Bridge Mode

[safehands 0]

hi,i need advice on weather this wood work.i have 2 8ohm 500 watt full range cabs,it would take an expensive amp to get the full power out of these at 8 ohm,so i was wondering would these work in bridge mode if i linked them 2 each other,as bridge mode would give me the power i need to drive them,any help would me very much welcome,i have it in the back of my head that bridge mode is only used for bass bins?

[danger mouse 0]

hi,i need advice on weather this wood work.i have 2 8ohm 500 watt full range cabs,it would take an expensive amp to get the full power out of these at 8 ohm,so i was wondering would these work in bridge mode if i linked them 2 each other,as bridge mode would give me the power i need to drive them,any help would me very much welcome,i have it in the back of my head that bridge mode is only used for bass bins?

prob not, you would be putting a 4 ohm load at bridged mode on your amp . Most amps only do bridge mode at 8 ohm, ( 1X8 Ohm speaker)what amp have you got, plus what speakers , and whats the rms of them .

[safehands 0]

prob not, you would be putting a 4 ohm load at bridged mode on your amp . Most amps only do bridge mode at 8 ohm, ( 1X8 Ohm speaker)what amp have you got, plus what speakers , and whats the rms of them .

 

bought speakers of a friend,they are 500w rms excel proffesional american series,i have heard them and are very loud,i also have a pair of peavey 300w bass bins,also 8 ohm,so i have a problem here on how to get max power to these,as there arent many amps(unless i spend a fortune) that give out enough power into an 8ohm load for what i need.how about if i was two daisy chain the 2 speakers into one channel,this would give me a 4 ohm load then and more power.i will be using 2 amps for this set up crossed over and eq

unit,any help would be much appreciated on how i can get some beefy powe to these.

[Andy Dunn 0]

You have to tell us what amps you are using to know wether you can do this!

 

Personally it sounds as though all you are interested in is getting more power to your cabs,but what about the quality of what you are getting there?

 

Stick to a properly eq'd and crossed system and if you have to save up a bit so be it!!

[safehands 0]

You have to tell us what amps you are using to know wether you can do this!

 

Personally it sounds as though all you are interested in is getting more power to your cabs,but what about the quality of what you are getting there?

 

Stick to a properly eq'd and crossed system and if you have to save up a bit so be it!!

 

hi,i havent bought any amps yet thats why i need to no if any of this will work,no point in buying a 1000w amp that only gives out 300w rms in 8 ohm,because i will be short on power,i want quality as much as a clean load sound,i have bought an eq,and a crossover and peak compressor,i was a club dj but now going it alone,my first gig is in 2 weeks.

 

i got the speakers cheap,all 8ohm,i should ave researched a bit first on ohmage i guess.

[Andy Dunn 0]

At a quick glance a Behringer EP1500 will power your subs in Bridge mode.

 

Can you tell us what graphic/x-over you are using and also I can't find details of your other cabs,can you tell us what is in them please.

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

Normally the Bass would be a higher wattage than the mid / tops. eg Mid tops at 250 watts and bass at 450 watts.

In bridged mode the amp will run in mono so therefore you would require 2 amps for stereo.

 

 

 

 

[safehands 0]

hi,i havent bought any amps yet thats why i need to no if any of this will work,no point in buying a 1000w amp that only gives out 300w rms in 8 ohm,because i will be short on power,i want quality as much as a clean load sound,i have bought an eq,and a crossover and peak compressor,i was a club dj but now going it alone,my first gig is in 2 weeks.

 

i got the speakers cheap,all 8ohm,i should ave researched a bit first on ohmage i guess.

 

 

hi,yes a pro sound 2/3 way crossover/behringer mdx 1600 peak limiter,the full range speakers have in them,a 15 inch 500w woofer,a dap audio 6 inch midrange and 2 motorola piezo tweeters

[Andy Dunn 0]

Hi again,O.K let's look at this with what you say you have,and work with that

 

Assuming you wanted to do this fairly cheaply:

 

If I were you I would purchase 2 x 1200w@ 4 ohms amps,these could be Behringer EP4000'S or something similar.

