need opinion on setting gain

[sdelthon 0]

ok here is the amp http://forum.realmofexcursion.com/sh...ewpost&t=44821

its a ****ty overrated amp my friend is using. he just hooked them up and i haven't seen it yet so i don't know what load he put on the amp. so in 2 and 1 ohm what should i tune the gains too? in voltz

[JimJ 11]

Gains aren't set in volts, they're set depending on the preout voltage of the head unit and where the amp's clipping threshold is.

If it's an overrated amp, find someone locally who has an oscilloscope and set it up right.

[shizzzon 461]

you need o-scope.

tuning by volts, i believe, only works on amps that output same power with varying impedance loads.

[JimJ 11]

tuning by volts, i believe, only works on amps that output same power with varying impedance loads.

It's the wrong way to do it no matter what the amp does.

[DevilDriver 28]

The completely wrong way. Why this idea is still being perpetuated....I have no idea.

[ke6960 0]

The completely wrong way. Why this idea is still being perpetuated....I have no idea.

how could it be wrong??? explain....

[JimJ 11]

The completely wrong way. Why this idea is still being perpetuated....I have no idea.

how could it be wrong??? explain....

Is the DMM telling you how much power you have at the moment? Is the DMM telling you what the waveform looks like, whether or not it's clipped, what your actual impedance is at that frequency...etc

All of those are things that ideally you should know, and the DMM, while a great piece of test equipment, is not going to tell you.

[dave_Edwards 1]

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cf...tnumber=320-290

how to use it

http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/i...?showtopic=3704

good peice of equipment to have

[sqguy 0]

Also depends on the ohm load you are running amp into, and that changes with heat. To test IIRC you run amp into resistance load you will use, run test signal and scope to see clipping, then measure voltage. Then you measure ohm load when done while resistance is still hot to calculate power produced by amp into that exact load. You can use a speaker also if you have one you can beat that hard. If you have a device to show you clipping you could do it in car. I'm not sure how the clipping indicators work on amps that have them. If you know what power an amp puts out you can get close looking at voltage, but there are variables to the install that make it hard to do; the amp will never be exactly as it was on a test bench as far as actual load on it and input voltage. When you see the clipping you know for sure....it is like guessing how fast a car goes via HP, gearing, and aerodynamics...or running it on a track with a GPS.