Clean audio signal/clipped signal ??

[realitytb]

how would you know whether you have a clean or clipped audio signal for your system? im not sure how all that stuff works.

 

[dont need 8]

Distortion in the speakers, some amps will shut off or trip a light or something, some crossovers will shutdown or limit power to speakers.

 

[f4st]

even if your speakers can handle it make sure your gain is not all the way up.

 

[Mike1992]

I have my single rockford amp bridged to 400w max and the gain is all the way up, i hear no distortion and i got mad bass from my single 12" memphis

 

[f4st]

distortion is not the problem, the heat from a clipped signal will burn your subs voice coils.

 

[Redmachine]

I am going to repeat this over and over so pay attention.
THE AMP GAIN IS NOT FOR BASS CONTROL!!!!
ok, now a lesson
The gain is only used to tell the amp the voltage of your preouts. You have 5v preouts you set the gain on the amp for 5v AND LEAVE IT. You risk blowing your shit up prematurely. Ask any installer/audio guru. You control your bass thru the head unit only.
You want a extra bass control get a amp with that feature,but notice it has nothing to do with the gain. Most amps have a 40hz boost 10+dB something like that, use it.
Ok in summation
Do not use the gain as a extra control over bass
set your gain at the proper voltage of you preouts and leave it
Use you HU for Most of your audio tuning needs(this exludes EQ's, and the such but use your head)

BTW this thread is about clipping.
The guys said all the right things, clipping sounds like shit, the amp shuts off gets REAL hot, this is a tell tale sign of gain abuse. The distortion is unbearable, and you run the risk of messing something up.

 

[Mike1992]

I have this AMP Its bridged to put out what I think is 400w max to my 400w max 12" Memphis Subwoofer.
This is my radio.

I have everything on the radio set at 0, however I have the amps gain all the way up and that db whatever on its max setting of 3. Guide me into setting this up correctly.

I do notice that if Im jammin with it turned up high for a long period of time, my radio likes to turn the volume down for a few seconds then turn it self back up. Overheating?

Help the audio Newb!

 

[Redmachine]

I have this AMP Its bridged to put out what I think is 400w max to my 400w max 12" Memphis Subwoofer.
This is my radio.

I have everything on the radio set at 0, however I have the amps gain all the way up and that db whatever on its max setting of 3. Guide me into setting this up correctly.

I do notice that if Im jammin with it turned up high for a long period of time, my radio likes to turn the volume down for a few seconds then turn it self back up. Overheating?

Help the audio Newb!

Yes that would be clipping and the safety's on the amp/HU are whats kicking the sound down ,not good
everything is 0 that is true sound, anything higher or lower and you are altering the way you hear(of course)
Check the manual on you HU(cd player) see what the voltage is for you Preouts(the wires you hook your sub into) that is the magic number to set your gain to. Then with that set you go back to your HU confident nothing is going to blow because the amp is set correctly, now you can figet with the bass functions on your deck. get the sound as close to what you are looking for as possible. Then if you are close go back to the amp hit the dB a notch or two does it sound any better? if it does try the next notch Even better or worse? Set that till it sounds nice. The trick is to get the most sound without burning your amp or sub up. Another helpful hint is using bigger gauge amp wires(I use 1/0 guage for power and matching ground, you always want the power wire size to match the ground wire).

 

[Mike1992]

Thanks! I'll look into it

 

[f4st]

if thats the only amp you have dont worry about getting bigger wire as long as you have 8 or 4 guage already.

 

[Redmachine]

I'd say stay with 4 gauge, there is enough power coming thru the 4 gauge. I was just throwing that up there.

 

[f4st]

Redmachine,
What type of setup do you have that uses 1/0 guage wire? Im curious must be huge

 

[Redmachine]

I've upgraded since my pics in the gallery. I now have a 1501bd rockford amp, and the same subs in a new Fiberglass enclosure setup, isobaric(those are going to blow soon)and the same HU. The choice to go 1/0 was kinda out there I know but I felt it was the better choice, because I'll be adding more component amps and such. Next is a second battery in the trunk for my carputer

 

[Mike1992]

OK red check it out,

HU (from my booklet)
Preout Level / Load (During Disk Play) 2000mV / 10K
Preout Impedence 600

Amp-Rockford Fosgate 200s Specs

I took at the look at my amp, the gain dont have any number or anything, where do i need to set this?

