Friend has DC 1.2K clips very early.. But still produced louder signal clipped

[timma100 10+ year member]

So.. I'll be honest I don't know to much about amps, But here is whats happening. With the HU at max volume with out clipping, the amps gain is less than 1/3, any higher and a clipped signal is produced, but the voltage still increases, producing higher woofer output (obviously). I always kind of assumed that the clipping was because the amp had reached maximum and it cant go higher to produce the nice clean peaks so it just goes to max then falls back down. So it confuses me to no end that we can turn the gain up, farrr into clipping and still get higher subwoofer excursion, vehicle flex, and DBs by increasing the gain when the output signal is already square. Doesn't add up.. Any ideas?

We are beating up woofers that need to be re-coned so it doesn't really matter. There is also plenty of power getting to the amp, no V drop with 4 XS 34s

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[groundpound4200 5,000+ posts]

They'll keep making more power but the distortion levels go way up

 

[timma100 10+ year member]

They'll keep making more power but the distortion levels go way up

Alright thanks a lot for the clarification, looks like he just needs mo powa : { D

 

[JoshC 10+ year member]

Alright thanks a lot for the clarification, looks like he just needs mo powa : { D

Also HU at max volume causes clipping, i wouldnt turn the HU to max. If max is 35, dont go past 28. Max is 50 i think around 35-40 it starts clipping

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Also HU at max volume causes clipping, i wouldnt turn the HU to max. If max is 35, dont go past 28. Max is 50 i think around 35-40 it starts clipping

Not all HUs clip. Depends on the quality of the HU. But if you dont know for sure dont max it

 

[itsblown 10+ year member]

Also HU at max volume causes clipping, i wouldnt turn the HU to max. If max is 35, dont go past 28. Max is 50 i think around 35-40 it starts clipping

That is totally dependent on what head unit you are running

 

[JoshC 10+ year member]

That is totally dependent on what head unit you are running

hm ive read that so many places on here and never seen anyone say its HU dependent. But i see how that would make sense

OP, what HU do you have?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

My old alpine W404 did not clip on the sub out but clipped one click from max on the front out. My current 177 does not clip at all.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

It depends on the headunit but most headunits will begin to clip at volume 30/35 and volume 48-50/62. I go off by some DD-1 tests I've seen and also the fact that if you turn the headunit any higher than that I can hear some distortion through the speakers and my sub heats up way quicker

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

A clipped signal from your amplifier will have no increase in voltage as you increase the gain, but the amount of power output steadily increases until the waveform stops flattening. Also, the amount of harmonic distortion increases, but your sub's voice coil filters that out. The main thing about clipping a subwoofer amp is the extra heat the voice coils need to dissipate. You might, or might not, hear mechanical noises while the voice coil is slowly cooked. This is why setting the gain by ear is useless if you really care about longevity of your subs.

 

[timma100 10+ year member]

hm ive read that so many places on here and never seen anyone say its HU dependent. But i see how that would make sense

OP, what HU do you have?

Its a Kenwood KDC-MP205 IIRC, we are using an O-Scope to check for clipping. Its max is 30/40 clean