Does bridging really improves the sound ?

[vlada]

Hello
I'd like to learn more about "bridging" technique - about its sonic trait and its overall worth.
I know the theory, it really sounds great - you get about triple power, true "dual-mono", more dynamics, less distortion, and so on... But that is all more or less in the realm of quantity, and I wonder does it always enhance the quality of sound ? Some eminent audiophiles (like Mr. Wes Phillips for instance) appear to be very unenthusiastic about bridging.

As I don't have any listening experience in comparing power amplifier(s) in both modes (stereo / bridged mono pair), I'd be grateful for any shared experience/comment on this topic.

[markw]

Not all amps lend themselves easily to bridging. It takes work "up front" as well as simply hooking a positive lead to one channel and a negative lead to the other. Unles your amp is built for it it can get interesting.

And, it "sees" speaker loads as half of what they really, really are. i.e, it will see an 8 ohm speaker as 4 ohms. If your speaker dips low, it again might get interesting.

[Kursun]

more dynamics, less distortion, and so on...
More Dynamics? Yes
Less Distortion? Absolutely No! Plus worse signal-to-noise ratio (more hiss!).