Jcsaudio
Senior VIP Member
I was messing with a mono subwoofer amplifier playing a 50 Hz test tone through it one day with a 12” subwoofer. I was slowly turning it up as I listened for a change in sound for about 3-5 minutes. The only change I heard in sound was when the amplifier fuse blew and the power supply mosfets went up in smoke as they burned up. Amp was cold but the mosfets apparently got too hot.
Nope; I’m in the category where I’m better off just using a different method. Was the amplifier over that 10% and clipping? Yup, and that lesson cost me some money that day too. Did the subwoofer coil get hot? Yup, because the coil had that burnt smell but I didn’t think to check that until I cooked the amp and it was too late. Was successful in repairing that amplifier on my own though so I did learn that!
Now I buy an amplifier that is at least 25% to 50% more powerful that the top RMS rating of the sub, if I can and use the DVM method and my ear to set the gain and blend things in with the front stage. This method works good for me. Jeff, you are a master at what you do but I **** at it.
Nope; I’m in the category where I’m better off just using a different method. Was the amplifier over that 10% and clipping? Yup, and that lesson cost me some money that day too. Did the subwoofer coil get hot? Yup, because the coil had that burnt smell but I didn’t think to check that until I cooked the amp and it was too late. Was successful in repairing that amplifier on my own though so I did learn that!
Now I buy an amplifier that is at least 25% to 50% more powerful that the top RMS rating of the sub, if I can and use the DVM method and my ear to set the gain and blend things in with the front stage. This method works good for me. Jeff, you are a master at what you do but I **** at it.