Bridging NAD with Maggies

[Knaak65]

I need a little help here. I want to connect my two NAD 214 amplifiers in bridged mode to a pair of Magnepan 3A's. However in reading the NAD website NAD says the load should be 8 Ohms or greater. I know the speakers are only rated at 4 Ohms. What will happen if I bridge my 214's into these Maggies? Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

[markw]

I need a little help here. I want to connect my two NAD 214 amplifiers in bridged mode to a pair of Magnepan 3A's. However in reading the NAD website NAD says the load should be 8 Ohms or greater. I know the speakers are only rated at 4 Ohms. What will happen if I bridge my 214's into these Maggies? Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

...first off, know that when you bridge an amp(s), the bridged amp(s) "see" the load impedance as one half what the speaker is rated at.

IOW, they will "see" an 8 ohm speaker as a 4 ohm load, a 4 ohm speaker as a 2 ohm load, etc...

A few years ago I was in pretty much the exact same situation. I had one NAD 214 driving my MMGs quite nicely. When I traded 'the MMGs in for the 1.6s, the 214 suddenly wasn't up to the task. I was on the horn to purchase a second 214 from the same place I bought the first (and all my NAD stuff) for exactly the same reason you're considering, . While discussing the situation with him I told I was going to bridge them to drive a pair of power hungry 4 ohm Maggies.

He told me that he wouldn't recommend it. They are good but when bridged they need an 8 ohm load otherwise "they really don't like it". Now, considering he lost a sale of a 214 in order to keep a customer happy, I'd say you might want to consider what he said.

Even though I know NAD says their amps are stable to 2 ohms, they ALSO say to not use less than 8 ohm speakers on a bridged amp. That seems to be somewhat of a contradiction but I chose not to take the risk.

[psonic]

"Any help here would be greatly appreciated"

Easy, go with an amplifier double the power of the 214. You should be able to grab a used 150-200wpc amp at about same $$ as two 214's. B&K, Rotel, Nad - tend to be good values in high power amps, I like them in that order, also...

[E-Stat]

I need a little help here. I want to connect my two NAD 214 amplifiers in bridged mode to a pair of Magnepan 3A's.

The best way would be to vertically bi-amp them. I don't recall, however, if the MG-3a allowed for bi-amping. I know my old MG-IIs did not.

rw

[Newfiestang50]

One thing i forgot to mention, i did have to place amplifier fans on both amps to get rid of the heat in bridge mode since i felt they were getting too hot, but other than that everything is good.

[Newfiestang50]

I have the two new NADS, the C372 & C272 bridged to a set of PSB Stratus Golds, which are very hard to drive and i have not had any problems with the NADS. Just better make sure your speakers can take it because those amps produce 400 watts each in bridged mode, no problem at all to dim the lights in my house with a base heavy song. Good luck.

[anamorphic96]

I have the two new NADS, the C372 & C272 bridged to a set of PSB Stratus Golds, which are very hard to drive and i have not had any problems with the NADS. Just better make sure your speakers can take it because those amps produce 400 watts each in bridged mode, no problem at all to dim the lights in my house with a base heavy song. Good luck.

The lights going dim in your place with bass heavy songs does not sound like a good thing. It could be the 2ohm load that your NAD's are straining to drive. Despite what you might think, what your doing with the NAD amps is not a good thing and will void the warranty if they end blowing something inside. Your PSB's are 4ohm speakers. The amp see's half that when bridged. So the NAD's are seeing 2ohms. Not a good thing at all.

Yes I sound pushy. But you could damage things this way. Just trying to help. Take it as you may.

I do not reccomend this configuration to anyone who needs extra power with 4ohm speakers.

[Newfiestang50]

I understand exactly how the load is when bridging and i did consult with NAD on this issue and basically they said that if the thermal cuttout is not activating within the amps then everything should be fine. I am not the kind of person that just does things before first investigating the situation, also
i have had the NADS bridged to my PSB's for almost a year now with not one problem. I also have two friends who have the NAD 214's bridged for years now to the psb golds, and they also have no problems. Nad tecks also mentioned that there power drive technology which adjust for demanding loads will take care of and adjust for the 2 ohm load.