Menu
Forum
General Car Audio
Subwoofers
Speakers
Amplifiers
Head Units
Car Audio Build Logs
Wiring, Electrical and Installation
Enclosure Design & Construction
Car Audio Classifieds
Home Audio
Off-topic Discussion
The Lounge
What's new
Search forums
Gallery
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Registered members
Current visitors
Classifieds Member Feedback
SHOP
Shop Head Units
Shop Amplifiers
Shop Speakers
Shop Subwoofers
Shop eBay Car Audio
Log in / Register
Forum
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
Log in / Join
What’s new
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
General Car Audio
Subwoofers
Speakers
Amplifiers
Head Units
Car Audio Build Logs
Wiring, Electrical and Installation
Enclosure Design & Construction
Car Audio Classifieds
Home Audio
Off-topic Discussion
The Lounge
What's new
Search forums
Menu
Reply to thread
Forum
Car Audio Discussion
General Car Audio
amp gain calculations (pic)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Message
<blockquote data-quote="eharri3" data-source="post: 5413819" data-attributes="member: 591579"><p>I am new to this and not an expert by any means but IMHO on that website he shouldn't have gone into amp voltage vs. head unit voltage nearly as much as he did. It's enough to give people the impression that you can get an accurate setting this way. He kind of goes into the fact that real world gain setting requires some overlap to sound good if you're not running two or three times the rated power to each driver but he doesn't go much further than that.</p><p></p><p>As an example: I have a 4 volt head unit. I run a pioneer premier shallowmount 10 off a 300 watt Alpine MRP M500. Before I had a 2 volt head unit.</p><p></p><p>When I had the two volt head unit the DMM method had my gains at slightly further clockwise than the .5 volt marking on the amp. When I switched to my 4 volt head unit I first tried it by ear, listening for distortion at high volumes and for the sub to rise in volume in the same linnear fashion as the rest of the deck. The gain ended up at slightly above the .5 volt mark, and the amount I was off by from setting by ear was negligible. My bass sounds clean to about 80% of max volume.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand with my Eclipse EA4200 for my door speakers when I mess with the gain on that using 0DB test tones it seems to end up exactly on the notch that matches the rated voltage output for my HU and everything sounds perfect at that level or maybe with a tiny bit of overlap. Go figure.</p><p></p><p>The voltage markings on alot of amps are not exact and alot of times they aren't even linnear, as in, you may see two notches close together for .2 and .5 volts but then the next one may be 1 volt, and the notches in between may not be marked at all. So good luck setting for your target input sensitivity just by looking at the dial.</p><p></p><p>The head unit puts out 4 volts with a test tone at max undistorted volume but if your music ever reaches these levels it will be for fractions of a second. The rest of the time it'll probably be at considerably lower voltage levels, too low to trigger those 900 watts if you try it your way.</p><p></p><p>At bare minimum use the DMM method and test tones if you're really lookin to get a good starting point. Figure out where your head unit distorts and what's the highest you plan to turn it up then aim for making your target voltage and power output at a notch or two below it. There are better methods but this would be better than trying to figure it out on the amp's gain dial.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="eharri3, post: 5413819, member: 591579"] I am new to this and not an expert by any means but IMHO on that website he shouldn't have gone into amp voltage vs. head unit voltage nearly as much as he did. It's enough to give people the impression that you can get an accurate setting this way. He kind of goes into the fact that real world gain setting requires some overlap to sound good if you're not running two or three times the rated power to each driver but he doesn't go much further than that. As an example: I have a 4 volt head unit. I run a pioneer premier shallowmount 10 off a 300 watt Alpine MRP M500. Before I had a 2 volt head unit. When I had the two volt head unit the DMM method had my gains at slightly further clockwise than the .5 volt marking on the amp. When I switched to my 4 volt head unit I first tried it by ear, listening for distortion at high volumes and for the sub to rise in volume in the same linnear fashion as the rest of the deck. The gain ended up at slightly above the .5 volt mark, and the amount I was off by from setting by ear was negligible. My bass sounds clean to about 80% of max volume. On the other hand with my Eclipse EA4200 for my door speakers when I mess with the gain on that using 0DB test tones it seems to end up exactly on the notch that matches the rated voltage output for my HU and everything sounds perfect at that level or maybe with a tiny bit of overlap. Go figure. The voltage markings on alot of amps are not exact and alot of times they aren't even linnear, as in, you may see two notches close together for .2 and .5 volts but then the next one may be 1 volt, and the notches in between may not be marked at all. So good luck setting for your target input sensitivity just by looking at the dial. The head unit puts out 4 volts with a test tone at max undistorted volume but if your music ever reaches these levels it will be for fractions of a second. The rest of the time it'll probably be at considerably lower voltage levels, too low to trigger those 900 watts if you try it your way. At bare minimum use the DMM method and test tones if you're really lookin to get a good starting point. Figure out where your head unit distorts and what's the highest you plan to turn it up then aim for making your target voltage and power output at a notch or two below it. There are better methods but this would be better than trying to figure it out on the amp's gain dial. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forum
Car Audio Discussion
General Car Audio
amp gain calculations (pic)
Top
Menu
What's new
Forum list
