I've watched multiple videos and read multiple articles on this and this video by far was the easiest to understand and I've played around with my settings bass boost all that even using an ocillascope....but tuning my amp exactly the way y'all have directed in this video just using a dmm made my system sound 10 times better.
@@ronnydisalvo80 no sir you have to use the rated rms output number of your amp....so say your amp is rated at 2000 rms at .5 ohm....multiply 2000 by .5 and find the square root with is approx 31.62.....
@Alex Villanueva - However you plan to wire the subwoofer(s) to the amplifier. If you are wiring two subs down to a final impedance of 2ohms, you would use two ohms for "R". If you are wiring one DVC sub down to 1ohm, you would use one ohm for "R".
I have 2 dual voice coil 4 ohm subs running parallel at 1 ohm and they are 1000 watts rms per sub. My amp is 3700 watts rms @ 1 ohm. Will that be to much for the subs to handle? When I do the math do I add the rms wattage of both subs together? After setting everything to 0 then raise the gain till I get my target voltage when I then turn up the bass boost and LPF the voltage goes up. Is that ok?
+Rizz1117 Between the RMS power of your subs and your amp, you'll go with the lowest one if they are not equal. So you would go with 2000 RMS for the 2 subs so you over power and blow them. You would want to target your AC voltage at 44.72 volts
I went to an audio shop to install a five channel and they were good “installers” but were not technical.had no clue how to properly set the gains on the amp and lc7i. had the levels up way too high. Took my multimeter and set properly using the technique in this video since I don’t have a SMD 2. Thanks.
I have a Orion hcca 12" dvc 2 ohm. I have it wired down to 1 ohm. When I do this formula do I use the final impedance 1 ohm or the 2 ohm to plug into this equation?
@JT Rut Setting the gains on amplifiers that are powering door speakers is done in similar fashion but you would use a tone more appropriate for the speakers. For example, we have a 1kHz tone you can download from our website at www.mtx.com/t/testtones
@@tpm1868did you use the DC voltage setting to check your power wire(12v+/-)? when you turn the head unit does the remote receive a dc current(12v)? (you can use the ground for the negative on the multimeter for these two tests/probes) -------------------- You can test the RCAs with a multimeter if you set it in AC volts and probe the center pin and outside ring of the same plug/wire, while music is playing if you get an ac voltage that is going up and down they are working as intended. If you can answer some of my questions, I can defiantly help you figure out what the issue is and we can get you jamin just like that reggae playlist you have on your channel. Been letting it play all day...
Most head units DO NOT output a clean undistorted signal at full volume. The first step would be to find the volume level at which the head unit puts out the highest UNDISTORTED output. Usually by using a 1kHz tone at a 0dB reference level. You didn’t mention to defeat all tone controls, loudness, DSP, and set the balance and fader at center. Also the way you are demonstrating to set the gains are with 0dB of gain overlap. That wouldn’t sound loud enough. The best compromise for quality/loudness would be a gain overlap of 10dB. That means you would have to set the gain on the amp using a -10dB signal.
I have a 4 channel amp with 2 gain controls. One for channel a One for channel b Using a test tone of 1000hz and a multimeter, my left side speaker will be 15v but the right side will be 7v..there is only one gain control for this...why are my voltages different?
Bass boost off, radio at 3/4, bass knob at 3/4 play test tone close to box tuning or cabin resonance, then multimeter the speaker output of your amp measuring VAC turn the gain up until your at your calculated voltage [VAC=√power (desired wattage)x Resistance (your ohm at the amp)] VAC=√P*R
@@ukokepaoa5536 filters should only lower the power or loudness. For most amps, The only adjustment I can think of that increases sound or power other than the gain knob; would be the bass boost switch or knob found on some amps
Thanks for the video I have 2 Doubts 1. , can you explain what should be the positions of HPF & LPF, switches while doing the gain setting for speakers and subwoofers In a 4 channel amp. 2. In every videos in UA-cam regarding the gain setting , they are using RCA input.. is that mandatory.. ?? What would happen if I use speaker level input instead of RCA while doing the Gain setting...
@Lucas Patterson - If you have two single 4 ohm voice coils, you can wire them to a total 2ohm load or an 8 ohm load. To see how to wire to these impedances, go to www.mtx.com/t/library-wiring-diagrams If your amplifier is 90 watts for one channel, be sure to use the wattage ratings at whatever impedance you are wiring your subwoofers to. 90 watts isn't much for two subwoofers so you will most likely under power your subwoofers which can be worse than overpowering them in some applications.
