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<blockquote data-quote="thch" data-source="post: 1533604" data-attributes="member: 562032">i&#039;ve been working on a clipping detector. since people are willing to buy $150+ oscopes after all!i&#039;ve got a circuit designed that uses a DMM and maybe $5 of parts from radioshack that seemed to do overall as well as the oscope for detecting the onset of clipping.in the lab, with the labs DMM, it was able to detect clipping right before the visible onset*. if the test frequency was lowered, the detection was not as good and the results were detected at the visible onset of clipping. When coupled with an OScope the clipping* was detected well before the visible onset.In anycase, it was shocking at how well the circuit worked. it may end up being the downfall though. it will indiscriminately detect any distortion or noise. if the amp has a lot of noise or distortion, it may be hard to use.the final circuit is something i theorized about, a bandstop filter. basically play a tone, then build a circuit to block the tone. measure anything in the output that isn&#039;t the tone.battery powered implementations should also be possible for people who don&#039;t want to buy a DMM. the cost of parts would probably be in the $20 range at radioshack.*I used a &quot;hard limiter&quot; type circuit with LED&#039;s. the LEDs aren&#039;t are good as switching diodes, and as a result my clipping was a bit soft -- the wave would round off instead of fully clip. i had to crank it up past the rounding to get flat tops. but flat tops were easily determined.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="thch, post: 1533604, member: 562032"] i've been working on a clipping detector. since people are willing to buy $150+ oscopes after all! i've got a circuit designed that uses a DMM and maybe $5 of parts from radioshack that seemed to do overall as well as the oscope for detecting the onset of clipping. in the lab, with the labs DMM, it was able to detect clipping right before the visible onset*. if the test frequency was lowered, the detection was not as good and the results were detected at the visible onset of clipping. When coupled with an OScope the clipping* was detected well before the visible onset. In anycase, it was shocking at how well the circuit worked. it may end up being the downfall though. it will indiscriminately detect any distortion or noise. if the amp has a lot of noise or distortion, it may be hard to use. the final circuit is something i theorized about, a bandstop filter. basically play a tone, then build a circuit to block the tone. measure anything in the output that isn't the tone. battery powered implementations should also be possible for people who don't want to buy a DMM. the cost of parts would probably be in the $20 range at radioshack. *I used a "hard limiter" type circuit with LED's. the LEDs aren't are good as switching diodes, and as a result my clipping was a bit soft -- the wave would round off instead of fully clip. i had to crank it up past the rounding to get flat tops. but flat tops were easily determined. [/QUOTE]

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