Classé CA-5100

[Erik LeBeau]

A quick question about this multichannel. There's one for sale somewhere at a very good price.

Can I do bridging to harness more power with it since I will probably not use it as a multi-channel and have all these channels free.

[PewterTA]

I don't believe it's bridgeable.

You can use a splitter and use 2 of the channels for your speakers (if they allow bi-amping).

[TomScrut]

In theory they are, as Classe actually told me how to do it but they said it was not recommended. It isn't a case of flicking a switch on the back though it is a bit more complicated than that as you basically have to bridge it yourself and it can only be done with the balanced inputs.

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[TomScrut]

And I didn't actually do it on my 5200 in the end as I thought it may put the amps under too much stress. The amps only see half the impedance so with 802s like mine you end up with each amp only seeing about 1.5 ohms which is not good for the amp!

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[mjb]

Those amps are rated at 100 Classé watts per channel - not music power, or peak power, or some other trick term to make it sound better than it really is. I drove my 802d's with a 5100 for a year or so, and it managed very well. As TomScrut says, bridging is not necessarily a good idea as the impedance becomes so low.

[TomScrut]

Yeah the x100s are good, there wasn't a lot in it between a CAP-2100 my friend has and my CA-5200 at the time into my 803Ss. Just a bit more bass with the 5200. Having said that, the CA-2300 is way better with the 802 Diamonds than the CA-5200. Not that the CA-5200 was bad or anything, great amp!

What speakers are you using?