setting gain with DMM and music instead of Test tone

[BLD 25 10+ year member]

Is this ok? I have been setting gains with test tones and a dmm, and i have 1000watts going to an ss-rlp and it is hardly louder than my wife's car(nearly same car, concorde and intrepid), with 300watts going to an infinity(just set by ear like i always have). Very lackluster performance from what i would expect. after setting gains, i turned it on some TI, turned it up as loud as i would listen normally and stuck the dmm on the terminals, and it never peaked over about a third of the recommended voltage(~46 for 1000w at 2ohm).

So, can i set the gain with a familiar bass song instead of a test tone? i would be a little more conservative obviously, but if i am not getting peaks anywhere near the amount that it should be, then this doesn't seem too logical or economical that i would pay for a 1000 watt amp and only get 300 watts to the sub.

INPUT?

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[SVTLightning01 10+ year member]

what test tones are you using? 0db, -3db. -6db?

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Using a 0 db test tone would be safer.

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

-3 would be the plrolly the best if ya want alil more output, -6 is risking it especially if you play heavy bass, i learned my lesson

 

[Decipha 10+ year member]

i set my gain using a -3 db tone at 38hz with the vol on blast... never had any problems yet

 

[BLD 25 10+ year member]

i think mine is -3db 50 and 60hz. very quiet bass for a ported RLP with a grand of watts.

 

[BLD 25 10+ year member]

I understand the importance of the right wattage, and the tone is the MAX that an amp would have to put out in any situation, but if hte actuall listening material(music) never reaches 1/3 of the voltage, couldn't that be used as a reference instead of the tone?

 

[SSon22s 10+ year member]

I finally got my Sundown today and switched it out from the Viper D1200 I was running and decided to use an O-Scope to set the gains, let me tell you, I set them with very minimal clipping and it wasnt loud at all...I set it by ear with some test tones and that Sh*T was WANGIN!!! So using the proper methods will insure you can never have damage but it wasnt nearly as loud for me...

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

I understand the importance of the right wattage, and the tone is the MAX that an amp would have to put out in any situation, but if hte actuall listening material(music) never reaches 1/3 of the voltage, couldn't that be used as a reference instead of the tone?

I understand exactly what you're saying. Basically, why set your gain to something that won't implement it's full power. Correct? The biggest reason for that is safety. You really have no more headroom once you've set it with music. Also, if you listen to alot of mp3s, the gain on those is never the same unless you have a level-matching program (search in OT, cause I posted a link to a program that does just that). You then have to be careful every time you change songs, so that you don't have the music blaring, and then another LOUDER song comes on.

Back to the original question:

My initial reasoning would be that music changes, where a tone does not.

I suspect, though I have never thought to see myself, that the voltage wouldn't be constant and would cause the readout on the DMM to fluctuate....especially if you have an auto-ranging DMM.

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