I have 2 sets of 6.5" components in the Z28, running off a 4-channel Soundstream amp.

I am wondering if I can safely bridge them both into the front channel to get more power. Do components generally run ok at 1/2 their ohm rating?

They are MB Quart in the front and Alpine in the rear.

 

First we need to get our terminology straight. Bridging is an amplifier function. What you are describing is connecting speakers in parallel. As long as your amp is 2ohm stable you'll be fine. You could then use the other 2 amplifier channels bridged to power a subwoofer.

If you want good imaging up front I would recommend only using one set of tweeters. Having more than one tweet on each side can smear the imaging. Some people like a second set of tweets to "raise" the soundstage. I don't care for that approach myself.

 

OK, I see. I made a mistake--connecting in parallel won't change the ohms seen by the speakers; only by the amp, right? So the speakers will run at whatever ohm they are designed for, and the amp will split to accomodate that?

As for tweeters, I like both pairs, myself. Thanks for the thought, though! And for the help!

The amp is 2-ohm stable, so I guess I won't have a problem.

 

The speakers don't "see" any ohms. The speakers ARE the ohms. The amp is what sees the laod which is the speakers. How you connect the speakers to the amp determines what ohms the amp will see.

 

OK, thanks!

 

Also check to see if you can bi-amp the components. If you can, it gives you much more options, almost like DVC subs. I'm doing it right now, I have an Xtant 603A running at 2 ohms into some Alpine Type-X components, it takes more tuning to get it to sound right though.

 

I have an idea of what you mean, but could you explain it further?

My components are Alpine FA-117s and MQ Quart DSD-216s.

 

Bi-amping can be done 2 ways. Passively or actively. Active bi-amping requires an active X-over and dedicated amps for each driver. In this case the midwoofers and tweeters. Passive bi-amping uses a passive crossover like the one that comes with the components. If your speakers are bi-amp ready the crossover will have 2 sets of inputs that can be used. One input will go thru the low pass portion of the X-over and on to the midwoofer. The other inputs will go thru the hi-pass portion of the X-over and on to the tweets. In either case, active or passive, you'll need a total of 4 channels of amplification. Two channels for the midwoofers and two channels for the tweets.

 

I have a 4-ch amp and 2 sets of components. I'm pretty sure they each have dual inputs.

Is there a way to bridge the amp or wire it someway to do the above? Or do I still need another amp?

 

just curious here, i used to have 2 mtx 12s and to "bridge" them I was running from one channel the positive to both subs (they were SVC) and the negative from the other channel to both subs. Isnt that bridging them??

 

Yes but you will lose your fader control. There is no bridging involved though. You simply run your midwoofers in parallel on 2 channels of the amp and your tweets in parallel on the other 2 channels.

Thats wiring the subs in parallel to an amp that has been bridged. Bridging is an amplifier function. You are combing 2 channels of amplification to function as a single, higher powered amplifier. Speakers get connected in series, parallel or series/parallel depending on the final ohm load you want to present to the amplifier.

 

As an add on, you can run those components in parallel, as well. That's what I'm doing with my Alpine SPX-173As, and it works fine. You will lose your fader control if you run all four sets in parallel, but it's a good way to get more power to them than you otherwise could.

 

side note, i didn't read all this but whenever you drop the ohm load to the amp the distortion raises considerably.

 

If you can tell the difference you have better ears than a dog has. THD specs are so low in well designed amps that even in bridged mode the THD is well below audibility.

 

Welp, I bridged the rear components because their crossovers had dual inputs.

The difference is quite nice! It sounds cleaner if that is possible--I've heard that more wattage generally produces a cleaner sound, if it's within reason, so maybe that's what it is. It's definitely louder!

Unfortunately, the front setup (MB Quart) has crossovers with only one input. Is there any other way to bridge these with my 4ch amp, when I've already bridged the other 2 channels with the rear set?

If not, I think I'll look into upgrading the fronts to a nice set of Focals.