PERFECT AMP GAIN SETTING COMPLETELY FREE!!!
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- In this video i apparently make all amp gain setting tech redundant. This does however rely on the knob markings on your amp being accurate. which may or may not be the case. Either way, support the channel as i like to feel loved. Peace out holmes xx
Really great concept! The only issue is this assumes that the manufacturer has used a linear potentiometer for gain control - ive seen many using logarithmic potentiometers, whereby half-way up the dial is equal to around 28% or 72% of gain depending how its been wired. Wouldn't it be so much easier if all manufacturers actually labelled the voltage on the dial! :P
I knew there were 2 types of pots that work differently as they are being turned up or down.There should be a way to test them in order to distinguish which is which. Let me dig around a bit and I'll get back. This system is great, however not having linear pots is a set up for a costly failure.
I would've never thought that you'd measure HU pre-out on the RCA, and THEN set gains... brilliant. Everyone always says "set your volume to 75-80% to max and then set gains" but I love the idea of matching pre-out voltage. Thank you for this!
@titoham-DCXLs i have a question buddy.... I don't have an amp I just got my speakers running to my head unit, now the thing is how do I know the maximum volume i am allowed to turn it up to without frying any speakers or even the head unit?
@@sivz87 Stay away from max volume or anything that would make you go deaf and your fine.
Finally someone who actually understands this stuff explaining it to where anyone can understand it. Huge thanks!
Hands down the best explanation I have heard to setting the gain on an amplifier
Bro this is….amazing. For years I’ve used ohms law but that implies the amp actually does rated power. This is insane lol
Thanks haha its not 1000% accurate for for anyine without a scope its good enough!
@@PacmanBasshead
Better than shooting from the hip🤔😂👍
When measuring AC volts there is no need to observe polarity. You can put the meter leads on whichever you want, it will read the same. DC is when polarity matters. Hooking up the speakers polarity matters so they receive the same wave and work together. Other than that it for anyone to cheap to buy an oscilloscope it looks like some good advice. I'm a firm believer that distortion kills more speakers than slightly over or under powering them.
Another easy way is use an old small speaker you have laying around attach a small Capacitor to it. Hook it up to your amp, play a 40hz test tone through it and start turning the gain up. Once you hear sound through the speaker (clipping/distortion) simply turn the gain back down slightly till the speaker goes silent again. Bam clean signal every time, try it for yourself. The capacitor will filter out the 40hz tone playing through the amp but allow the harmonic distortion from the clipping to play through it. Free and 100% effective.
Yo, this is genius. Science for the win.
Nice gotta try now that I've clipped 900 worth of sub's 🤦🏽 I must say at 43 years old I've never fried so many subs I would have thought I would have done that young
What size capacitor to use?
What size cap do you have to use for this to work?
@@iThoughtUHad2Bitch thanks
How would you measure the output of a factory head unit to a line output converter? Would it essentially be the same process? On the line output converter I have it has a clip light to set it at the frequency needed if I am correct, please correct me if I am wrong
Hey mate, quick question. What you describe at 2:30 is a better way of just setting your headunit at 75% and assuming that is clean voltage, right? Thanks for your video!
Heya, Use the specs in the manual for the voltage and test with multimeter. Ive not had any that arent clean at the rms voltage
@@PacmanBasshead Thing is I bought a chinese multimedia for my Suzuki, and the manual does not mention that value... Seems good quality, but it lacks specifications.
I don't get this. The less voltage your car stereo will give, the less you turn gain from your amp? So, in my case, my stereo has 4V output level and my amp has 6V input level I would turn gain to about 2/3 of max. And because my subwoofer is 250W RMS, and my amp is 310W RMS, I probably lose some of the potential of my subwoofer? Or should I use 31.62V instead (square root of 4 ohms x 250W)?
I have this question as well
He said a 250w RMS subwoofer@titoham-DCXLs
wait I see where you checked the gain on the receiver, but how did you check the clipping one the amp w/o the scope?
my new CT Sounds amp(s) dont have a line/input dial. in this case, i just turned my head unit up to 75% of the volume, and checked the output at the speaker terminals. my door comp's can handle 80w RMS. they are 4ohm rated. so the quick math to do is multiply the RMS power rating (80w) times the resistance in ohms (4ohm) then get the square root of that.. 80x4=320 squared, is 17.9
with the head unit volume at 75%, i'd check a/c voltage on one of the speaker terminals and turn up the Gain until it outputs 17-18 volts.
