should I bridge or not?

Question

I have a pair of 4-way JBL E90 speakers that say their power handling is 225W @ 8ohms. I just got a Carver AV-806X amp that is 135WX6 at 8ohms. That amp is bridgeable. Should I under power the speakers on a single channel or over power them by bridging two channels together?

Answer 1

Overpower for better performance, but be careful with your volume control. I wouldn't go over 70% max. If you don't have good control over your system (young kids or drunk roommates) then you might want to not bridge and live with the sound underpowered.

edit: We don't run more power to make a system louder, we use it to make the system sound better when it's being played louder. Also, even at fairly low volumes, a strong transient will sound more realistic if the amp has the additional power to handle it correctly.