RB 1070 amp- bridged

[RoMan]

Hi all,

Any reviews here on using the RB 1070 power amp as a bridged unit? I see it produces 360 watts bridged. As most of you know I'm using the RB 1090(beauty amp I must say) for my mains and they kick out a beautiful 380 watts per channel.

Would getting this amp RB 1070 increase the soundstage as I am using my RMB 1095 amp to run my center channel @ 200 watts. Would there be any significant increase in sound if I ran this configuration? Is there more chance of distortion when running in bridged mode with this amp? Although I'm missing 20watts I dont think that wouldn't even make a difference.


Thanks in advance for your answers. Much appreciated.

RoMan

[chrispy35]

Going from 200 W with a single channel of your 1095 to 360 W with 2 channels bridged on a 1070 would be less than a 3 dB gain.

I have to ask...are you really missing that 3 dB on your center channel?

Chris P.

[miner]

Bridging increases distortion. I tend to agree with chrispy on his assessment.

[RoMan]

That what was I was wondering if there were going to be any significance to getting the RB 1070 amp. How was the 3db gain figure calculated? What is the formula? I wasn't taking the gain into consideration at that point. It was more or less a bid to have all front channels match power wise.

Then I started thinking that the RMB 1095 extra channels would be wasted if I just used 2 channels for surround. Of course I could make a 6.1 configuration though using two more channels.

Another option would've been to sell the RMB 1095, purchase another used RB 1090 and get the RB 1070 for center channel duty. :P

Anyways, an RB 1070 couldnt hurt for my bedroom anyways. I would be interested in more thoughts and comments or anyone with personal experience using the RB 1070 as a center channel.

Thanks for the previous responses.

RoMan

[cug]

That what was I was wondering if there were going to be any significance to getting the RB 1070 amp. How was the 3db gain figure calculated? What is the formula?

As a rule of thumb (not the complete formular, but easier to calculate on the fly):

- give double the power and get +3dB
- give ten times the power and get +10dB

- to feel the SPL double, you'll have to get 10dB gain

So, to double the SPL you need ten times the power.

This is simplified but easy to remember and calculate.

[DL86]

Each doubling of power results in 3gb of gain using log rules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_power_point. 3db of added of volume is a fair amount if your speakers can reproduce it.

[Mikael]

Just remember if you bridge your amp,you can't run speakers under 8 ohm proper.

[gd]

Bridging increases distortion.

That's the biggest single reason to not bother bridging.

Your 1095 should be more than sufficient to drive your center... adjustments can be made in calibration to achieve even levels across the front.

Simply crunching the numbers (shopping for the mostest watts for the fewest bucks) is not the way to optimize performance of your center speaker – which, btw, I don't see listed anywhere.

Again, unless your speakers are difficult-load esoteric types, your 1095 should be plenty.

Granted this is a tinkering hobby, but sometimes it just isn't necessary – or advisable – to use every available output.