*to get this done right, set your EQ, all your sub gains or bass boosts on max because once you turn up the gain, you CANNOT then do a 0-12 db bass boost unless you want your voice coils in your passenger seat :)
With nothing but a Multimeter........
And an oscilloscope, internet access & maybe a pen and notepad.
nothing against anyone else trying to explain the science behind all this but that's about the best explanation of how thing work I have found that I could understand, thank you for sharing. be safe and God bless!
could you make a video with a oem head unit without rca and using a Hi-Lo impedance adapter please
Yo Adam was great until you only hooked up the oscilloscope to the amps not the multimeter. How do I use a Multimeter on an amp?
Quick few questions.
1. What test tone frequencies are you using (I assume 50 hHZ for a sub, and 1000 hz for other channel speakers)?
2. What should I do if at max volume the output measured on the RCA cable is not even half of the indicated preamp output? I am using an Boss BE10ACP. Which states it supplies outputs: 6-channel preamp outputs (4-volt front, rear, sub). When playing a 50 HZ test tone and testing one of the rca cable of the sub I am not even getting above 1.7 at full max volume. What would cause this?
I think it's 4v divided into 6 ch or 0.66v per ch, 1.7v is clipping
I think your sublevel isnt on full, how many volts have the front and rear rca´s ?
What frequency do you use in this tuning?
And does BT never distort at max level from the phone?
Can all amplifiers handle max level in without any load, dont you have to put a load at the speaker output, or is it safe to run full gain and max signal in without any risk of breaking the amplifier?
Amps have a input sensitivity rating, which indicates the maximum voltage for RCA signal in that the amp can handle without clipping.
Completely free...if you have a scope
Man iv heard al this is so many times but God dam it I finally understand thank you sir😂
I'm confused on the alpine amp that you said it's 0v to 4v. why does it say 0.5v nowhere near where it should & how the 2v being across from max does make any since if you break it down to % 2v should be straight up where it's says Nom, which I thought was for the most common setting being 2v is pretty common. But I really like this video & how to find the head unit per out put max. Every one else say go 75% of max volume which I never liked.
that is really interesting, I can't understand that as well, @Adam Francis could you reply? :)
Great explanation!! Wondering if this can be done using a line out converter as well? I will be adding an amp and sub using the factory HU which doesn’t have any RCA pre-outs. Thanks
Great video. I showed it to me Gran. She called it rubbish and pissed off back to the tele. :)
The fact that you showed 92BT head unit and old MRV amp together is such an unreal find for me. I wondered why my signal is clipping at volume set 20-21 for about a year. That almost driven me to throw away MRV-F405 from my system. I'll definitely try your setting up scheme tomorrow.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks a ton for this! I must be doing something wrong... my head unit spec reads "Low-Level Output (4 channels): 2.85 Volts." With max volume on both Bluetooth phone and headunit, my multimeter reads .6 Volts AC for a 1000 hertz test tone... and vacillates between .7 and .8 Volts AC for a 100 hertz test tone. The headunit tech support (Retrosound) says I won't see full voltage unless "there is a load" such as connecting to an amp. So I tried adding an RCA Y-Adapter (one side to the amp and then onto a speaker... the other side naked). Readings on the naked Y-Adapter RCA plug are the same (.6-.8 ACV). I then measured with an oscilloscope... I see no clipping (perfectly smooth waves) at max volumes (perhaps Retrosound engineered theirs to have
Looked up one of their decks and heard some janky things. I would be surprised it does 2V, most likely 1V which makes sense if you got .8 or whatever...
What test tone u used?
Can you just set your head unit to max and your input for music such as an iPod or phone to max. From that point adjust the filter your using (in my case hpf) and gain until it isn't clipping on an oscope and be in the clear?
Excellent guide. I will be using this technique to set up my amplifier.
Head Unit Single RCA output. 1.5v.
Multimeter set to AC to find clean output on RCA in relation to HU volume level.
Calculate where 1.5v sits on gain dial.
Sony Amplifer RCA input voltage 0.3 - 6v. 6v minimum. 0.3v maximum.
Lower voltage position (0.3v) is maximum gain. So lower voltage value = higher RCA input compensation (gain).
Hopefully, I understand it correctly.
Had a question about the tone you okayed and if you had other other speakers hooked up. If I wanna set the gain myself we don’t have audio shops local. Do I need to unplug my door speakers so the Tone don’t play through them since the volume will be up high when testing the rca volts
It's best to disconnect your speaker inputs from your amp because they aren't necessary to get the readings. All you will be doing is playing your speakers very loudly at a test tone. If your trying to set the gain and you turn it all the way up or to a clip point it's just putting unnecessary wear on your speakers and possibly could blow them accidentally. It's no difference speakers wired or not, but security on your investment.
