well, you do have to realize that the DMM misses the point in non-competitive applications.
"wow that amps putting out as much power as it can"
hmm, seems I was actually looking for
"wow, i like how this sounds"
i always laugh at the thought of level matching speakers and subwoofers by this method. "why the optimal level clearly places 75W to the speakers and 1.2kW to the woofers because thats what's written on the amp..."
If you have a fixed volume that you enjoy listening that is well within the amp's capability, the DMM really isn't too useful.
"wow that amps putting out as much power as it can"
hmm, seems I was actually looking for
"wow, i like how this sounds"
i always laugh at the thought of level matching speakers and subwoofers by this method. "why the optimal level clearly places 75W to the speakers and 1.2kW to the woofers because thats what's written on the amp..."
If you have a fixed volume that you enjoy listening that is well within the amp's capability, the DMM really isn't too useful.
I tried at 300w again yesterday (My subs are rated at 300w max rms for 2 and I wanted to keep it in that range but I think I can go a little bit over) cause I screwed up on the setup last time and it sounded pretty nice and clean but it was still lacking that little bit of punch in the bass area so I retried it at 350w (which is only 25w more per sub) and that is a little bit much so I'm thinking about giving 325w a go.
Other than all of this, I'm wondering if it's all for none..?? I mean, how can you tell what you are actually putting out when your speakers are connected? Does anyone know what the voltage difference is for a 2ohm load? I guess best thing to do is get a reading after tuning it and then put the speakers in and turn it up to that point and look at that reading. Then I guess I can get the differential and be able to try and compensate for when my speakers will be hooked up. It's going to get a different amount of power than when your trying to tune it without the wires inserted. I have no idea what type of load you are suppose to even be testing for when no leads are connected. If it's 4ohms then like I said, the power would be like double for a 2ohm load which is what I have. I can understand why JL Audio says to do this on their amps as their wattages are rated like from 1.5-4ohms and such. It doesn't matter with their amps as they cover the range of basic ohms as with others it's based on different ohmages.
Other than all of this, I'm wondering if it's all for none..?? I mean, how can you tell what you are actually putting out when your speakers are connected? Does anyone know what the voltage difference is for a 2ohm load? I guess best thing to do is get a reading after tuning it and then put the speakers in and turn it up to that point and look at that reading. Then I guess I can get the differential and be able to try and compensate for when my speakers will be hooked up. It's going to get a different amount of power than when your trying to tune it without the wires inserted. I have no idea what type of load you are suppose to even be testing for when no leads are connected. If it's 4ohms then like I said, the power would be like double for a 2ohm load which is what I have. I can understand why JL Audio says to do this on their amps as their wattages are rated like from 1.5-4ohms and such. It doesn't matter with their amps as they cover the range of basic ohms as with others it's based on different ohmages.
you may be better off setting your gains by ear instead of worrying about watts and such. just play some very dynamic music with good sound quality that you are very familliar with and play with the gains until you get slight audible distortion and then back them off slightly until the distortion is inaudible. this should be done with the head unit near full volume and not clipping(some head units will go up all the way without clipping). be sure to have your eq's flat and no loudness or bass bosst on while setting gains. i like to have the highest unclipped signle possible coming into my amps that they can handle so that i can turn my amp gains pretty much all of ther way down and get more headroom. This way less noise is being amplified in the system. Just be sure that your amps can handle the full voltage that your head unit can provide.
Not sure on the frequency crossover point as it doesn't turn on or off...It just adjusts from 50hz to 500hz....Read on another board you are suppose to crank that up all the way to make it sort of defeatable or off....Is that true? This is what I have been doing...
Totally agree with shagone, using a meter to set the gain on a single amp is pretty much pointless.
You are way overthinking this!
Hook everything up.
Leave all boost and eq OFF.
Turn the gain control to MIN.
Then put in a CD you like and turn the head uints vol to 80%.
Now, adjust the gain so it sounds good to you.
Yes it is that easy. Unless you have multiple amps and are in competetions you can do it all by ear.
If it sounds like crap, turn down the gain!
Hook everything up.
Leave all boost and eq OFF.
Turn the gain control to MIN.
Then put in a CD you like and turn the head uints vol to 80%.
Now, adjust the gain so it sounds good to you.
Yes it is that easy. Unless you have multiple amps and are in competetions you can do it all by ear.
If it sounds like crap, turn down the gain!
Flyin11 said:
I never once heard of doing that and i'm not sure why you would want to.
just set the crossover about where you think the frequency that you want is and then set your gains. you can always tweak it after you set your gains to get it just right. your ears are the most sensetive piece of calibration equipment that you own and they are free so use them😀 .
It was kind of weird but the person had a good point...He was worried that the hz tone he was using, like if it was a 60hz and he set the crossover at 60hz, that the tone would get defeated out by the crossover cause it is set at that point. So, I think that's why they said to turn your crossover setting on your amp all the way to the highest point and max it out. That way the frequency you are using won't get toned out. That was one of the things I was really interested in but I'm at the point where I'm about to say screw it and just try and do it by ear and see how that goes...
Flyin11 said:
Go for it! and use music at first instead of test tones until you really get the hang of things. I think you will be happy with the outcome.
Just did some testing around...I was seeing my grandma and went into the car and decided to try and set the gain and bass eq to about the same position as the old Alpine amp I had. The Alpine had about 30 watts or so less power than this punch so it wasn't too much difference and that's what I did when I first installed the punch. I listened to it and it sounded SO much better than me trying to do it by meter. God I missed that sound. Anyways, I still needed a little more bass so I pulled over into a parking lot and adjust the bass eq a bit and turned the gain back a touch so that I can use the subwoofer level control I want and what do you know. It sounds awesome! So I got it where I wanted and then focused on the highs a bit. I had turned the gain on the highs up yesterday and for some reason, when I turn the volume up to 28 now, the highs are good but the tweeters get distorted and sound like I hear some popping noise in them. I turned the gain back a little bit and it's clear now but not as high as I would want my highs to be. I started to smell electronic burn smell when I had it up high for a while so I think I started to burn out the tweeters which is not a good thing. They are stock so they probably can't handle that amount of power from the amp. So I might have to look into some replacement tweeters for my doors.
Wondering if impedance plays a role in my stock tweeters as well? I didn't think much of it but it might have a impact with my 4 channel amp. I have speakers in the doors and the factory tweeters that came with the 2003 Honda Civic, and also speakers in the rear. If I have these and include the tweeters and they are all 4ohms...What's my impedance and does that hurt anything? I think it's just that those factory tweeters can't handle any more power than I have to them right now so I might need to find some new ones or just not use them anymore and have my front and rear speakers. I just like the tweeters cause they clear up my highs a bit even though they are lower output sounding than my front speakers...
Wondering if impedance plays a role in my stock tweeters as well? I didn't think much of it but it might have a impact with my 4 channel amp. I have speakers in the doors and the factory tweeters that came with the 2003 Honda Civic, and also speakers in the rear. If I have these and include the tweeters and they are all 4ohms...What's my impedance and does that hurt anything? I think it's just that those factory tweeters can't handle any more power than I have to them right now so I might need to find some new ones or just not use them anymore and have my front and rear speakers. I just like the tweeters cause they clear up my highs a bit even though they are lower output sounding than my front speakers...
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