

Note! You must be sure your amplifier can handle a bridged connection. Some do support less or need 4 ohms but for best results and to make sure you are setting up your system to the best of your requirements it pays to be sure. Since bridging means that much more power is now available to you speakers (more often than not this is used for subwoofers) it’s best to use a quality speaker wire and make secure, tight connections on both ends.īefore doing so, verify that you have met the required minimum impedance (speaker load, in Ohms) as specified on your amplifier or its instruction manual.įor today’s car amplifiers this is a minimum of 2 ohms when bridged, usually. Car and trucks are subject to vibration and lots of movement, so a poor connection can cause problems over time. It’s important to use a good reliable connection for speakers. To bridge the amp, connect the subwoofer or bridged speaker positive (+) terminal to the positive amplifier bridged terminal label, and the speaker negative (-) terminal to the negative bridged amplifier terminal also. Note that some (especially smaller, lower-cost products) may not have the feature built in so it’s very important check before buying one. The good news is that many car amplifiers sold today can be bridged. In that case, bridging is easy to do as long as you observe speaker impedance (Ohm rating) warnings from the manufacturer
#ADOBE BRIDGE 2017 OUTPUT MODULE HOW TO#
Connecting to a bridgeable amplifier – how to bridge an amplifierīridgeable amplifiers normally have the terminals labelled accordingly. This voltage difference is twice that of one channel alone. This means that in bridge mode the bridge connection is made so that the amp channels have a difference of the available voltage at each output. You’re normally not aware of this as it has no effect on the end user. The reason this is possible is that today’s car amps have a design in which one of each 2 audio channels is actually inverted (you can also say 180 degrees out of phase) but is normally connected at the output in a non-inverted fashion. Therefore it will draw more power from the car battery.

Not all amps can deliver that much – it depends on their limitations and how they’re designed.Īlso, note that in this mode each channel is handling several times the electrical current it had to before. Note: It’s important to remember that we’re assuming a few things, like that our amplifier is rated to provide that much power. How about we take a real-life example and I’ll show you exactly how this works? If we do the math, we’ll discover something very interesting! This is actually a very cool and fascinating subject. In normal use with 1 speaker per channel, you won’t notice a difference as they’re wired normally and have separate audio signals. The output sections have one channel per pair designed to provide the bridging option when needed. How does an amp make more power when bridged? This meant having more power available at my disposal and more flexibility even if I changed my speaker setup later. I used 2 channels, in bridged mode to drive a single subwoofer or a pair of subwoofers in the trunk. It’s actually a pretty cool subject, and very useful! For example, I have owned many car amplifiers and normally used 4 or 5-channel amplifiers. It means using 2 amplifier channels working together to drive a speaker or a set of speakers with by using the power that normally is split between 2 separate amplifier channels. This is a very common wiring use of a 4 channel amp for situations in which you’d like more power available and don’t need 4 separate amplifier channels.īridging is a special feature in car amplifiers which lets you get the maximum amount of power they can produce by using a built-in channel-sharing design.

Can you bridge an amp without bridging built in?Ī 4 channel car amplifier bridged to 2 channels.Setting the crossovers on a bridged amp.Understanding the minimum speaker load (Ohm rating).Use good speakers & reliable connections.Connecting to a bridgeable amplifier – how to bridge an amplifier.How does an amp make more power when bridged?.