Great vid. So what if my HU is stock with all the integration stuff, and I have an amp connected to speaker level inputs. Can I just read the voltage off the speaker wires since my shitty HU has no RCA?
And is your phone at full volume as well?
Does it matter if I set the gains with the car off (12 Volts) or with the car running (14.4 Volts)?
No it shouldnt(however I would do it while running just to be sure) seeing as how the voltage you are adjusting is the signal voltage, rather than the power input voltage, good question tho!
Great video! Quick question, what test tones did you use? 40hz?
Probably or just pink noise
What test tone are you using ???
Not sure if you had any on your outputs before measuring with the scope, but you must have a load on the output before checking for clipping. Whatever the input impedance is for the amp on the line level outs to your scope and whatever the amps output impedance (prob 4ohm) dummy load on the scope leads. Your way will work but you're losing some of the power capabilities because with a load connected the output adjustments would be a bit higher before clipping.
When you say load you mean a song playing right
what test tone do you use to find the headunit clipping?
Great video! What equipment are you using to set up your bench to power.the head unit and amps? Thanks
What if my preout voltage is less than what is specified? Spec is 2.5v but when measured, I only get 1.6v at full volume.
Thank you for sharing the video. Now the sound produced by my amplifier is perfect.
New to your channel congratulations on the 10000 subs I'm in the same place as you with my channel coming up to the 10 figure
I've always been into the car audio seen and watching some of your videos just brought back loads of old memories back so hit the sub
I have a setup at the moment running Audison ,focal , jLaudio and alpine
Man congrats yourself! Glad to have you, good to see you're still into it! I love when you get it right and literally all music sounds amazing.
@@PacmanBasshead yes definitely I have it set up for sound quality more than flexing the hole car 😁
@@PacmanBasshead I think I will do the cardboard youtube plaque aswell 🤣🤣😀👍
Out of all of the other videos I’ve watched not one of them mentioned anything about measuring the source output voltage volume.
Thats because everyone else sucks
What frequency were you using for finding your ac voltage?
I used 40hz, but use where your sub has the heaviest load on the cone
why can you say volTs and BlueTooth etc. etc. just fine but you can't say mulTimeter?
I kid..
I kid.. jus messing wit jew
If my pre out is 4v and my amp is 5v-200mv do I set the amp to 5v since that’s the lowest on the dial
Funny. How to set when you only have a Multimeter. But used the oscilliscope over and over to get the results you wanted. You needed to make this with ONLY the multimeter.
The scope was used to prove the theory
Soooo at what point are you just going to use the multimeter?
so what happen when you use audio control amplifier and on the gain there isn’t any numbers on the gain? but it is 8v input? the signal come out head unit is 5v, so turn up half way and a tad more? also what if you use factory head unit and use high speaker input for signal. how do you determine the factory head unit voltage? this is really helpful, thanks
what tone are you playing
🤣🤣🤣 volume 23 woahhhh that's super loud.
But it goes up to 11, that's useful because 11 is louder than 10.
I believe this would be okay but let's say u set it to 5v with a 5v system and u turn it down would that be fine. And also with a bass knob. If you have it maxed out at 5v don't bump the bass knob up? I hear ppl call the bass knob gain control and is just very confusing. Than ppl say gain isn't volume but also say the gain is the volume than call the knob gain. What
I bought a car with a Boss double din. Claims 4V on all preouts. On max volume it throws 2.3V 😂 what can be expected. Its Boss. Straight garbage
How do I find the correct voltage for my skar rp1500
the problem ive seen with every single amp gain setting tutorial - no one talks about how songs played clip at different levels. if you play a song from youtube it might clip before the song on your CD. Or from your buddies ipod playlist. Its never consistent. I gave up trying to "properly set my gains" for this reason. Turn the gain up, use a bass knob, and watch for a clip light. at least thats whats worked for me the past 15 years
When I turn on the lights it buzzes , when I put on the brakes it buzzes. When no lights or braking it hums. I got filters but not answer to the problem, also engine whine. 😡I’ll try the wire trick first.
Poor quality wires?
What if my amps input sensitivity is measured in Millivolts? Input Sensitivity (Level 100%): 230mV would be 0.23V? and my headunit is 2v. what would the math be?
My headunit says it has true 4v output on rca is that horseshit or can it be true?
Awesome. Thank you sir. Cheers from Florida.
You are welcome from england ❤️
Flac/mp3/ or wav for usb files format ar car?
