Another amp setting question

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

Alright, I just spent 2 hours trying every possible way to figure out what the hell is going on here. I'm running a Hifonics 1606d (says to put out 1600@1 but when calculating output voltage, I used 1200, beacuse I know its overrated a bit), powering two RE SE 12's. HU is a pioneer (non-premier) that is in sig, said to put out 2vrms on the subout.

I Pulled the speaker wires out of the amp, turned gain all the way down(Bassboost was and will be down). Inserted a disk with a 50hz 0Db test tone, with all eq flat, no bass boost or anything on HU. Got my DMM, inserted into the speaker terminals, and at "ACV 200". With the headunit at 3/4 volume (45/60) it was showing 0.1v with minimum gain. I proceeded to turn the gain up, and slowly reached the half way point, it was reading 0.4v, and after further turning at about 2/3 gain, it started to jump up, and hit 33v at max gain.

I was looking for 34.5-35v to be putting out, but I really don't want (nor think) that gain to be above 3/4 (or even 1/2 for that matter). I really think something was off, no idea what. The car was running, and during the whole ordeal it was putting out a decent 13.9v from the battery...

I'm completely stumped here. Don't know what to do next. I know the amp is overrated, but it should easily do 1200rms, and the HU should be putting out 1.5-2vrms at least. Dunno what to do honestly.

The gain knob looks like this, if it helps at all.

So according to that, with a 9.0vrms rca plugged in it, you should be at mininum gain, and with .2vrms rca's plugged into it, you should be at max. 1/2 way, or straight up, would be about 4.5v. Looking at it that way, it would seem to be correct that 3/4 gain or so is right for me.

Still seems like something is funny though...

Thanks in advance for any help

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[Anniku989 10+ year member]

I was thinking, if I unplugged the speakers, the amp won't go into 1ohm with the multimeter, so I can't possibly see the correct voltage, because its not putting out all that it can.

Should I try with the speakers plugged in?

Or get something that will put a 1ohm load onto it.

 

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

ttt

 

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

bump

 

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

bump

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

You have a couple of options. You can try either one of them, or both of them.

One would be to turn the headunit's volume up higher. Should be pretty safe up to around 90% or so of max volume assuming your speakers aren't distorting at this level aswell.

The second is to use a test tone of a different level, such as -3db or -6db. -3db is a little "safer" than -6db while still allowing you to obtain higher power from the amp.

And no, the subs do not need to be connected to the amplifier.

 

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

Alright, I'll try with 50/60 or like 55/60 volume and a 50hz -3 db tone later tonight.

Thanks for the help

 

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

Bingo! That worked. I used a 50hz -3db tone, and at 55/62 on the knob, I hit my voltage at just past half gain. Didn't think that +10 on the knob would make such a difference tbh, with the gain maxed it was in the 70's.

Thanks man! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif