Poor man's Oscope! Setting Gains on Questionable Sub Amps

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Got around to trying this method today, been wanting to try out this method awhile back but forgot about it till today. It worked out pretty well, from my tests, hit up a shop to compare it with an SMD Distortion Detector and it was spot on with the DD-1

-Buy a piezo tweeter, don't worry, it doesn't matter which one. Preferably one that can play reasonably low frequencies.

-From the + terminal on the amp, run a wire to the + terminal of the tweeter.

-From the - terminal on the amp, run a wire to the - terminal of the tweeter.

-Resistance of the tweeter is like 100 ohms so you arent gonna blow the piezo tweeter.

-Head unit sub level up, bass boost, loudness and bass EQ off, keep them off on amplifiers too. Volume at 75-80%(or higher if your preout voltage *****). Play the proper test tone. Then up the gain till you hear it beep pretty loudly and back it off.

-This does not work with 2 channel and 4 channels as well as lower frequencies, works best around the sub bass and midbass frequencies.

edit: This plays on clipped sine waves but dirty amps like shark and audiopipe will have distortion before the wave is even clipped so take care not to go too crazy with those amps.

Click to read more...

 

[AtillaTheHung]

Neat. So it only plays through the tweeter if their is clipping? That's a pretty neat method right there. haha

 

[turtlestrap]

Can you provide a link to a similar tweeter that will work? I'm not quite sure what reasonably low frequencies are. This will work setting monoblock with 40 Hz test tone?

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Got around to trying this method today, been wanting to try out this method awhile back but forgot about it till today. It worked out pretty well, from my tests, hit up a shop to compare it with an SMD Distortion Detector and it was spot on with the DD-1

-Buy a piezo tweeter, don't worry, it doesn't matter which one. Preferably one that can play reasonably low frequencies.

-From the + terminal on the amp, run a wire to the + terminal of the tweeter.

-From the - terminal on the amp, run a wire to the - terminal of the tweeter.

-Resistance of the tweeter is like 100 ohms so you arent gonna blow the piezo tweeter.

-Head unit sub level up, bass boost, loudness and bass EQ off, keep them off on amplifiers too. Volume at 75-80%(or higher if your preout voltage *****). Play the proper test tone. Then up the gain till you hear it beep pretty loudly and back it off.

-This does not work with 2 channel and 4 channels as well as lower frequencies, works best around the sub bass and midbass frequencies.

edit: This plays on clipped sine waves but dirty amps like shark and audiopipe will have distortion before the wave is even clipped so take care not to go too crazy with those amps.

sub level up on the HU up?

 

[Ridinhi 5,000+ posts]

Can you provide a link to a similar tweeter that will work? I'm not quite sure what reasonably low frequencies are. This will work setting monoblock with 40 Hz test tone?

http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PSN1167-Dispersion-Piezo-Tweeter/dp/B000EFMP7W

 

[turtlestrap]

Thanks! Just ordered it on Amazon //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[lifesproduct 10+ year member]

That is a sweet little trick

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks! Just ordered it on Amazon //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

you can cancel the order because they have these at your local radio shack, got mine for 3.50

@bgowdy thats in general, there are exceptions though some alpine head units go all the way to +15 and some people claim its not clean or the signal is too strong even when the gain is at 0. LOC and line drivers will require different settings also.

 

[turtlestrap]

you can cancel the order because they have these at your local radio shack, got mine for 3.50

What do I look for? There's a lot of Piezo Buzzers on their website. Nothing on Piezo Tweeter.

Would this work? 12 vdc 70db

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

What do I look for? There's a lot of Piezo Buzzers on their website. Nothing on Piezo Tweeter.
Would this work? 12 vdc 70db

Whoa online prices are expensive lol, I think i got this one

http://www.radioshack.com/90db-piezo-pulse/2730066.html#.VQirW47F80Q

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

taylor fade told me this exact method as well - if he also trusts the theory behind why it works then it might not be a bad idea to try out.

ive been wanting to test this myself

but

ive been working out ground noise / alternator whine issues in my system first

and ive been a bit nervus to try out my dc 7.5k hooked to a pizzio tweet lol

luckly today i managed to nail down my ground noise issue to a blown or messed up pair of channels on a ppi900.4 amp i have installed - when i un hooked the rca to those pair the noise drasticly reduced - but when i unhooked the speaker pair left and right - there is now zero ground noise or alternator whine with the track on pause and headunit volume at 50 its dead silent now... thank god

i was going crazy trying to get it figured out

 

[big scott]

taylor fade told me this exact method as well - if he also trusts the theory behind why it works then it might not be a bad idea to try out.ive been wanting to test this myself

but

ive been working out ground noise / alternator whine issues in my system first

and ive been a bit nervus to try out my dc 7.5k hooked to a pizzio tweet lol

luckly today i managed to nail down my ground noise issue to a blown or messed up pair of channels on a ppi900.4 amp i have installed - when i un hooked the rca to those pair the noise drasticly reduced - but when i unhooked the speaker pair left and right - there is now zero ground noise or alternator whine with the track on pause and headunit volume at 50 its dead silent now... thank god

i was going crazy trying to get it figured out

bad ground on rca inside amp ??

i hate crap like that.. meaning noise in system....

i wish this could work for all amps.. 2ch and 4ch . i have one of these tweeters, may have to try this. thanks..

 

[turtlestrap]

taylor fade told me this exact method as well - if he also trusts the theory behind why it works then it might not be a bad idea to try out.ive been wanting to test this myself

but

ive been working out ground noise / alternator whine issues in my system first

and ive been a bit nervus to try out my dc 7.5k hooked to a pizzio tweet lol

luckly today i managed to nail down my ground noise issue to a blown or messed up pair of channels on a ppi900.4 amp i have installed - when i un hooked the rca to those pair the noise drasticly reduced - but when i unhooked the speaker pair left and right - there is now zero ground noise or alternator whine with the track on pause and headunit volume at 50 its dead silent now... thank god

i was going crazy trying to get it figured out

The same model as the one jeff linked to?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

At 100 ohm, the piezo is basically invisible to the amp

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='brian84corvette']taylor fade told me this exact method as well[/QUOTE]

Bingo. Pretty sure he's done a write-up on it before too. @TaylorFade ;