please be kind

[tymoto21 10+ year member]

No

I would turn them up until they sound “stressed” then back it down a little

Do now use a 50hz tone

They should have a high pass crossover set around 60-80hz

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Will I be able to see clipping on the multi meter playing a 50hz test tone?

Go to this thread and read post #20 and dont even bother using the multi-meter to set gains for your door speakers. Just train your ears, turn it up until you hear the speakers start sounding like sh*t that means you are stressing out the amp aka clipping then back it off. Digital multi-meter method HAS NO PLACE in setting the gains for mids and highs. especially when its an amp of questionable power output. If you set it for 75 watts but the amp only does 30 actual watts that means you are clipping the amp several miles ago. But for real, use and train your ears to listen for distortion/speaker break up/mechanical noise especially when now you have cheap gear. When you have more expensive gear, this skill will come in handy and save you a lot of money.

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/subwoofers/636288-subwoofer-getting-smelly-after-about-10-mins-playing.html

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Go to this thread and read post #20 and dont even bother using the multi-meter to set gains for your door speakers. Just train your ears, turn it up until you hear the speakers start sounding like sh*t that means you are stressing out the amp aka clipping then back it off. Digital multi-meter method HAS NO PLACE in setting the gains for mids and highs. especially when its an amp of questionable power output. If you set it for 75 watts but the amp only does 30 actual watts that means you are clipping the amp several miles ago. But for real, use and train your ears to listen for distortion/speaker break up/mechanical noise especially when now you have cheap gear. When you have more expensive gear, this skill will come in handy and save you a lot of money.
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/subwoofers/636288-subwoofer-getting-smelly-after-about-10-mins-playing.html

Pretty much this.

Just dial your gain down all the way and turn your head unit up to around 80-85% max on the dial, for example up to 42 on a 0-50 dial (no boost, no loudness, none of that mess), throw in a good quality recording of some loud music you like to listen to and slowly turn up the gain until the sound starts to break up or sound a little harsh. IMMEDIATELY turn it back a touch when you can hear it starting to sound off.

From there you'll know to keep it around 40-42 max when you're playing music but have an extra few clicks if you put in an older recording that may be a bit more quiet. At the end of the day, you're either setting the gain retard proof and leaving a lot of output on the table or you set the gain with a little headroom to account for quiet recordings and you'll just need to use the volume knob to keep it out of trouble.

 

[clay]

Thanks for the info, I just want to make sure I don't over power so I'll still test the voltage with the test tone with no speakers hooked up. To make sure I'm not over driving them.

 

[clay]

Yall have been more then helpful and I really appreciate all of the info. Thanks again

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for the info, I just want to make sure I don't over power so I'll still test the voltage with the test tone with no speakers hooked up. To make sure I'm not over driving them.

You are in more danger of clipping due to you not being satisfied with the sound and your amp not having enough power to drive the speakers cleanly at your preferred listening levels which means you'll blow your speakers WAAAY faster due to clipping vs having a lot of power, not needing to overdrive or distort the signal to achieve the output you want to achieve. Which is why i have 450 watts to each one of my 6.5... You dont worry about overpowering, you worry about getting a clean signal. Speakers can handle A FK ton of clean power. However they die extremely fast with dirty power.

You always want to have a lot of headroom for power. Most noobs will blow their gear from not having enough power and too high of expectations.