Tony D'Amore

Thank you sir

Well understood. The tool lets the user decide if they want to setup the system with no possibility of clipping whatsoever if they choose. Most people don't prefer this setting in practice though.

I take it you don't approve of that tool either?

In reality though it is much better becuase they are tuned before they leave.

Monte Carlo analysis of the circuit.

You guys might want to check out video 6 in the D'Amore Engineering free education series. It will explain why rms amps x rms volts does not equal power. Www.damoreengineering.com/freeeducation.html

Okay, so you used the word measure which implies that you understand uncertainty and accuracy. Your nooblet customers don't and/or your system is displaying non-significant digits. For instance: Kevin is obviously VERY confused on how to use the device which makes these questions extremely pertinent. Please answer. Also note, saying you use a DD-1 to measure distortion is not a method, techniques to measure distortion are very defined and rather easy to follow. How do you implement that? What in your opinion is wrong with the testing that Kevin published?

Quentin, that is correct. However that is pretty impossible.

It uses non inductive passive loads. They are braking resistors for a light rail train. M5, why so condesending. I have an education. Yes I understand those terms just fine. The power measurement is done via 10 bit A/D. It's about +/- 2% for power. As far as the distortion detecting, they are calibarated to 1.0% +/- 0.1% If you are more interested in how our distortion detecting works you can read the patent here: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20130044886&OS=20130044886&RS=20130044886

The Amp Dynos are all hand-built and calibrated by D'Amore Engineering in Tempe, AZ. Tested against several references including an audio precision, and a HP8903A

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The Amp Dyno is a pro level tool. Yes it has 2 independent DD-1s in it. We have a consumer level tool coming out in a few weeks. It is called the AMM-1. It's a audio oriented multimeter. It measures dc voltage, ac voltage, ac current, phase angle, power factor, VA, Watts, Impedance, and frequency. It's a handheld device.

The unit measures both harmonic distortion via our DD-1 circuitry, and clipping via a microprocessor and high speed A/D converters. The mode the Dyno is operating in determines if it will use the harmonic distortion detection and clipping detection, or just clipping detection.

The idea of the Amp Dyno is that it would be purchased and used by dealers of home, pro, or mobile audio equipment. It is a tool for them to sell one amplifier over another, and to help them sell better accessories like power and speaker wire. One example: A customers system can be dyno'd in their car, their wiring upgraded and then redyno'd quantifying the improvements and placing value on them.

Agreed, it's tough to find music these days that isn't heavily compressed.

It has been tested against the Audip Precision 575x and the Hewlett Packard 8903A. It be awesome if you happen to have a video of that in action. Does your company own it's own You Tube channel. It would be nice to see the engineer of this thing make a few runs on it. Yes our Youtube channel is DamoreEngineering Also lots of pics on our instagram. You can get to it through our website damoreengineering.com, click on photo gallery

It has been tested against the Audip Precision 525x and the Hewlett Packard 8903A.

So because this dynamic power measurment can give you an idea how it would sound on music, and it tells you instantly if the amplifier has a regulated power supply or not (amps with regulated power supplies have 0dB of headroom, and as such the continuous power and dynamic power would be the same), we decided to add this feature to the AD-1. As far as I know, the AD-1 Amplifier Dyno is the only device capable of measuring it at 40Hz without using oscilloscopes and calculators. There is another machine that can automatically measure it at 1kHz, it is called the PowerCube by AudioGraph, made in Sweden, $30k.

The reason the amp with the higher dynamic power rating would sound better on music is because the peaks of the waveforms wouldn't be clipped off as they would in an amp with a lower dynamic power rating. Some legendary audiophile did a scientifc test where he was in a completely quiet space and recorded a pin drop. They studied the recording and found that if you wanted to ACCURATELY duplicate the pin drop on an audio system you would need like 10,000 - 15,000 watts. When it comes to music, its all about dynamics. Obviously 99.9% of people don't have a 15,000 watt audio system anywhere in their lives. So the sound engineers compress it. They bring the loud parts down and the quiet parts up. This way the window, the difference (the dynamic range) of the signal is small enough so that it sounds okay on a 10 watt system. Ever hear live music? Stand in front of a drum kit for a minute and really listen to it. Ever hear anyones audio system sound like that? Unlikely. First off, you would have to obtain a recording that isn't dynamic range compressed. (different than size compression like mp3). Then you would probably need 30k watts or more and enough FULL RANGE speakers to handle it. Most of us have never heard this so we don't know what we are missing. But if you played amp A and amp B from the example above, and you limited the volume level to the point of audible distortion in the music, amp B will walk all over amp A. Want to see amplifier manufactures that know this? Look up NAD home amplifiers, Carver home amplifiers, and B&K to name a few. Some good reading on the topic here: http://www.axiomaudio.com/dynamicheadroom

Dynamic power testing is the standard used on hi-fi home audio. This is where the measurement "Headroom" comes from. People mistakingly use that term for other things. The definition of dynamic headroom is the difference between continuous power and dynamic power and is expressed in dB. For example, if an amplifier does 100 Watts continous, but did 400 Watts dynamic we would say that it has 6dB of headroom. It is a term used to tell you about the power supply of the amplifier. It is a valid spec when talking about how an amplifier would sound on music. If amplifier A had 100 watts continuous, 200 watts dynamic and amplifier B had 100 watts continuous, 400 watts dynamic, amplifier B would sound MUCH better on music, esp when turned up. In a SPL competition where the SPL is averaged over some time period they would both score exactly the same. The term Peak Power is marketing bullshit that has absolutely no science behind it and means nothing.

I guess I would have to know what you mean by "how would it really perform". If you are talking about SPL with sine waves then the dynamic test is pointless and you would not be able to comare two amplifiers based on that number. So yes for SPL with sine waves you are right, the certified mode would be the one to use, and at the lowest impedance the amp can handle without going into protection. If we are talking about how it would perform with music, that is a different topic.

Thanks for having me. I'll do my best

Hey guys here I am