Myths about amp gain settings

[scarolinablazin 10+ year member]

I hate you.


And as for the subject matter...

A little clipping goes a long way and does increase volume, but it lowers the life (no matter how insignificant that lowering is) of both the amplifier guts and the coil.

I'm not gunna hop on this guy's dick because he's from "the old school." I don't give a fuck. Clipping a signal is not conducive to good sound emulation. Period. QQ if it doesn't get loud enough. Get a stronger amp. I will continue to be the "dolt" that uses DMMs and O-Scopes. You have every right to set it by ear-- and odds are that if won't be that detrimental to your install, or over-all quality. However, setting it by DMM or O-Scope is the proper way to set the amp gains based on an attempt for perfect sound emulation.

you're an idiot that wants to sound smart. spell-out ALL of your words or we still know you're actually ignorant.

 

[Horsemanwill 10+ year member]

the problem i see here is that alot of the ppl that come in here don't know what clipping sounds like. so setting by ear here won't help alot of ppl

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

the problem i see here is that alot of the ppl that come in here don't know what clipping sounds like. so setting by ear here won't help alot of ppl

How easy is it to determine amplifier clipping on subwoofers? What distortion level do you think your amplifier is at by the time you hear this said clipping?

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

How easy is it to determine amplifier clipping on subwoofers? What distortion level do you think your amplifier is at by the time you hear this said clipping?

you tell me

 

[Horsemanwill 10+ year member]

all amps differ and everyone's hearing is different. so what i consider to be clipping or distorting a speaker you may think sounds good. take the person who cranks the factory system all the way up and thinks it sounds good compared to wat we listen to.

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

all amps differ and everyone's hearing is different. so what i consider to be clipping or distorting a speaker you may think sounds good. take the person who cranks the factory system all the way up and thinks it sounds good compared to wat we listen to.

i don't know many people who crank there factory stereo and think it sounds good.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

just turn bass boost all the way up and gain to approximetly 55.8976% i seem to get my best results at that no matter the amp of input voltage.

 

[Horsemanwill 10+ year member]

don't come to jc they do it all the time //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

I just brought the clipping point up because I have seen many people who can't hear 10% distortion off of the IASCA 1997 setup disc. I am sitting there saying "You can't tell a difference between these tracks" and their answer is NO

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

you mean output? that's why i set it with the dmm first, and then turn it up a little more afterwards so it only clips a little bit. Only for my subs though, the speakers in the front can't have clipping at all.

It increases the overall power output.

Happy?

well said... my personal experience is that i have had to turn the gain up, after tuning by ear to get my target output voltage (with dmm)... i spend way too mych on this stuff to let some clipping shorten the life of a couple grand worth of gear. just my $.02

That's my sentiments exactly. I actually have all of my amps under it's rated RMS to lengthen the lifespan. I mean, my Boss amp that I paid like $100 bucks for (600@2) has been living for over a year, with the volumes up constantly and many times the cheap terminals on them have made the ground come lose and a few times the ground's swiped the positive and sparked. This has nothing to do with gain settings... but it's just a cool story... my positive terminal on my amp has burn marks on the screw.

you're an idiot that wants to sound smart. spell-out ALL of your words or we still know you're actually ignorant.

What? Everything I said is backed up by math and science... two subjects you probably know little about. Troll elsewhere. Us grown-ups are trying to have a serious conversation about mechanics of something that you, obviously (and have shown before) know nothing about.

the problem i see here is that alot of the ppl that come in here don't know what clipping sounds like. so setting by ear here won't help alot of ppl

Well, the truth is that distortion at lower frequencies is harder to catch... between rattling metal and the like, it's really hard to catch distortion. That's why tuning subs by ear is truly an art... and I'm not willing to risk equipment I didn't pay for on an art I don't practice often.

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

Well, the truth is that distortion at lower frequencies is harder to catch... between rattling metal and the like, it's really hard to catch distortion. That's why tuning subs by ear is truly an art... and I'm not willing to risk equipment I didn't pay for on an art I don't practice often.

well, if you have expensive equipment then i can see why you would set your gains correctly, it makes more sense to make your equipment last. But my hifonics amp does pretty good at the gain it is set at now and if it blows, then i guess i will just be shit out of luck, better save up my $160 to buy another one.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[outspoken 10+ year member]

a decent dmm can be had for 20-30 dollars //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

well, if you have expensive equipment then i can see why you would set your gains correctly, it makes more sense to make your equipment last. But my hifonics amp does pretty good at the gain it is set at now and if it blows, then i guess i will just be shit out of luck, better save up my $160 to buy another one.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

a decent dmm can be had for 20-30 dollars //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

The numbers don't lie...

You can get a cheapie from Harbor Freight USA or Radioshack... They're like $10, and $15 respectively.

The one I got from Radioshack is pretty accurate and has fell, been plugged in the wrong way, and smashed MANY times and still works like a glove. It has nothing against my Dad's Fluke... but, it's still something I use often.

 

[Zip_Loc 10+ year member]

Okay so correct me if Im wrong, but I (along with probably everyone else) have songs on my hard drive that are louder than others. I dont remember which ones these are. Using a DMM/OS, wouldnt I need to recalibrate my system everytime I changed songs because some songs will produce a higher preout voltage than other songs at the same volume? That seems like a futile process...but hey like I said I could be wrong.

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

Okay so correct me if Im wrong, but I (along with probably everyone else) have songs on my hard drive that are louder than others. I dont remember which ones these are. Using a DMM/OS, wouldnt I need to recalibrate my system everytime I changed songs because some songs will produce a higher preout voltage than other songs at the same volume? That seems like a futile process...but hey like I said I could be wrong.

this is were you need to use a program to equal the files loudness level. I use itunes to do this. But yeah, if the file is significantly louder than you will be pushing the system way past it's limits at loud volumes. I have ran into some of those files on limewire and just choose not to download them.