Oh and I use an 8g wiring kit, cuz its the biggest the amp can accept.

 

[Redmachine]

With the gain on all the way down ,the equalization on your HU set to flat and the bass boost turned off(this is the dB on the amp, but if you are using it leave it alone)Turn the head unit's volume control to 75% of its maximum.

Play a track on the CD, something with some bass but full range sound as well

Turn the gain slowly to a higher sensitivity untill you hear an audible distortion, Then turn it down just a little just to make sure you don't clip the signal on a stronger source signal recording.

If this means that the gain is set to its lowest setting when you have a 4V or higher head unit then so be it, and if it means that you have to set it to the maximum if you have a 1V preout head unit then so be it, the goal is to match the voltage.
I'm not sure what your preamp voltages are but this will help. Like stated above this is not to see how much you can push the amp but to get the voltages to match for good clean sound.

 

[Mike1992]

OK, I played with it a bit and found a nice common ground with 70% gain (AMP) and bass +4 out of 8 and treble +2 out of 8, mid + 1 out of 8 (HU) Sounds like I got more bass than I started with. It seems if I turn the HU up I get distortion at a certain point, but cant hear any distortion from the sub, its from my other speakers.

 

[Redmachine]

Awesome thats what you want, do you have filters for your full range speakers? Should be on your HU if it has that option, if it doesn't, then it might be time for new speakers, BUT don't go out and splurge just yet, play some more see if you can get the the full range distortion to go away. Good job nOOb

 

[Mike1992]

I dont have any filters, but i did replace all the speakers with new ones. Heres the rest Pioneer 4" Dash Spkrs, Profile 6.5" Door Spkrs, Dual 3-way 6x9's in rear, they may not be the best, but theyre a hellova alot better then the blown out stockers I had. Total invested in the entire system $470

 

[Redmachine]

So just start tweaking the HU, distortion should go away, Happy tunes bud

 

[dont need 8]

If you are running all of your main speakers off the headunit and do not have a built in crossover or filters for the bass you may want to drop the amount of bass in the headunit and compensate with the bass booster on the amp. This may help with the distortion.

 

[Mike1992]

This distortion was only there when I had the radio turned up way to loud, trying to figure out that 75% loud red was talking about, I dunno how far it goes, but I got around 27-28 and it was distorting from my 6x9's with the HU set at 0 on everything. This is alright, I got things tuned and I dont listen to the radio any higher than maybe 23-24 and thats pretty fricken loud. Thanks for the help guys, Im digging it

 

[pinknuggit]

The trick is to get the most sound without burning your amp or sub up.

Thank you!

This is the best definition i've read so far for the term "headroom". I've tried to explain it quite a bit, but i can't quite find the right words. This is when you can use an amp that has more rated power than your speakers. Giving your system headroom will allow you to get the full capability out of your drivers, and put less of a strain on your amplifiers which will result in a lower operating temperature. Whenever you have an amp that gives out say 500 rms watts, your sub will be recieving 500 watts all the time, with the loudness of the sub dependant on the sensivity control of the amp.


As far as true clipping, a human ear can not detect even 1% clipping, which is enough to do some thermal damage to your voice coil with enough power. There are Two ways to achieve a PERFECT signal. One is the best way, which is an oscilloscope. There's no other/better way to get a perfect signal. The second way is to measure your preout voltage. Generally, the voltage increase on your RCA preouts is linear with the volume on the deck. You simply get a multimeter and measure the difference in voltage between each step of the volume. Whenever you reach the step of volume that has less of a voltage increase than the previos, then that is the step with which you start to clip. Back off one step and you will have the Maximum voltage your deck will produce without clipping.

Another beginner way to tell if your subs are being clipped is to simply look at them. When the signal is pure, your subs will have full, linear movement. When you clip them, they will become non-linear and will appear not to move as much or to sit back in the box more while they excurt.