New Sound System Nonfunctional

[Alpineforever 10+ year member]

Put the DMM leads in one positive and negative output from your amp and set it to AC voltage and see if you get any readings while playing music, if you do than it's not the amp... much easier than connecting factory speakers and risking burning them up with more power then they may be able to handle.

A DMM is neccesary if you want to do your own installs and they run less than 20 dollars at most hardware stores so definitely go and pick one up, it'll prove invaluable over it's lifetime.

Where are your RCA's coming into the amp, is it channel one and 2 or channel three and four?

Where is your speaker wire coming out of the amp? They need to be coming out of the same channels as your RCA's are going into.

 

[confuseid 10+ year member]

Put the DMM leads in one positive and negative output from your amp and set it to AC voltage and see if you get any readings while playing music, if you do than it's not the amp... much easier than connecting factory speakers and risking burning them up with more power then they may be able to handle.
A DMM is neccesary if you want to do your own installs and they run less than 20 dollars at most hardware stores so definitely go and pick one up, it'll prove invaluable over it's lifetime.

Where are your RCA's coming into the amp, is it channel one and 2 or channel three and four?

Where is your speaker wire coming out of the amp? They need to be coming out of the same channels as your RCA's are going into.

Yes sir. I will go buy a DMM tonight, or if they're closed, then tomorrow. Then I will do the test.

I have all inputs and outputs set on Channels 1/2. Channels 3/4 are completely vacant. I have quadruple checked that.

 

[skateboardkid 10+ year member]

I have done plenty of installs and there was no out put due to the amp gain being at minimum, even with pretty big audio amplifiers mmats 1200.1 no out put at all untill you adjust the gain. You probably have done this.

Try switching everythign to channels 3/4 and see if it is the amp that is toast on 2 channels.

 

[confuseid 10+ year member]

I have tried changing everything to channels 3/4, and that didn't change anything.

I am trying to adjust the gain, but I have no idea where to adjust it. Can someone look at the pictures I posted on my amplifier and tell me which one I should adjust? None of them say "gain".

 

[Havocide3 10+ year member]

First off, you don't even know what gains are. Second, you don't know what a DMM is. Third even if you knew what a DMM was they'd help your *** during an install. Personally, I say take it to Cartoys or Bestbuy or a local car audio place before something gets really messed up

 

[confuseid 10+ year member]

First off, you don't even know what gains are. Second, you don't know what a DMM is. Third even if you knew what a DMM was they'd help your *** during an install. Personally, I say take it to Cartoys or Bestbuy or a local car audio place before something gets really messed up

Hey jackass, don't you think if I wanted to spend a couple extra hundred bucks at a car audio shop I would have already? Do you think I'd take the time to post this thread as concisely as possible with as much information and pictures as I possibly could?

Thank you for your personal opinion, and I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of this thread. Unless you want to help.

 

[darkhunter139 10+ year member]

adjust the option that says "level" I think thats your gains

 

[confuseid 10+ year member]

adjust the option that says "level" I think thats your gains

Thank you!

I adjusted the level with a tiny flathead screwdriver for both the R, and the L, and now my speakers are producing sound!!

Conclusion: Turn up the gain, my amplifier came with it all the way turned off.

Afterthoughts: how far should I turn the gain on? I've read its not good to turn it to the maximum setting.

Thank you for all your help guys, I truly appreciate it.

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

Well, you have 3 options-

1 - go pay about $160 for an oscilloscope and use that

2 - go to an audio shop that has an oscilloscope and pay them to set it up for you accurately and ask them what is the maximum unclipped volume so you know when you leave.

3 - get unsafe info from others about how to setup an amp with only a DMM and a few months later we may see a thread on here asking why your sub(s) are damaged.

When you do things yourself, you gotta have the tools.

Pick one because that's the only options you have unless you know someone personally with an o-scope.

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

Thank you!
I adjusted the level with a tiny flathead screwdriver for both the R, and the L, and now my speakers are producing sound!!

Conclusion: Turn up the gain, my amplifier came with it all the way turned off.

Afterthoughts: how far should I turn the gain on? I've read its not good to turn it to the maximum setting.

Thank you for all your help guys, I truly appreciate it.

just wow..................lol. I'm gald you got it working, but don't turn don't turn the gain up to max. Adjust it so you can turn it up loud without distortion. I just can't believe you did not try the level adjustments until today.

 

[Alpineforever 10+ year member]

Well, you have 3 options-
1 - go pay about $160 for an oscilloscope and use that

2 - go to an audio shop that has an oscilloscope and pay them to set it up for you accurately and ask them what is the maximum unclipped volume so you know when you leave.

3 - get unsafe info from others about how to setup an amp with only a DMM and a few months later we may see a thread on here asking why your sub(s) are damaged.

When you do things yourself, you gotta have the tools.

Pick one because that's the only options you have unless you know someone personally with an o-scope.

unsafe info?

Have you ever "properly" used a DMM to set gains???

As long as you have some semblance of knowledge about how much power your amp can cleanly produce then there is no danger in using a DMM to set your gains.

Heres how to "properly" use a DMM to set gains... (on a sub amp)

Set your DMM to AC voltage.

Put the DMM leads in the Amplifiers output for speaker wire, positive in positive, negative in negative.

Play a 50-60HZ tone, turn your head unit equalization and bass boost to 0.

Set your head unit volume to about 3/4 of the way up or a little more.

Slowly adjust the gains (from fully counterclockwise adjust clockwise) until they reach your target voltage.

To find your target voltage.

Figure out how much power you want to send to your drivers (target wattage).

Multiply your target wattage by your resistance level (ohms).

Find the square root of your answer and that is the AC voltage that will be displayed on your DMM when gain is set properly.

If your amp is going to be running your speakers, like yours will be, just use one channel and use a 1000HZ test tone and follow the instructions above.

This isn't as precise as an O-scope, but it is by no means dangerous like Shitton suggests

If you want to know where to find test tones you can download them at ROE in the downloads section, a sine wave is a test tone BTW

http://www.realmofexcursion.com/

 

[darkhunter139 10+ year member]

Yeah just use a DMM get it close to the rated power of the speakers/amp and make sure there is no distortion