Should I add a second or third amplifier?

[sorvino123]

Okay I have recently caught the bug and I believe I have some decent gear but I am having trouble configuring it. My system consists of the following
(speakers)
1) 2 B&W Nautilus 803 front left and right
2) 1 B&W Nautilus HTM1 center
3) 2 B&W Nautilus 805 rear surround
4) 2 B&W DS,6 side channel
5) 2 Velodyne ULD-15 subs
(amplifiers)
1) 1 Pioneer elite VSX 92 TXH
2) 2 Harman Kardon citizen 16's
3) 2 Velodyne for the subs
(DVD)
1) 1 Pioneer elite BDP-95 FD Blu-Ray
. Okay here goes my question.
Presently I do not have the Harman Kardon amplifiers cloaked into my system. I am only using the Pioneer elite. Could I, should I, add the citizen 16 into the system?
I was also thinking about, using a by-amp configuration for my front three channels. As I stated earlier I just recently started to enjoy this new hobby and I am not experienced. If anyone can help please be specific. I will include a photograph of the rear of my Pioneer elite and the rear of the citizen 16 only have inputs for speakers (left and right channel) and input left and right.

[Glen B]

Don't you mean CITATION 16s ? Those are nice classic amps. You could certainly use them to biamp the right and left fronts. Feed the right and left preouts of the receiver into the amp inputs via a pair of Y-adapter cables. Connect the main speakers to the Citation outputs.

[gross30]

sorvino123, I have a similar set up, using the SC-09 for the ht amp, but I bi-amp my mains and rears and center. That way I can have the SC-09 off while listening to 2 channel only. It is like a separate system inside a system. It is a wiring nightmare but, it works well for me.

[sorvino123]

Thank you for responding Glen B. , I would have gotten back to this site sooner but I was never notified that I have received a response. I am also new to this site, I must have my notification turned off, I will look into it. Anyway. In regards to my question. Are you suggesting that I use two of my citizen 16's in conjunction with the Pioneer to power my front left and right channel? Or am I just picking up the signal from the Pioneer and the power comes from the sixteenths? If the latter is the case that would mean I would have to channel's on the Pioneer that are not in use? Can I bridge them for the center? Like I said in my first post, this is all quite new to me and quite frankly, I am a little confused. I am just trying to utilize my equipment to its fullest. From what I have read I understand that B&W speakers like a fair amount of power, and being I have these two citizens 16's just sitting there I thought I would put them to use, of course, if it makes sense to do so.

[Glen B]

Are you suggesting that I use two of my citizen 16's in conjunction with the Pioneer to power my front left and right channel? Or am I just picking up the signal from the Pioneer and the power comes from the sixteenths? If the latter is the case that would mean I would have to channel's on the Pioneer that are not in use?

Yes, signal from the receiver R+L preouts into the inputs of two Citations, power from the Citations driving the 803s, leave the R+L outputs of the Pioneer unconnected. Leave the remaining channels hooked up as they currently are, driving the center and surround speakers. Leaving two channels of the receiver unused should theoretically give you a little more headroom on the other channels, by reducing the demand on the power supply.

For pure 2-channel listening, switch the Pioneer to 2-channel mode; this will have only the two Citations and Velodynes running. I run an identical setup for 5.1/secondary 2-channel, i.e., an Onkyo AVR used as preamp/processor, driving a Phase Linear amp on the R+L main speakers, and three channels of the Onkyo driving the center and surrounds. For 2-channel listening, I switch to stereo mode and signal is sent only to the Phase Linear and sub. Disclaimer: Some may say it is ideal to drive all three front channels with identical amplification, and I agree. However, my setup has been working fine as it is so far.

Can I bridge them for the center?

Probably not. Unless an amp is designed to be bridged, you can't do so without damaging it. Bridging halves the load impedance the amp sees, so that if speakers are 8 ohms, the amp now sees them as 4 ohms. Since speaker impedance can vary with frequency, the amp could end up seeing as little as 1 ohm, maybe even less. An amp that is not designed to drive such loads will self-destruct.

You will also need a bridging circuit that inverts the phase of the signal driving one of the channels, and that is a whole other ballgame. Outboard devices that accomplish this are very rare and hard to come by, with the alternative being DIY. I would make a 99.9% guess that your receiver is not bridgeable.