AQ1200D Clipping light on ALOT!

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

Ok, just hooked up an AQ1200D to 2 jl audio 12w6v2's. Total load to amp is 1 ohm. Gain is 1/2 way on amp, deck is 5v preouts.

4ga wire from battery, which is 3' away from the amp, and of course 4ga ground that is less than 3' long.

When I turn the bass knob up to where it just starts hitting good the clipping light is flashing constantly.

My question is......

How accurate would you guys say the indicator is?

Click to read more...

 

[Blue Fury 10+ year member]

1/2 with 5v preouts? I guarantee you your gain knob is too high. set it properly. Look it up on here or google.

 

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

1/2 with 5v preouts? I guarantee you your gain knob is too high. set it properly. Look it up on here or google.

I'll look around for a how to on that. Thanks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I went with 1/2 way because on one end it's labeled .2v and 8v on the high end, so i figured 1/2 way would be close.

 

[RidnClean 5,000+ posts]

yeah was going to say the same thing.

did you set gains with the knob plugged in?

 

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

yeah was going to say the same thing.
did you set gains with the knob plugged in?

I just put it at 1/2 before I even bolted the amp in or hooked up the knob.

Does it make a difference as far as when the knob gets plugged in or not?

 

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

I skimmed through the Why's of gains setting in the tutorial section.

Soooo.....Say I turn my deck to 30 on the volume, which is as high as I ever go with it, and that is not max. I believe max to be 35. But anyways, set the deck to 30, amp gain all the way down, then watch the knob and turn the gain up to just till the light flashes then back a hair.

Good approach?

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

Yeah it works

 

[SWFL 10+ year member]

i would say set gains with vol at 25, at 30 you are prob sending a clipped signal to the amp before you even turn the gain up.

So set at 25 out of 35 have all setting flat=zero, turn the sub output up for the preout. Then play a hard hitting song and set the gain by the ear when the sub stops getting louder thats all the amp will do then back it down just a bit and your a good to go

 

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

i would say set gains with vol at 25, at 30 you are prob sending a clipped signal to the amp before you even turn the gain up.

Even with the deck in my sig?

So set at 25 out of 35 have all setting flat=zero, turn the sub output up for the preout. Then play a hard hitting song and set the gain by the ear when the sub stops getting louder thats all the amp will do then back it down just a bit and your a good to go

Ok, i'd zero out any bassboost the deck provides, but should the deck's sub crossover be set to through or would it make any difference?

Thanks everyone who's chimed in so far.

Sick site here.

 

[RidnClean 5,000+ posts]

make sure bass, treble, all that is at zero.

set to 27(3/4ths) on HU

if you got good hearing set with music, or use a test tone.

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

the clipping sensor is VERY sensitive.

I still setup my amps via oscilloscope but did see how sensitive it is with the 2200d.

The light started to come on before i could visually see a flat wave on the scope. On dim light, it's nothing to worry about. A very slight flat wave, very slight illuminated the sensor to full red.

This is good for noobies or those who do not have o-scopes.

 

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

Another ? that pops into mind is this....

Ok so basically set volume around 3/4, etc etc etc.

So what if I decide to turn the volume louder for some music? Is that going to mean it's clipping? Kinda confusing on that part.

Thanks again.

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

yea usually.

You can clip your amp, but there's more to it than just that.

You gotta know if you're stressing your subs or not.

I run an AQ2200d to each of my subs and i intentionally clip the hell out of them everyday but i have no problems because i know things about my setup that allows me to do this safely without causing heat buildup in the subs. It ahs to do with my box partially. It's not suppose to be like that which is why i'm building another this summer but generally, if the light stays on, that's BAD. If it just flashes, you should be ok but dont take my word for it because i know nothing about the rise in your system's box so i cant vouch for anything.

 

[firehawk618 10+ year member]

Wow soooo complicated!

I'm just going to go with the advice posted here, and quit worrying about it so much!

 

[DJL 10+ year member]

Wow soooo complicated!
I'm just going to go with the advice posted here, and quit worrying about it so much!

If your clipping indicator led is just blinking with the note changes in the music that's fine. If the indicator glows solid turn the HU volume down or the remote gain down until the indicator led just blinks at you. Most people don't know when amps go into clipping and end up burning coils. If the clipping indicator stays on you are asking for trouble.