O' Reilys visit

[Loudmp5 10+ year member]

Bro, I suggest you read around the site a LOT more.

fixed it for u bro

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

A DMM doesnt measure RMS output. You need a clamp meter to do that. A DMM measures voltage at a specific frequency to give you a voltage.

Actually... RMS doesn't mean power. It could refer to power, current, or voltage. A clamp meter measures current, which isn't any more useful than voltage.

RMS is just a measurement method that takes the waveform shape into account. A DMM that reads "true RMS" will give an accurate reading for any waveform. Cheap DMMs are average reading, RMS indicating. They will give an accurate RMS indication for a pure sine wave, which is what we use when setting gains. So for the OP's purposes (measuring output voltage), any of the meters at the store would have been OK. They all measure RMS voltage of a sine wave.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Actually... RMS doesn't mean power. It could refer to power, current, or voltage. A clamp meter measures current, which isn't any more useful than voltage.
RMS is just a measurement method that takes the waveform shape into account. A DMM that reads "true RMS" will give an accurate reading for any waveform. Cheap DMMs are average reading, RMS indicating. They will give an accurate RMS indication for a pure sine wave, which is what we use when setting gains. So for the OP's purposes (measuring output voltage), any of the meters at the store would have been OK. They all measure RMS voltage of a sine wave.

I know what RMS is. I was putting it in terms the OP used so he could draw a line between the dots.

 

[n8skow 10+ year member]

...you would also need a dual trace oscilloscope to calculate the power factor.

With just voltage and amperage, your calculating Volt-amps, which will be higher than wattage.

A simple multimeter from Oriellys or anywhere else for that matter cannot measure RMS. It's not that easy, RMS is more of a math equation than just one clear number. You will need a nice fluke clamp + multimeter to get a true RMS and you will need to drop a few hundred to get a nice one (300-500)
You can get multimeters at home depot, menards anywhere for pretty cheap. Or online too. They are great to have to measure voltage and ohms but thats about it.

and yes, 5000rms amps ARE possible but rare, and unless he knows whats up hes probly lying but he could be telling the truth too.

Also.. I wanna see AP ****** snap on the packers this weekend.

 

[murph 10+ year member]

Holy Batman shit WTF is going on in here.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

Lots of good info has already been given to you OP. Please don't let this stuff overwhelm you. Take your time and understand this, and it will save you years of failed equipment and buying unnecessary products, or being fooled by idiots like that O'Reilly employee.

I wish you good luck in your CA endeavours Darron. This site will increase your knowledge tenfold if you keep an open mind and allow the more experienced members to educate you.

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Lots of good info has already been given to you OP. Please don't let this stuff overwhelm you. Take your time and understand this, and it will save you years of failed equipment and buying unnecessary products, or being fooled by idiots like that O'Reilly employee.
I wish you good luck in your CA endeavours Darron. This site will increase your knowledge tenfold if you keep an open mind and allow the more experienced members to educate you.

Yes I appreciate all the good advice, even though some of the experienced members seem to get mad when I ask for advice. Like i'm supposed to know everything. And for some of my questions I did search around a lot, but none of the threads really answered my exact question.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

Yes I appreciate all the good advice, even though some of the experienced members seem to get mad when I ask for advice. Like i'm supposed to know everything. And for some of my questions I did search around a lot, but none of the threads really answered my exact question.

What most people telling you to "search" don't mention is that the information is buried amongst a ton of spam and random derails. Good information in each thread is typically few and far between unless the OP of said thread took the time to cut and paste it into the OP.

 

[SourDeez 10+ year member]

Yes I appreciate all the good advice, even though some of the experienced members seem to get mad when I ask for advice. Like i'm supposed to know everything. And for some of my questions I did search around a lot, but none of the threads really answered my exact question.

Listen to my advice I have posted. I usually always help people who have no idea what they are doing because thats how I started.

Honestly, forums help, but 99% of it is real time spent working and researching and just figuring **** out.

Before I started getting into car audio, I couldnt even tell you what an RCA cable was. Now, I could rewire my entire car in 20 minutes with 1/0 welding cable and do the big 3 like its nothing, alternator swap in 5 minutes, multiple batteries, pretty much anything you can think of short of fiberglassing.

If you need help, hit me up, and I am glad to help, but in this cold weather not so much so maybe later on

Also I love AP

 

[GAMEOVERCCA 10+ year member]

I went there yesterday to get a multimeter since everyone suggests I get one. Im new to car audio so I went him to get a multimeter that measures RMS so I could properly tune my amp to my subs. He shows me his meters, none of them have a RMS indicator, he said that it is crazy to measure ur amps RMS with a MM. He said I should just go off ear tests since I should know what a good amp sounds like. He than said he has an amp that puts out 5000RMS for his 1 15'' sub.
Is this guy right? Do i not need a DMM? And do they make amps that powerful?

Honestly I felt like he had no idea what he was talking about so I left the store empty handed and don't know what to tune my amp too .. HELP!

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[Toone 10+ year member]

Set your gains by ear then turn them down a little for now, read all of the information in this thread, then read it all over again, then do some searching. You will deal with tons of crap on this site but eventually you'll get the information that you need.

 

[SourDeez 10+ year member]

Set your gains by ear then turn them down a little for now, read all of the information in this thread, then read it all over again, then do some searching. You will deal with tons of crap on this site but eventually you'll get the information that you need.

Agreed. At at least you have cheap equipment now so if you clip stuff you wont be out $500-$1000 like some of us lol

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Yeah I just hooked everything up today, i'm not sure exactly how clipping works..

I have a sony deck and the music really ***** unless I turn the LOUD feature on..

But I set the Hi, Low Mid Sub And Aux to 0

There was a LPF AND HPF option on the deck I set the LPF to 80 HZ along with 80 hz on my amp and turn the HPF off

My speakers are brand new so I dont want to touch the Sub option on the deck.

I turned my music up all the way and I don't think it was clipping I stopped at 30 (volume knob) since it was beggining to hurt my ears haha

I heard you were supposed to turn the music up all the way , just a little before it starts clipping and than start tuning your Hi low med sub aux and gain at that point? correct?

 

[darron016 10+ year member]

Also I have options like.. Vocal. space. explode. edge etc.. On my HU each setting makes it sound different. Is there one that is better for subs?