Question on setting gains.. (didnt hear distortion)

[oneill584 10+ year member]

****, apparently I have no idea what I'm doing lol. So wuts the consensus, new more powerfull amp? How many watts should I be powering them with?

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

i know, i was just saying to do it that way if he didn't do it with the dmm. Most 2 volt preouts should be set to around 1/4 gain or so, so i just figured half gain was a decent guess.

Dear endofdays89,

Please don't teach other people the wrong way to do things.

-the non retarded Car Audio Community

 

[skittlesRgood 10+ year member]

do NOT go above where your amp says its clipping. keep it a little below that till you learn about how to set it with a dmm.

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

Dear endofdays89,
Please don't teach other people the wrong way to do things.

-the non retarded Car Audio Community

i'm pretty sure that half gain is pretty safe for most setups. If he doesn't know how to do it with the dmm it will work just fine.

 

[oneill584 10+ year member]

Allright, ya thanks guys. I think I'm just gonna get a new amp eventually, and then juts bring it in to the shop and have them set it real quick. How much watts would you guys recommend though for the new amp?

 

[XHiFiX 10+ year member]

Your amp has a clipping indicator so use it.

Since you're powering a set of comps for mids/highs, you need a test tone that falls within their playing freq' range. So download a 0dB 1KHz sine wave test tone and burn it on a CD. You can find it here - http://www.realmofexcursion.com/downloads.htm

Start with your amp's gain fully counterclockwise. On your HU, Set equalizer/tone settings to flat or 0 and disable any loudness or sound shaping features. Turn up the volume to its max undistorted level or just use 3/4 of the full volume. Start playing the 1KHz test tone that you burned onto the disc and set it for loop/repeat.

Now start slowly turning the amp's gain clockwise and watch the clipping indicator. When you see it light up, stop then slightly turn back the gain until the light goes away. Assuming that the amp's clipping indicator was accurate, you should have been able to hear the test tone clip when it reached the point where the light lit up. You would recognize it as a change in pitch. Listen to this wav file and you will hear the difference b/w clipped and unclipped - http://www.bcae1.com/images/wavs/clip01.wav (it starts Unclipped for one second, then goes Clipped the next, in three intervals)

 

[oneill584 10+ year member]

Thanks dude. I really appreciate the thorough and detailed explanation.

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

I'll step in and say, I have absolutely no problems hearing 'crunchy' bass when Im tuning my bass amp but in mids and highs I have a hard time detecting it by ear and usually have a shop do it or go with a DMM. MAy or may not have to do with the fact that my sub is slightly overpowered and my mids and coaxials are slightly under powered. Not sure if that causes the clipping to be so slight on door speakers as to be hard to hear.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

That Blaupunkt amp isn't as bad as everyone says.

Is the setup loud enough for you? If it is, then what's the problem? If it isn't, you probably need to reassess your goals because an actual 75w on those very efficient speakers will make your ears bleed. It doesn't matter that you didn't hear the amp clip. Many times unless you are running it progressively into clipping with a test tone, it has to get to full clip before the distortion becomes really apparent with music. The sensory overload from the sheer volume of the sound makes this difficult as well.