Bridged and

paralleled amplifiers

Multiple electronic amplifiers can be

connected such that they drive a single
floating load (bridge) or a single common
load (parallel), to increase the amount of
power (physics) available in different
situations. This is commonly encountered
in audio applications.
Overview
Bridged or paralleled modes of working,
normally involving audio power amplifiers,
are methods of combining the output of
two identical amplifiers to provide, what is
in effect, a mono amplifier. Combining
more than two amplifiers can be effected
using the basic principles described,
including the possibility of bridge and
parallel modes in combination.

Two identical amplifiers are most often

encountered in a common case, with a
common power supply, and would
normally be regarded as a stereo amplifier.
Any conventional stereo amplifier can be
operated in bridge or parallel mode
provided that the common loudspeaker
terminals (normally black) are connected
and common to the ground rail within the
amplifier.

Some two channel amplifiers, or stereo

amplifiers, have the built in facility to
operate in bridge mode by operating a
switch and observing the input and output
connections detailed on the back panel or
in the manual. This option is most often
found in high power PA equipment or
amplifiers designed for car audio
applications. Operation in parallel mode
requires no special facility and is
implemented merely by the appropriate
external connection.

Stereo amplifiers usually have a common

control for gain and frequently bass/treble
and when switched to bridge mode will
automatically track each channel
identically. Where two channel amplifiers
have separate controls, and are switchable
to bridge mode, only the controls on one
channel will be operational.

Where the user implements their own

connections for either bridge or parallel
mode, and the amplifiers have individual
controls, care should be taken that both
sets of controls are set identically.

Bridged amplifier
A bridge-tied load (BTL), also known as
bridged transformerless and bridged
mono, is an output configuration for audio
amplifiers, a form of impedance bridging
used mainly in professional audio & car
applications.[1] The two channels of a
stereo amplifier are fed the same
monaural audio signal, with one channel's
electrical polarity reversed. A loudspeaker
is connected between the two amplifier
outputs, bridging the output terminals. This
doubles the available voltage swing at the
load compared with the same amplifier
used without bridging. The configuration is
most often used for subwoofers.[2]

Typical circuit

Representative schematic of a bridged amplifier

configuration.

Example. Two amplifiers, each rated 100

watts maximum for an impedance of 4 Ω
(four Ohms); in bridge mode they will
appear as a mono amp, rated 200 watts
into 8 Ohms. This is the most commonly
misunderstood mode of operation and it
requires additional circuitry to implement if
the pair of amplifiers does not have the
facility built in. The image shows two
identical amplifiers A1 and A2 connected
in bridge mode. The signals presented to
each amplifier of the pair are caused to be
in anti-phase. In other words, as the signal
in one amplifier is swinging positively, the
signal in the other is swinging negatively. If,
for example the maximum output voltage
swing of each amplifier is between a peak
of + and – 10 volts, when the output of one
amplifier is at + 10 volts the output of the
other will be at –10 volts, which means
that the load (a loudspeaker) now sees a
20 volt peak difference between the “hot”
(normally red ) output terminals. Driving
the load between two signals of opposite
electrical polarity makes each amplifier
see only half the load's electrical
impedance.[3]

The provision of the anti-phase audio input

signal can be provided in several ways,
which require appropriate knowledge and
skill.
 1. by an internal modification such as
that described by Rod Elliot at
http://sound.whsites.net/project20.h
tm ;
2. by a simple active phase splitter
circuit, external to the amplifier;
3. by a phase splitting audio input
transformer, external to the amplifier.

The bridge mode option is often used in

PA systems and especially in car audio
applications to feed bass loudspeakers at
high power. Car audio amplifiers
commonly have only a 13.8 volt supply
and obtaining the voltage levels in the
amplifier circuit required for even modest
powers is expensive. Bridge mode
operation helps provide the power required
at lower cost.

Benefits and drawbacks

Since two amplifiers are being used in

opposite polarity, using the same power
supply, there is no need for the use of a DC
blocking capacitor between the amplifier
and the load. This saves cost & space, and
there is no power reduction at low
frequency due to the capacitor.[4]

Bridging an amplifier increases the power

that can be supplied to one loudspeaker,
but it does not increase the amplifier's
total available power. Because a bridge
amplifier operates in mono mode, a
second identical amplifier is required for
stereo operation. For bridged amplifiers,
damping factor is cut in half. Because the
amplifier's bridged output is floating, it
should never be grounded or it may
damage the amplifier.[5]

Quadrupled power myth

On audio chat forums, some hobbyists

claim that operating an amplifier’s stereo
pair in bridge mode can give four times the
power (of one of the pair’s channels). This
hypothesis makes reference to the fact
that power is proportional to the square of
the voltage, implying that if the output
voltage is doubled – as it is in bridge
mode – then the power available increases
by a factor of four.

