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Amp Info

198.3.8.101

Last week my amp went flash-poof. So I took the amp back to the shop where I bought it hoping that it just needed new fusses but it's on the way back to Canada. The positive side to this story is that I still have my stereo amp so at least I have some sound. I am enjoying 2-channel music again as well. My amp configuration is a CA-300 for the fronts and a CAV-150 bridge 300x3 for the rears and center.

I guess I need to be patient and see if the CAV-150 comes back and functions like it should but this episode started me thinking about my system. I am glade that I don't have all channels in one box for just this situation. When I bought the CAV-150 I did not know that in general it is not a good idea to bridge amps. I am wondering if bridging the amp has caused the problem to occur or at least is pushing the amp harder than it should be. I am thinking that it would be advantageous to have mono-blocks amps. I know the more boxes you have the bigger the chance of ground-loop-hum.

Like I said I am probably not going to do anything right now but would like to plan out some options and gather data so that I can make some intelligent decisions if needed. So here are the questions.

Does bridging an amp cause it to work harder? My speakers are normally 6 ohms (Apogee Slant 8).

I know about the Bryston 7B-ST mono-blocks, but are there any other SS amps I should check out. ($5000 a pair minus discounts)

Is considering 3 stereo amps a dumb idea. If not, is the 4B-ST a good choice. (A side note Classe' only has silver and blank amps any more and I would like an all black faceplate to match the rest of my equipment).

I will have a minimum of three weeks before the amp is return (I hope it is not a lot longer than that before the amp gets fixed) so 2 channel listening will be all I have for a while.

Thanks fore any info,
Mark




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Topic - Amp Info - Markj 11:07:44 10/19/99 (9)


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