amps is that they have barely adequate
current capabilities. The NAD is no exception, IMHO.
What might be a better use of an additional amp would be to
do a simple bi-amp. The outputs of the preamp will go to
two stereo amps. The left channels will drive the woofers,
and the right channels will drove the mids & tweeters. One
stereo amp will drive the left speaker, one stereo amp will
drive the right speaker.
While this doesn't have the advantage of a bi-amp setup with
active filters, it does decrease the current requirements at
certain frequencies. Thus the mid/tweeter amps will have to produce
the voltage for the woofer and mid/tweeter, but only the current
for the mid/tweeter. If the woofer has a crossover (a cheap
speaker won't have one), then the woofer amp will not have
to supply current for mid/tweeter frequencies.
This bi-amp setup is recommended by Vandersteen for the 2Cis.
Of course, the V 2Cis have separate connections for mid/tweeter
and woofers, so it is an easy connection. If your speakers
don't have two pairs of connectors, more work is involved.
If you try this, please post the results.
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|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
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WATERS,CLYDE GORDON
>
>
>I used to have two NAD 3150 integrated amplifiers (50W, or 125W
>bridged). IMHO the sound actually got much worse when they were run
>in bridged mode. The soundstage was affected most, though the tonal
>characteristics also became even more grainy and harsh. Don't know
>much about the Dahlquist speakers you have but my opinion would be that
>if they need more power you should get another amp. By buying another
It seems to make sense that there was some sonic degradation, after all,
the supply was working a lot harder driving a lower (apparent to the amp)
inpedance. I have also noticed this phenomenon, but primarily on car
amps. It seems that unless the power supply section is ungodly massive
WRT the rest of the amp (ie, Orion, etc) the rail voltages "sagged"
and the dynamic response got pretty bad (speaker walk, etc) It seems
too that not many amps are actually designed to be bridged in terms
of what that would mean in bias,etc, changes (calibrations that should
become different in bridged mode) However, if the amp has a really
hefty supply, it should play bass fine(subs,etc) but may not do very
well on higher frequencies. BTW, the damping does get worse, but if
really high to start with, many times stays acceptable.(400 goes to
200, etc-both good)
Just my $.02
Gordon.
--
WATERS,CLYDE GORDON-Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Ga 30332
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