I think I need a special amp?

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

^^^No accounting for a tin ear. Show him something considerably better though and it will change his view. My wife thought her factory system in her Jeep sounded great until she finally got a good listen to my setup.

sundownz-wouldn't it just make more sense to keep the amp from clipping in the first place? The HU clipping the preouts won't in an of itself damage anything, it'll just sound like garbage. The amp clipping will allow it to send more power than it otherwise would to the speakers and they go bye-bye. Limit the signal from the HU to the amp and you can keep it from clipping.

 

[Safe-N-Sound215 10+ year member]

I've showed him mine along with another cousin of ours, and he says ours do not get as "loud" as his. I told him mine might be a little bit quiter but at least my stuff doesn't sound like rice crispies when it's on. I then proceeded to tell him to let me set his gains right. He stopped me when he saw me trying to turn them down(he had them cranked.).He told me to just leave it alone because I didn't know what I was doing. "If you turn them down I get less power to the speakers. And then I'm not using my amp to it's full potential.". Ever since then I've just let him go.

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

^^^No accounting for a tin ear. Show him something considerably better though and it will change his view. My wife thought her factory system in her Jeep sounded great until she finally got a good listen to my setup.
sundownz-wouldn't it just make more sense to keep the amp from clipping in the first place? The HU clipping the preouts won't in an of itself damage anything, it'll just sound like garbage. The amp clipping will allow it to send more power than it otherwise would to the speakers and they go bye-bye. Limit the signal from the HU to the amp and you can keep it from clipping.

It would make more sense, yes. From what I read it doesn't sound like he has any way to control whether the HU is clipping or not -- the kids will just turn it up however they want. If the HU is sending in a squared wave the amp will amplify it the way it came in whether the amp is clipping or not, and a squared wave is more powerful -- as you said.

At that point the crossover is going to help alot in limiting the power the speaker sees. Unless he had some way to lock the volume from going higher he's not in control... at least based on what I gathered.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The squared wave is more powerful when it is clipped at the amp ouput stage. If the HU is clipping the output and the amp is still within its unclipped range, the max RMS of the amp won't be exceeded and there shouldn't be a problem, especially if the amp is not capable of producing enough power to blow the speakers without clipping on its own. Most headunits also don't go near full clip. They'll shave a bit off the wave but not totally square it off.

His root problem is the inability to keep the amp from clipping with the gain at min. Addressing that problem will be the biggest help. From there tightening up the loose wingnut behind the volume knob is the next step.

If a clipped signal prior to the amp was a problem, listening to most rock music would be a problem because the signal is clipped from the very get go, on purpose, to achieve the sound the band was going for.