I think my amp is clipping? Confused

[SSpiro 10+ year member]

Hopefully this isn't too much of a newbie post. I've been doing this for a long time, but this just developed and i'm confused.

Audio clips at half of max volume. This just started happening, wasn't happening before. I had just turned the gains up another 1/4 way up and it started doing this. I assumed i just had it up too high, so backed it down to where it was. Still clips. Always at the same volume level. So then i turned the gains down a 1/4 way from where it was originally, and still clips. Volume is much lower obviously, but still at half of max. I wouldnt be so confused if it didnt still happen at the same point. Plus, it NEVER clipped ever, no matter volume level, before i adjusted the gain.

My definition of clipping, assuming everyone is the same, is that the sound cuts out, especially at peak points in the song.

The setup... A HTC tablet, headphone out in to a LC1 volume control. RCA out to a Clarion EQ, which provides signal to an Alpine 4-channel amp. The Amp has front channel bridge to power left Massive 6.5" component set, and rear channel bridge to power right Massive 6.5" component set. No rear fill, no subs presently as they are getting repaired from old age.

Could the LC1 be bad? Could the EQ be doing this? I havent touched it since i set this up. Volume on tablet is at max, volume at EQ is max. Amp gain is at half way, or NOM point.

THOUGHTS?! Very frustrated and having to listen to my music at low volumes *****.

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[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Without measuring the voltage coming out of the EQ we have to assume it's putting out close to its maximum voltage of 7V during the loudest parts of your loudest music. This means you're definitely running your amp into clipping. If the sound is actually cutting out momentarily you need to turn that gain all the way down, or else turn the level down on the EQ.

 

[SSpiro 10+ year member]

I can do this.. but my main concern is - why the change all of a sudden.. And surely ***** that i'm going to have to suffer with such low volume levels.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I don't know why it has suddenly changed, but it will help to stop thinking of it as having less volume and start thinking of reliability. It's possible you've been clipping your speaker amp for so long and so hard that something has failed inside the amp.

Gain structure is merely high voltage at the source > low gain on the amp or low voltage at the source > higher gain on the amp. Right now you have high voltage at the source and high gain at the amp. It doesn't seem high because it's "only half way up", but you need to consider the input voltage range on the amplifier. It probably works from less than 1 volt up to maybe 6V.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

clipping doesnt mean the sound cuts out. if you clip like a 1khz tone, it adds like a metallic, buzz sound to the tone

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

listen to this. its a repeated unclipped, then clipped, 1khz tone

turn your volume down pretty low, just to be safe

http://bcae1.com/images/wavs/clip01.wav

heres a 100hz tone

http://bcae1.com/images/wavs/clip02.wav

note, unless youre using headphones or have a sub hooked up to your computer, you probably wont hear the unclipped 100hz tone