Is it possible to combine multiple amplifiers to get higher power?

S

Sophia Rodriguez

New member
Jul 9, 2022
4
0
1
27
San Jose, CA
Hi everyone,
My first post here 😊
I hope that I'm at the right place...
I have 2x Crown Xli 1500 and another 2x Crown XLS 1502.
I have a passive subwoofer (Yorkville LS1208) that requires "Power program 2000w (4000 Peak / 1000 continues).
On paper, the amplifiers I have are not strong enough for my subwoofer (correct me if I'm wrong)...
I have a crazy idea/question 😅
Can I "chain/use in series/parallel" the amplifiers to get a higher wattage (I'm not talking about chaining the line-level input, I'm talking about chaining the binding posts themselves between 2 amplifiers)??
For example: can I connect the positive of the subwoofer to amp 1 and the negative to amp 2 or something like that??
I couldn't find any info about that!
Thank you so much!!
Sophia
 
Thank you for much for the link!!
I understand some of what I read, not everything 😅
1) Can you share why it's not advised? does it damages the amps or something?
2) If I understand the Wiki correctly: let's say that each single amp provides 1000w at 8 ohms in bridge mode.
If I connect both amps in parallel (and each single amp provides 1000w at 8 ohms), I'll get 2,000w at 8 ohms?
I got it correctly?
Thank you again!!! 😊
 
An important thing to remember is that the "passive subwoofer (Yorkville LS1208) that requires "Power program 2000w (4000 Peak / 1000 continues)" doesn't REQUIRE 2000W to operate, it can accept up to 2000 watts before damage occurs. Your Crown amps delivering about 500 watts per channel will 'run out' of power about 6 db before the subwoofer has capacity for. If you want to increase that by 3db then yes go ahead and run one of the Crowns in mono to deliver 1000 watts to the subwoofer. That will allow you to operate the sub up to 3db less than it's maximum output, a fairly small amount of sound output. This is all pretty dependent on how loud you want to operate the sub of course but as long as you keep any amp cool and out of clipping in mono it should work fine. If you are routinely running out of low frequency capacity with your subwoofer, running the amp into clipping and your sound rally needs that extra low end boost then go ahead and buy a larger amp.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sophia Rodriguez
Sophia Rodriguez said:
1) Can you share why it's not advised? does it damages the amps or something?
2) If I understand the Wiki correctly: let's say that each single amp provides 1000w at 8 ohms in bridge mode.
If I connect both amps in parallel (and each single amp provides 1000w at 8 ohms), I'll get 2,000w at 8 ohms?
I got it correctly?
Click to expand...
Sophia,
1) It's not advised because additional circuitry would be required to prevent amplifier damage.
2) Assuming additional protection circuitry was added, both amps in parallel would still produce the same voltage output, no additional power would be generated in the 8 ohm speaker load.

As Riley mentioned, the difference from 1000 to 2000 watts is only 3dB, a fairly small difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sophia Rodriguez
I would expect that the output would have to match in just the right way so that it's working unison,
otherwise it would be "fighting" the other amp. I would not attempt it, too risky in the unknowns.
That would be an expensive experiment if it didn't work and damaged any of the units in the equation.

I'm basing this on the same concept of power supplies.
To have 2 D.C. power supplies in series or parallel to have more combined output voltage or amps for example,
they would have to be exact to each other exact same voltage, current, waveform, etc,,
otherwise one is trying to compensate for the other, and it ends up being unbalanced,
at least that's what I found out when researching on that particular instance of power supplies.
I may be wrong about the amplifiers, it's just a theory, your best bet is ask the manufacturer,
they'll give you a definitive answer.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sophia Rodriguez
NO. NO. Absolutely never connect the output terminals of one amp to the output terminals of another !
Unless you like Blown Amplifiers !
To say that a speaker "requires" a certain power is like saying that you are "required" to drive the speed limit.
The power rating is the maximum it can handle, not the amount required. [and knowing Yorkville, the rating is probably quite optimistic anyway]
I guarantee that if 500 watts isn’t loud enough, 1000 won’t be much louder.
•))) If 500 watts isn’t loud enough, you need more speakers, not more power !
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sophia Rodriguez and Roy Andrews
Perry Wright said:
NO. NO. Absolutely never connect the output terminals of one amp to the output terminals of another !
Unless you like Blown Amplifiers !
Click to expand...
What he said!!!!!!!

You connect the output terminals of 2 unique, distinct amps, you WILL end up with 2 blown amps & a large repair bill. PERIOD!!!!
I've been working with & repairing these things since the Crown DC300 was a thing, and I GUARANTEE you will get fried amp omelet if you proceed with your plan.

ALL of your amps support bridge mono mode according to Crown (giving either 900 / 1050 watts into 8 ohms). That is a ton of power, because Crown don't typically use the wildly exaggerated power figures that many cheap chinesium products do. Look up in the product manual how to configure bridge mono, use it, be happy. Oh, and put a big piece of tape on the front & back indicating it is in bridge mode so you don't forget & try to use it for some other FoH or monitors that can't take that kind of power.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sophia Rodriguez
Top Bottom