Should I buy a 2nd amp and bridge, or sell amp and buy more powerful 4 channel one?

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

I currently have a rockford r300 amp which is 50x4 at 4 ohms, and can be bridged to 150w. I'm driving my 4 door coaxials at the moment with it, but would like to upgrade to 2 component sets to replace them and therefore need either another one or sell it for a different amp... I've never had the need to bridge any of my amps before, and was just wondering if there would be any downside to this approach vs. simply buying a more powerful 4 channel.

Here is the amp... thanks for any advice!

Rockford Fosgate R300-4 (R3004) 400W 4-Chan Class A/B Prime Amp

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[zako 10+ year member]

I don't understand how you can power 4 component speakers with a 4 channel amplifier while also bridging. Also, I wouldn't recommend bridging small Class A/B amplifiers in general. When you bridge, your channels are seeing 2ohm impedance. This lowers amplifier efficiency, which means that the amplifier will waste more energy as heat. This can be an issue during the months when you see >100F temperatures outside.

My personal recommendation, if you want to save money and if you're happy with the way this amplifier already works (e.g. no noise, no alternator whine, no overheating, no audible distortion), leave the amplifier as is, plug in the component speakers and see how it goes. If you're not happy after this buy a more powerful amplifier. My pick would be PPI P900.4 or a similar (it has clones, like Soundstream TN4). It's a fine little amp that provides massive power, clean sound (to my ear), and always runs cool, even when seeing 2ohm impedances.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

I don't understand how you can power 4 component speakers with a 4 channel amplifier while also bridging. Also, I wouldn't recommend bridging small Class A/B amplifiers in general. When you bridge, your channels are seeing 2ohm impedance. This lowers amplifier efficiency, which means that the amplifier will waste more energy as heat. This can be an issue during the months when you see >100F temperatures outside.
My personal recommendation, if you want to save money and if you're happy with the way this amplifier already works (e.g. no noise, no alternator whine, no overheating, no audible distortion), leave the amplifier as is, plug in the component speakers and see how it goes. If you're not happy after this buy a more powerful amplifier.

I think you misunderstood my post... I'm trying to pull out the coaxials and sell them, leaving the amplifier i currently have free so i could either sell it and get something to handle more powerful component sets without bridging, or get another of the same one, and bridge the 8 total channels down to 4 channels for 150w at 4 ohms.

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

But I suppose another option is what you said, I could just stick with my 1 amp and see how it handles them.