5V Preouts to amp with 2-.1V gain?

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

ok, thats not what the review I read stated, but I guess I will just have to run smoe test tones and crank of the HU and take a reading from the far end of the RCA and see what it is really putting out.

 

[pwnt by pat 10+ year member]

There you go.

But when you test the far end of the RCAs, play music. Unless you are setting up this system for comps then your speakers will never get the full power of test tones.

Set the gains with tones - check the rcas with music

 

[Blazemore 10+ year member]

Not to hijack the thread but this question kind on the same topic

example if its rated for 65 watts rms @ 12.6Vdc (by the manual) but the gain setting equation comes out to be 16.12Vdc?

what does 12.6Vdc mean here by the manual?

 

[pwnt by pat 10+ year member]

Well what that means is this.

The amp is designed to give off 65 wrms @ 4 ohms when the source power (from the battery) is 12.6v. The 16.12v is the damplified power the amp feeds the speakers. So when playing a tone, you should set the gain to read 16.12v at the given volume on the amp's channel.

All of this is source dependant, however. Some amps put out considerably more power when the input voltage is increased - about 14v. Theoretically the 65w@12.6v would equal 72.2w at 14v source however the total power isn't linear for all amps. The only true way to set the gains is with an o-scope.

 

[Blazemore 10+ year member]

So before you start setting your gains place a dmm on your battery and make sure it stays above 12.6v for the entire setup process?

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

I'm Still having alot of problems setting the gains correctly

1) Turned Volume to 68/80

2) Turned off EQ and put HP filter at 50htz and above

3) Put in 1000HTZ Test Tone

Set gain to 17.4V With engine running

Next Came the Subs,

Did the same for my W0 12's 125 watts @4 ohm

My Subs Are Hooked up to the HU's Non-Fader Rear Channel.

So I turned the Non_Fader rear to Maximum = 16

Even with the gain down all the way I could not get to as low as 22.3V Lowest it would go is 25V on the hifonics amp with a 43htx test tone.

Now I hooked the speakers backup and they are barley audiable untill around 35-40 volume and don't get loud untill I go over 75/80

I noticed the Volume knob on my Eclipse is not Linear, up to about 60 the voltage produced by the amp goings up pretty linear, at about 65 I get an extra 4V per click to the front speakers and 8v per click to the rear

This means if I set the CD player for 65/80 volume the gain is turned up almost 2x as high if I set it for 70/80 I can't even set the gain low enough to provide the corect voltage.

From a volume of 68 to 73 or so I go from about 17V to about 38V

What the hell am I doing wrong.

My Speakers are barley audiable and the sub barley works unless it is turned up all the way.! This tutorial is not working for me.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

I set the volume to 60/80 and took a measurement and it read 7V but at 68 it was reaing 17.

So I changed it to be 17V at 60/80 Seems much better now.

So can I turn my volume past 60 and be safe now? I don't think normal music will cause clipping like the test tones? I an turn it to 70 and it still sounds real good. Does this sound better 60/80 is 2/3rd volume but I do plan to use the volume over that level.

Also I don't know what to put the sub output too 0-16 when I set the gain on my Z600, it's not a bass boost it's more like Fading front to back 16 being full.

Abyone have any ideaS?

Thanks.

 

[pwnt by pat 10+ year member]

That's fine. for the fronts. Remember, turning the volume to max won't hurt when your fronts are amped as long as you have a quality unit - you do - and set the gains right, like you did.

Also, voltage point set to volume shouldn't make any difference but if it does, just set it like you need it. It sounds like you have it all worked out with 60/80 being the 17v spot. You should be able to turn it up past that without clipping during music. Just becareful and if you notice any disdortion from your speakers, turn the volume down.

volume of 68 to 73 or so I go from about 17V to about 38V

That sounds like your amp is clipping. Be careful to check that with your gain settings now so you know what volume not to go past.

As for your sub... Did you try turning the fade down on it to see if you can drop the voltage?

Remember, turning the volume to max won't hurt when your fronts are amped as long as you have a quality unit - you do - and set the gains right, like you did.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

Actualy the way it is set now I get voltage in the 30's with a test tone of 1000HTZ at around 65 instead of 70 So it clips even sooner, but when I play music and not a test tone I don't hear any distortion at these levels.

I just turned up the gain on my woofers also because they sounded anemic with the Gain set acording to the tutorial. I turned it up about 1/2 way to where it sounded good, if I detect distortion I guess I can always turn it down on the HU or make adjustments by ear, as I think they are more accurate that way for the woofer, Otherwise I have to have the woofer on like 15 to get any response or make it hit all all with regular music, (Sublime, Slightly stoopid etc) and that does not make for much adjustment (turning down wise) Since it is still not very loud at 15.

I really don't understand how to adjust the woofers, I think If I do it again I will set the woofer to 10/16 and adjust the gain with a 50 Htz or 60 htz tone also at volume 60/80. The voltage drops quickly by turning up or down the woofer so I don't know where it is best to have the controll set at on the HU.

For the woofer and Hifonics @ 16/16 the test tones always make the amp clip even with the gain turned all the way down on the amp I don't know what voltage range there is for the Gain on the older Hifonics Z600 it does not show anything on the knob and I lost the manual years ago. It appears to be similar to the eclipse though.

So From what I have experience when using an amp that does not support the voltage from the pre-outs you can't exactly follow the tutorial.

The eclipse's volume controll is not linear, at about 2/3rd volume the voltage sent out by the pre-outs increases quickly. I do not think you have to have everything turned up to see 5V, in fact I think I would be seeing as much as 8V with everything turned up all the way. I think the pre-outs must be rated differently than other manufacturers but who knows how they rate them?

It appears that when setting up an amp in this way your actually just setting the gain relative to a point on the volume controll, so there fore it would probably not be a good idea to turn the volume past 70 for normal music and not past 60 for test/tones and other music that is hard on the system.

Does it sound like I am doing this right for my setup?