Is this normal????

[johnnyvolcom5 10+ year member]

So i finally finished my doors last night and they now have some HAT Unity 6.5s in them. I hooked them up bridged to my Arc KS 300.4 according to the Arc manual. When i busted out the DMM to check voltage, the amp was at a steady 14.2 but when i tested at the speaker wire i got 30 volts on one set and 15 volts on the other. i tested at amp and crossovers and same 30 for one and 15 for the other. It doesnt sound like one side is playing louder than the other, and i am 100% positive i followed the Arc manual correctly as to setting it up bridged....so what the heck, shouldnt they both be the same?

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[akheathen Premium Member]

describe just how you are taking the readings. dmm set on ac across the speaker outputs? speakers connected, and no speakers connected? have you tried swapping rcas? is there dc coming out of any of the speaker terminals? different settings?

 

[johnnyvolcom5 10+ year member]

describe just how you are taking the readings. dmm set on ac across the speaker outputs? speakers connected, and no speakers connected? have you tried swapping rcas? is there dc coming out of any of the speaker terminals? different settings?

Well i just had the dmm set to DC Volts and was testing the power and ground and then just moved over to the speaker terminals on amp....speakers hooked up and playing at about half volume. Was i supposed to use AC Volts? i think im just being paranoid cause the speakers sound great lol but i know bridging that amp to those speakers there is potential to overpower them by quite alot....also this was with the gain set to the minimum, as the speakers get decently loud with min gain and im not ready to do any tuning yet cause trunk needs deadning and subs arent even in the trunk so. im pretty sure everything is working like it should and im just being an idiot

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

oh, yes, it would be typical to see 15 and 30 millivolts dc on the speaker terminals, and either be pretty constant, or chance with volume. that is acceptable dc offset/deviation. much over 1v is not. now, if it read 15 and 30vdc, then the speakers would be fried already, bellowing smoke in under 10 sec. set it to ac, and pay attention to the little letter/range on the meter.

 

[johnnyvolcom5 10+ year member]

oh, yes, it would be typical to see 15 and 30 millivolts dc on the speaker terminals, and either be pretty constant, or chance with volume. that is acceptable dc offset/deviation. much over 1v is not. now, if it read 15 and 30vdc, then the speakers would be fried already, bellowing smoke in under 10 sec. set it to ac, and pay attention to the little letter/range on the meter.

Haha ok man, i just bought the DMM and im still figuring out how this particular one works. it has one dial for DC volts and just auto detects units and range i guess. I figured everthing was on fine cause the speakers actually sounded great. I think reading too many forum threads has made me paranoid that im going to screw up and fry something.

 

[fish1234 10+ year member]

Is your bridged button pushed in on the amp?

 

[johnnyvolcom5 10+ year member]

Is your bridged button pushed in on the amp?

Yeah i have it set exactly like page 12 of this http://www.arcaudio.com/pdfs/product-manuals/amplifiers/ks-series/KS300-600_amp_manual.pdf

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

fade?

 

[johnnyvolcom5 10+ year member]

fade?

Nope everything was set to 0....negative had been off the battery for a couple days and deck reset...i double checked though. im pretty sure it was DMM user error. I willl test with V AC tomorrow...and like i said it sounds great and im prob just being paranoid.....