amp has less power after raising gain??

[xoch1 10+ year member]

I was messing with the gain on my sub amp with a dmm tool. I realize some people dont like to use a dmm for setting gain but i was just curious what mine was doing. Anyway, at 3/4 gain I get 35.9 on dmm. Now my amp is supposed to be rated 360 at 4 ohm. so according to the formula i come up with 37.94 So does this mean my amp is not doing what its rated for? And also more importantly, if i turn the gain up past 3/4 it drops to like 32-33 so does that mean that 3/4 is right at its peak before clipping? I have 2 12 inch planet audio supposedly rated 180 each. I dont hear any distortion no matter where it is set.

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[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

what amp? it could be that it's not as efficient cranked up that far... idk.

 

[xoch1 10+ year member]

Total Mobil Audio t360 2 channel bridged acccording to the specs is says 360 watts

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

The drop in voltage coming out of the amp is probably the clipping circuit limiting the output so things don't break.

You'll need voltage, current and real-world impedance measurement in order to calculate power output.

 

[xoch1 10+ year member]

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for the info. I just set it just right before the peak measurement. Peaks at 36 so I set it at 35.9 I hear no distortion and it sounds pretty good so I will just leave it at that.