 

Behringer EP4000's are rated at 2 x 1400w@ 4 ohms and come out at around the £270 each mark.

 

Run the system in stereo x-ing around the 100-120hz area.

 

Buying these amps will give you some flexibility in the future if you wanted to upgrade your cabs.

 

Running the way you suggested in your initial post you will still need two amps anyway as Ray points out and the cost saving is negligible.

 

What type of functions are you doing with these anyway.

 

Oh and if it's only you using the system then set it up with the correct gain structure and lose the limiter as you don't need one if you are in control!!

 

Where are you based?

[safehands 0]

hi andy,i will hopefully be doing parties age range 18-40,mainly,dance/r&b/old skool,classix,80s 90s,althogh i am equipped to do weddings etc if they came along.i was going to use the limiter as a sort of speaker protection as my mate said these piezo tweeters are prone to blowing and are nowhere near as good as compression drivers.

 

ok so i cant run 2 speakers off 1 channel bringing the load down to 4 ohm?

 

also mentioned above,in an ideal world there should be more bass at the bottom,so was thinking should i replace the 300 watt bass drivers with the 500w ones i have in the full range cabinets.

 

wish i had bought 4 ohm system now lol.

 

first party in 2 weeks and so far no amps. :damn:

[Andy Dunn 0]

Yes you can run amps down to 4ohm loadings in bridge mode,dependent on each amps specification of course!

 

And your friend is right that piezo's are no match for good compression drivers in sound quality and reliability.

 

But you really want to try and run the system as easily as possible,and that would be to have two amps and run 2 way active as described earlier.

 

Once again,where are you based?

[safehands 0]

hi again,based in coventry but always going backwards and forwards to essex as thats where i am originally from.

 

ok the latest news is, for the party i am doing in 2 weeks i am just going to use the 500 watt cabs and buy the behringer amp you suggested,which is ok in 8 ohm.i may swap the cones in the bass bins for some other 4 ohm ones.

 

andy,i am going to need advice on how to wire all this up,ie,amp to eq,to compressor,to mixer,no need for the crossover unit just yet.

[norty303 0]

You'd be better off spending the little bit extra and getting the EP2500 and running one cab off each side in stereo (~450w per cab). You'll barely notice the difference between 450 and what is in reality around 550-600w from the 1500 (you'll see the 4R bridge specs are at 1khz, not full range)

 

Bridge mode runs amps harder for a given load and so can reduce the mean time before failure.

 

Always buy the most powerful amp you can afford, it'll sound better on your speakers as it'll be able to be more dynamic.

[Andy Dunn 0]

You'd be better off spending the little bit extra and getting the EP2500 and running one cab off each side in stereo (~450w per cab). You'll barely notice the difference between 450 and what is in reality around 550-600w from the 1500 (you'll see the 4R bridge specs are at 1khz, not full range)

 

Bridge mode runs amps harder for a given load and so can reduce the mean time before failure.

 

Always buy the most powerful amp you can afford, it'll sound better on your speakers as it'll be able to be more dynamic.

 

Just to clarify I was suggesting he purchased the EP4000 not the EP2500

[norty303 0]

Yeah, sorry Andy, must've missed that post. I think i saw the first one about the bridged 1500 and skipped to the end of the thread.

 

Agree with Andy, the 4k is a great amp if it does what they claim, and the price is looking great.

 

 

Oh, and if you think you might ever want to expand your system, stick with 8R cabs. 4R is fine if you ever only intend to have one speaker per channel on the amp. As soon as you want to pair up, 4R cabs become a problem, especially on bass as very few amps that you will want to spend money on will drive bass at 2R.

 

The only amps that I know of that will drive bass hard and consistently and reliably are in excess of £1k. You're looking at Crown Macro 5k's, Void Infinite 8's, Lab Gruppen. A QSC RMX4050HD will do it also on a budget.

Edited May 29, 2009 by norty303