This would be true if the amplifier in

bridged mode were used to drive
loudspeakers of the same impedance
used in stereo mode. However, in this
case, the current through the loudspeaker
and the amplifier would also double, which
could exceed the amplifier ratings and
lead to overheating and finally destruction
of the amplifier. In fact, the minimum
impedance of the loudspeaker in bridged
mode should be double the minimum
impedance rated for stereo mode.

Consequently, operating a pair of existing

amplifier channels in bridge mode doubles
available power output to the load.[5]

Paralleled amplifier

Representative schematic of a paralleled amplifier

configuration.
A paralleled amplifier configuration uses
multiple amplifiers in parallel, i.e., two or
more amplifiers operating in-phase into a
common load.

In this mode the available output CURRENT

is doubled but the output voltage remains
the same. The output impedance of the
pair is now halved.

The image shows two identical amplifiers

A1 and A2 connected in parallel
configuration. This configuration is often
used when a single amplifier is incapable
of being operated into a low impedance
load or dissipation per amplifier is to be
reduced without increasing the load
impedance or reducing power delivered to
the load. For example, if two identical
amplifiers (each rated for operation into 4
ohm) are paralleled into a 4 ohm load,
each amplifier sees an equivalent of 8 ohm
since the output current is now shared by
both amplifiers — each amplifier supplies
half the load current, and the dissipation
per amplifier is halved. This configuration
(ideally or theoretically) requires each
amplifier to be exactly identical to the
other(s), or they will appear as loads to
each other. Practically, each amplifier must
satisfy the following:
Each amplifier must have as little output
DC offset as possible (ideally zero
offset) at no signal, otherwise the
amplifier with the higher offset will try to
drive current into the one with lesser
offset thereby increasing dissipation.
Equal offsets are also not acceptable
since this will cause unwanted current
(and dissipation) in the load. These are
taken care of by adding an offset nulling
circuit to each amplifier.
The gains of the amplifiers must be as
closely matched as possible so that the
outputs don't try to drive each other
when signal is present.
In addition, small resistors (much less than
the load impedance, not shown in the
schematic) are added in series with each
amplifier's output to enable proper current
sharing between the amplifiers. These
resistances are necessary because the
output impedance of the two amplifiers
will not, due to manufacturing variation, be
perfectly identical. Introduction of output
resistors isolates this imbalance and
prevents problematic interactions between
the two amplifiers.

Another method of parallelling amplifiers

is to use current drive. With this approach
the close matching and resistances are
not needed.

Bridge-parallel amplifier
A bridge-parallel amplifier configuration
uses a combination of the bridged and
paralleled amplifier configurations. This is
more commonly used with IC power
amplifiers where it is desired to have a
system capable of generating large power
into the rated load impedance (i.e., the
load impedance used is the one specified
for a single amplifier) without exceeding
the power dissipation per amplifier. From
the preceding sections, it can be seen that
a bridged configuration doubles the
dissipation in each amplifier while a
paralleled configuration with two
amplifiers halves the dissipation in each
amplifier when operating into the rated
load impedance. So when both
configurations are combined, assuming
two amplifiers per configuration, the
resulting dissipation per amplifier now
remains unchanged while operating into
the rated load impedance, but with nearly
four times the power that each amplifier is
individually capable of, being delivered to
the load.

See also
 Amplifier
Audio amplifier
Electronic amplifier
Single-ended signalling
Bridge-tied load

References
1. Eiche, Jon F. (1990). Guide to Sound
Systems for Worship . Recording and
Audio Technology. Hal Leonard
Corporation. p. 87. ISBN 0-7935-0029-
X.
2. "Stereo, Parallel, and Bridge Mono" .
Amp Guide. DirectProAudio. Retrieved
September 28, 2011.
 3. Roberts, Joe (2007). "Audio Power
Amplifier Fundamentals" . Joe's Tech
Notes. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
4. Self, Douglas (2009). Audio Power
Amplifier Design Handbook (5 ed.).
Focal Press. p. 367. ISBN 0-240-
52162-5.
5. Bartlett, Bruce (May 1, 2010).
"Amplifier Power Master Class: Not All
Ratings Are Similar" . ProSoundWeb.
Retrieved September 28, 2011.

Further reading
Bridge Mode Operation of Power
Operational Amplifiers , Apex Analog-
 Cirrus Logic application note AN20, May
2009. (see next)
https://www.apexanalog.com/resources
/appnotes/an20u.pdf
Bridge/Parallel Amplifier (BPA-200)
Documentation , National
Semiconductor application note,
September 19, 1997.
Optimizing Audio Bridged Tied Load
Amplifiers , Maxim Integrated Products,
Inc. application note 1122, Jun 24, 2002.

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