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Does mono hurt surround?


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Maybe you can clarify your question for dummies like me.

 

You don't bridge a speaker, you bridge an amp.  You biamp a speaker.

 

It's the signal that is mono/stereo.  Every single speaker plays in it's own situation, one signal (mono), it's together that they can provide the stereo effect. 

 

Define "hurt the surround"

 

Does it damage anything physcially?  Nope  Can it dilute the spatial sound?  if you hit the "mono" button, I'd say yes it could

 

Does that mean that it is necessarily a bad thing?  I guess that depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

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5 hours ago, BlessedPrince said:

I think the post I read was referring to mono as a speaker being bi amp/amp bridge. I just needed some clarification myself.

 

Put yourself in a situation where you are listening to a transistor radio sitting on the table....you are listening to a mono presentation (one speaker, all the sound)

 

Biamping is taking the output of your preamp, putting it into an active crossover which splits the signal into separate highs/lows.  Sends each "half" to its own respective amp and then that amp powers the high or low section of the speaker (verses a single channel powering the entire speaker)

 

Bridging...  don't know how to describe that...     is something where you take a single stereo amp, (which has to have the ability to be bridged) and use both channels of output for a single speaker.

 

I'm doing this with a Crown K2 amp.  I have to flip a switch, telling the amp it's being bridged.  I have a single input signal...  then, as I recall, I put the "+" lead to the + on the speaker and the OTHER "+" lead to the negative on the speaker , verses the more traditional +/- hookups.

 

It does something to the ohms but then, gives more power to the speaker (in my case a subwoofer)

 

 

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If you asking about sound quality when running in mono then you have run into a dirty little secret: mono sounds pretty dang good!

 

With all the dedicated 2-channel rigs, AVR's running 7.2, 9.1 and Atmos 5.2.1, MONO isn't usually a consideration as a listening mode among audiophiles.  But if you place a quality 5.1 setup in MONO mode and just listen, the sound is just as dynamic and very pleasing.

 

It's a little humbling to admit that, but it's true.  :emotion-29:

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