Not a big fan of using compressed audio (Bluetooth) for tuning. Am I missing something here?
You can use any file you want, this was an example for the video. Also, where i play everything through bluetooth, its then set up to do so. If i tune it to uncompressed audio its then out for bluetooth
Wait; great advice on measuring the pre-outputs of the radio because I haven’t seen that yet ( I’m a beginner so I’ve been watching TONS) of videos.
My question is how do I know what “ Hz “ to set it at? I’m doing a 2 amp setup. 1.
Pioneer DX871 powering 2 “12s / 2. Aunex 4ch powering all 4 interior speakers
Set your sub out to 1/2-3/4 then do this.. in my experience you’ll get more clipping from the internal gain/filtering of a head unit not the actual volume..
But you got to pair that with the speaker level outs as well if powering speakers off the head unit.. find the balance of clean out and clean rca..
This is a good starting point for just adding a sub but it doesn’t really give you the full picture.. you want clean power to everything it just the sub.. this is why amps have gain controls so you can tune them up or down accordingly to match the rest of the system.
But most times the pre out will over run your line outs on your head unit.. I like to start with the line outs and then work from there unless everything is running off amps
Can’t believe this doesn’t have more views.. this is one of the easiest to understand and follow videos for beginners
But need to know your head unit sub out.. for example mine is 0-14 with -8bd to +8db.. 0db is setting 7. Therefore when doing this with my head unit I would need to be at setting of 7/14 not at max..
This is more often than not the case for most brands.. alpine is the best at giving really good non clipped output at max settings though for most models.. I’d bet your sub out is plus minus too cause most alpines will go max power in clipped to both the preamps and the line outs
Question what are you playing through the heaunit..a test tone?
100 hz for full range
So I've I stalled an jvc kwm745 head unit paired with an audison sr5.600. I have looked at the out put of the head unit using an oscilloscope there no cliping at full voltage . Although I have sent the gain to matched the pre out
I was thinking is there any reason why I can match it it to the speakers, which are audison rated to 100w rms @ 2ohm. Or set the gain as close to speaker max before oscilloscope shows cliping.
What are ur thoughts
HELP PLEASE!
MY amp is rated at 800@1ohm(pioneer 8601). My subs are 200watts nominal each(pioneer TS-W253R) and I have 3 subs. So what should I be reading on my multi-meter when setting the gain for these?
This doesnt make since to me. If the input is at the may 6 volts for the 1st or 4 volts for the second your logic says to turn it up 100 percent, full open. My logic would suggest that would be the lowest setting at min. So if the amp accepts 6 volts and your putting 2 volts into it, you should turn it up 66 percent, 2 volts out of 4 would suggest turnig it up 50 percent. So lets say you had 1 volt into the 6volt max input. You would need to turn the gain up 84 percent. Thats why .5 volts was so high on the amp gain, the less input you have the more gain you need to make up for it. This isnt an issue with quality amps that have good signal to noise ratios but some amps can pick up noise with lower input voltages
Just turn the head unit to 100%MAXX and set amp gains to zero distortion!!.. . I am into SQ installs and this is the preferred way for 0 Distortion Max output.. .
How come when I do this to my RCA wire it always says at 0? I have my RCA cables plugged in the the back of the radio. There are a front and rear red and white and then below that two back RCA connectors that say sub. That's the correct place to connect them right?
You guys spend all this money on a system and can’t afford a $70 oscope off of eBay.... 😅 please have a shop set your stuff if you don’t understand what the gentleman is trying to help you with.... most of you in the comments are over thinking this.
Mine amp imput gain control states it is continuously variable from 250mv to 10v with imput level switch set to low. Am I reading the wrong shit?
Thank you very much break down was awesome and really appreciate how you showed everything rather then just telling me I'm much more hands on type person this is so helpful keep it up please and thank you have a great day
So, at only 66% of the Alpine's pre-out signal, it begins clipping? Can't forget that when you wanna "crank it."
Clipping is actually fine as long as you monitor it. Its just that itll cause heat. The heat damages the coil, not clipping itself.
I had one buddy keep cranking it up when he was drunk and blowing speakers. 3rd time, I said look if you’re not going to learn you’re gonna keep doing it.
I had another buddy buy my entire set up. I said add another $500 to calibrate😮and He said no and didn’t buy the head unit or my guarantee. 😂
And this only tells the amp max clean signal.u gotta make sure your subs are the rite ohm load and can handle the amp power if it’s max at its cleanest signal output.can blow a weak sub if amp is too big..
