JL e-mail amp clipping....

[popothemailman 10+ year member]

sup fellas...my w6v2 has been distorting when played 20 on an alpine 9815, usually when hard hitting base lines come on...

so i email JL audio and they said:

What I am concern is with the set up of the amp and the sub level control. I am thinking that the amp is getting into clipping. This will cause the woofers to sound distorted. If the woofers are popping also, I can tell you that the amp is certainly clipping.

when he says popping, if that means you get a big nasty looking excersion, then ya thats whats going on

The amp is a 100bd fosgate

how do i fix this clipping...

can i just change some settings on the amp..

Click to read more...

 

[lombardo 10+ year member]

Turn your amp gains down so they match with your headunit voltage.

 

[popothemailman 10+ year member]

by doing this will i lose the loudness or hardhittingness of my sub?

 

[pimpn04coupe 10+ year member]

hey im expieriencing the same thing, when i turn the volume past 20 on my alpine headunit (7998) my subs begin to distort, make the popping sound, and bottom out... is this cuz the amp is clipping? does that mean the amp is defective? how do i eliminate this problem, and how do i turn down the gain on the amp? my remote boost is connected BUT doesnt work, the installers said they disabled it....

 

[tat2 10+ year member]

Setting amp gains correctly is very important if damage to speakers is to be avoided. It is however a fairly simple process, easily achieved by following the procedure below:-

Firstly, set Bass, Treble, Loudness and any other equalisation controls to flat.

Set amp gains to minimum.

Switch on system, and set main volume control to around 80-90% volume. Make a mental note that the volume level used during set-up is to be considered peak volume in normal use, with remaining 10-20% to be treated as 'overdrive', and only used for very short bursts of higher output.

Next, play material through the system similar to that which will commonly be played during normal use. If the head unit is running speakers from it's own internal amplification, listen carefully for any audible distortion from these speakers and, if any is evident, reduce volume until distortion is eliminated - again, treating this volume level as peak volume for normal operation.

Slowly increase gain level on amplifier(s) until distortion just becomes audible through speakers. Once this point is reached, reduce gain fractionally until distortion disappears.

Wherever possible, use of additional equalisation should be avoided in amplified systems, as it can often significantly increase distortion within amp's input signal.

The above procedure is widely used throughout the car audio industry, and will give reliable results in most systems. Highly dynamic source material, or excessive use of bass, treble, and EQ controls can however significantly increase distortion levels even below the 80-90% volume level used above. In all cases, if distortion becomes audible, reduce volume immediately to avoid risk of damage to speakers and/or amplifiers.

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