setting gain with dmm

[xluben 10+ year member]

One other thing that I am unsure about is the way my speaker wire is going from the box to the amp. I am currently using a pre-fab box that has 2 terminal cups. The voice coils are wired to 1 ohm. The amp has (2) positives and (2) negatives; they parallel internally. I have each sub positive and negative going to the individual positives and negatives on the amp. Is this the proper way to wire to run at 1 ohm?

if you have DVC 4 ohms subs each should have the coils wired to 2 ohms, and then one sub to each ouput on the amp will have the amp seeing 1 ohm

sounds like you have it right.

if you have the subs wired up with one to each output, you need to measure the voltage across the output bridged! hook the DMM up to the + on one output and - on the other and see what it reads.

The settings of the amp are:subsonic filter: on

LPF: 90Hz

The test tone is 0dB @ 50Hz. I got all of my test tones from http://www.realmofexcursion.com.

looks good. try hooking up the DMM as stated above.

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

now that i think about it, it should still put out the correct voltage if you only use one of the outputs.

im stumped!

 

[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

A long shot but it just happened to me:

Are there any external gain controls for the amp? The Kicker amp I have has an external gain knob, not as boost control like I first thought it was. With the external knob at zero the amp put out next to no juice even at full gain on the amp.

 

[aLCHeMiST45 10+ year member]

Regardless of where I measure speaker output voltage, the readings are all the same. I measured the output for one set of positives and negatives and the output for the other set of positives and negatives. The results were the same exact voltage. I have also measured the voltage for one sub's positive to the other sub's negative on the amp; still the same voltage as before.

The amp came with an external knob but I am not using it. It is not even hooked up.

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

does it seem to vary properly when you turn the knob?

how's your input voltage?

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

set your gain with the volume @ 31/35 with all of your processing off, and everything else set to flat.

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

Regardless of where I measure speaker output voltage, the readings are all the same. I measured the output for one set of positives and negatives and the output for the other set of positives and negatives. The results were the same exact voltage. I have also measured the voltage for one sub's positive to the other sub's negative on the amp; still the same voltage as before.
The amp came with an external knob but I am not using it. It is not even hooked up.

Use that knob! that's your problem

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

what?

no. don't do that.

if it's unhooked, there's no way you're going to get more voltage by plugging it in (unless it's bass boost, in which case you shouldn't use it).

 

[aLCHeMiST45 10+ year member]

does it seem to vary properly when you turn the knob?
how's your input voltage?

The input voltage measured with the DMM set to ACV 200 is 28.8 volts. The input voltage measured with the DMM set to DCV 200 is 13.3 volts.

The voltage measured at the speaker output does not increase very much until the gain is more than half way to the maximum.

 

[kuijo 10+ year member]

do you have any equalizer settings set on the headunit?

Your amps probably just over rated or there could be a problem with it.

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

what?
no. don't do that.

if it's unhooked, there's no way you're going to get more voltage by plugging it in (unless it's bass boost, in which case you shouldn't use it).

Well then i guess my Soundstorm amp was overrated then without usin the bass boost at volume 24/30, without i only got 6.6 AC with gain on max(since my head unit has super low pre out voltage) and it said it put out 150 rms at 4 ohms then turn bass boost all the way up and i got 24.5 AC, 150 watts. Do amp manufacturers use the FLAT settin to measure how much power they actually put out then and use the bass boost as well?

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

an amp being over-rated has nothing to do with what voltage it will put out.

as long as the amp is seeing more than 0.2V from the rca's (most HU's have 2V pre-outs nowdays) it should be able to output plenty of voltage, it's keeping up with the current output that will determine whether or not the amp is over/under rated.

you'd need a oscilicope to actually see if the amp is putting out a clean signal.

if you can't get more than 30V output there's probably something else wrong with your system (or the amp is broken).

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

an amp being over-rated has nothing to do with what voltage it will put out.
as long as the amp is seeing more than 0.2V from the rca's (most HU's have 2V pre-outs nowdays) it should be able to output plenty of voltage, it's keeping up with the current output that will determine whether or not the amp is over/under rated.

you'd need a oscilicope to actually see if the amp is putting out a clean signal.

if you can't get more than 30V output there's probably something else wrong with your system (or the amp is broken).

Thanks for that info.

 

[brents 10+ year member]

Hello everyone, new to the board, I recognize Xluben.

Do you have the engine running? The voltage from the formula is with the motor running.

 

[itzme218 10+ year member]

HAHA i know what your problem is, cause I have that amp, I bet you testing wired series. test it using the far outter speaker outputs, that would put them to parallel and be 1ohms. read the manual next time.

It goes + - + -

(use this +) not this - not this + (use this -)

Either that or your remote knob is at minium when you should just leave it at max, unless you don't have a sub control on you headunit then you should use the remote as a control.

Acutally I just finished swaping subs and changing amp location, the inputs are

(+ + - -), but still (use +) not + not - (use-)