Of course my man! But a smaller subwoofer will take far more than rated power if the crossovers are set correctly 🙂
@@PacmanBasshead yes sirrr
What if your 7sing stock head unit? With hi level input directly on the amp, or using a high level input adapter to rca.
Well done. Love it!
You mean we don't need to buy an expensive meter from you know who
Thats exactly what i mean.
is it possible that your headunit gives mentioned voltage on 99% of volume? My headunit is sony xav3000. max volume is 50 and at 47-48 it delivers 2V volts(as per specification)
Yes, it is possible. Some headunits give a clean signal at max volume. Rare but not impossible. Majority of the good brands, pioneer and such. Are usually clean at 90% volume.
Hi, how do you measure the voltage, main wasn’t giving any signal, so I’m not sure if I wired it wrong or somethjng
@@thomasvallet9158 Is the radio on and are you playing a test tone while putting the multimeter probes on the RCA wire. Go back and watch the video and try again
@@thomasvallet9158 are you talking about the amp or headunit
@@thomasvallet9158 from rca output of stereo.
What if stock head unit is used?
And there is no information about it
My car is mercedes clk 2001
With comand 2 head unit
what is the best Gain setting
With rockfoord Punch P3D4-12 600 RMS @2ohm
What if your head unit doesn't have RCA's
Then sadly, your headunit is shit. You can get RCA converters from speaker wires though so not the end of the world
If someone can help I have 125 w 4 ohms output and my speakers 80w 4 ohms how to set gain on amp for voltages
why for every tutorial theres a link right after that says to not do what i just learned and then another link saying to not do what that one says!! are people insane!! is there no right waY!!!
He's not lying about setting your car on fire.
What if you use a line driver with higher voltage ratings
What is a cheap "muh e me eh"? 😂😂
British..
Using a multimeter , I get NO reading playing a test tone unless my speakers are also wired up so I can hear the tone , what's that all about ??
my good sir, transformers do not turn DC into AC.
QUESTION PLEASE:
1) im using the pac sub pro as my LOC, it's coming off my factory radio. can i use the RCAs that are going from my PAC to my AMP?
2) my real question is, i want to do this but im afraid of turning my system up all the way cuz i want to work on it in my garage and not piss off the neighbors. can i put a silent track on so that its turned way up but cant hear anything???? or does there need to be something coming out? any thoughts on best way to do that quietly? Please answer if u can
If you can adjust the fader/balancem send it all to one speaker and test at that output or disconnect it and then test the rcas
But were are u putting the tester once plugged in 2 the amp 2 know were 2 set the gain on the amp on the speaker outputs ?
Cheap multimeter tend to not measure so accurate at anything else that is around 50-60 Hz.
R u playing a 0db 40hz tone?
So you mean that, my alpine 178bt that produce 4v per RCA Chanel should have my gain set to full because my amp is 4v Max capacity. It goes from volume 0-35 and the majority of songs i keept the volume about 24 because to me more than that it clearly dist. Should i turn it all the way up? I feel like the volume would be really sensitive.
4v is a minimum setting, the max would be 0.2v or something. The gain knob is basically a signal booster where your headunit lacks the strength. Test your RCA voltage and set it to that.
??? So could we still use the multimeter at the RcA outs of the amplifier to find where it clips?
This is a great video, thanks for making this. My Pioneer HU is 4v, and my Alpine amp is 4v at minimum....so I'm assuming my gain should be on minimum?
Good question , use the ohms x watts then square root that number to get target voltage for speakers on amp
what kind of song needs to be playing ? or just hook up the bt?
Nice tutorial but this won’t work with a jbl gtr-1001. Since there is no sign of minimum gain position in the manual, also nothing on the amplifier , Right now I have set my gain voltage to the square root of amps resistance multiplied by watts rms
Hi, the manual says the following "The rotary gain control let you match the amp's input sensitivity to the output of the source unit. The input sensitivity range of the amplifier is 0.2V and up for a low-level input, and up to 20V for speaker-level input'.
I would therefore advise that the gain potentiometer goes from 0.2v to 20v.
My android HU has a built-in subwoofer gain. Should I set it to max before I will perform your video tuning process? I will also set bass boost to OFF and equalizer FLAT on the HU.
Youll need to find the rms ac voltage of the subwoofer, the manufacturer should be able to say what it is, then find where on the headunit its at that voltage and go from there.
How do i do this starting with a factor HU and going into a audio control LC2
Do the same rules apply with a crossover/line driver
What if the amp has no gain markings and cannot find that info from the mfr?