Lucas Patterson same impedance options would apply if both speakers are single 4 ohm voice coils. They can either be wired to a 2ohm load or an 8 ohm load on the amplifier channel. As far as external bass controllers (EBC's) or remote bass controls, please refer to our article about EBC's here - www.mtx.com/t/library-external-bass-controls
My amp has both a gain control and master level. When doing this where should the master be set? If it's all the way down there's no output at all no matter where the gain is set. Should it be all the way up and set the gain based around that level? Or find some balance between the two? The amp is a Jensen xda91rb. Also worth mentioning that there's no controls on the amp. Everything's controlled through an app via Bluetooth
Thanks for the video. I'm still hung up on the R term, it seems like I've read conflicting info on the web. I have a single 10" 4-ohm DVC subwoofer that is rated for 300W RMS. I have a mono amplifier that outputs 300W @ 4 ohms or 500W @ 2 ohms. When I calculate V = (P*R)^0.5, I am using R = 2, since while my subwoofer is a 4 ohm model, because of the wiring and single subwoofer it puts a 2 ohm load on the amplifier. If I set P = 300W, I then get a target V = 24.5 volts. Does this seem correct? Because some other info I have come across seem to indicate that in my setup R = 4, in which case my target V = 34.6 volts! Thanks!
to start my amplifier claims to be rated 1400rms at 1 ohm. massive n3 nano block amp. I wired my dual 2 ohm subwoofer down to 1 ohm load a rockford t2 12 1200rms.. how do I match my amp to this sub. my desired rms is 1200.. if 1200 x 1 ohm is still 1200. and the square root of 1200 is 34.64 .. is that correct or did I just go wrong I'm lost plz help
+You're Hating You got it. So you would connect your multimeter (on the voltage setting) to the speaker outputs of your amplifier and while playing a 50Hz (or appropriate frequency) tone, adjust the gain setting until you get to around 34.64 volts of output.
thank you for you video it was helpful.. I added some of the bass boss halve ways and turn down the lpf just a tad under the gain and the subsonic just a lil bit up like 1/16 of an inch and finally no more distortion thank for the help
I have tried all methods of tuning but nothing works to me as well as tuning by music, but I do not like that method because it's not precise. I currently have a 12" Alpine Type S on 2 Ohms in a ported box that's tuned to 32Hz being powered by a JL Audio Slash 500/1. I'm wondering, would it be better if I played a 32Hz test tone, tuned it by ear and then record the maximum UNCLIPPED voltage and then play various music and increase the gain until I reach that voltage I achieved at 32Hz? I'm wondering becuase the 50Hz method does not work well for me at all, when I tune it using this method and clamp my amplifier the maximum I see is 250-300 Watts RMS @40Hz when I should be seeing 500 Watts RMS. It also doesn't feel like 500 Watts using the Ohms Law method.
Why do you use the RMS power of the amplifier instead of the RMS power of the speakers? If you have speakers that handle less RMS power than your amp then you would be supplying more power to the speakers they are able to handle. I believe you should use the power of the subs instead.
To Sigve Skaugvoll, We cannot reply to your comment because your settings won't allow us. Anyway, to answer your question, you need to know what the final impedance of your subwoofers is going to be. If you are wiring two subwoofers to a final impedance of 4ohms at the amplifier, then you would use the RMS rating of your amp at 4ohms. Not the 2500 watt rating at 1ohm. The resistance ( R ) value of the equation is the final impedance of your subwoofers that the amplifier will see. Hope this helps.
Thanks for a quick replay! I'm going to have a final impedance of 2ohms at the amplifier when I'm parallel wiring my subs. Does this means that I have to use the RMS rating of my amp at 2ohms (which is 1800w) or what my subwoofers "wants" which is 600w I guess the only thing that still is a little unclear for me, is what ( P ) is suppose to be, is it going to be 1800 since that's my amps RMS rating, or am I going to use 600w because thats the desired power that my subwoofer wants? Thanks again for answering my questions :)
Excellent video I just have one question when your playing the 50hrtz do you keep your bass and treble settings on the head unit or do you zero everything out
I have a Kenwood XR-900-5 running a Kicker VCompS12 2-Ohm (300rms watts) sub. The amp is capable of 600rms watts @2-Ohms on the 5th channel. Recently the sub blew and Kicker is replacing it. In the mean time I've been running one Sony XS-L121P5 4-Ohm (350rms watts) sub fine, w/o changing any settings. I now want to run two Sony XS-L121P5 4-Ohm subs on this amp, which obviously would have to be wired in parallel at 2 ohms to get the 600rms watts total this amp can supply. The 5th channel on this amp is dedicated to the sub. What would the voltage out need to be in order to run these two subs on this amp?
I bought a multimeter today for this purpose. I got home and stuck it in a plug socket to test it worked and it was 243 volts so it’s good. Ngl I was a bit scared about sticking it into the plug socket tho in case it went bang 😂😂😂
This is a good way to do it without having the proper equipment. But, what about amperage? What is the speaker output amperage? And, what about the phase of the power output? Because I was watching D'Amore Engineering discussing this topic and how/why this method is inaccurate and why even a clamp meter would be inaccurate. Anybody have any answers?
The audio I do on bikes, obviously wanna higher RMS on your amp than your speaker... I set gains by going by the Voltage x Amp = Wattage. and from there i can adjust to each speaker giving it the exact amount RMS with the radio all the way up so they cannot blow the speakers. LOL
Why do you use a CD with 50hz? i'm trying to do this with all my components in the car already, and my head unit is connected to my amp and my regular car speakers. Any suggestions? I'm thinking i will disconnect the car speakers from the head unit so i can turn the volume all the way up with out waking my neighbors.
We use a 50Hz tone because that is a common frequency range for most music. For your speakers, you would use a frequency that is somewhere in the frequency response range of their specs. For example, you wouldn't use 50Hz if the speakers have a frequency response of 75Hz to 20kHz. You would want to disconnect your subwoofers to set the gain on the amp that powers your speakers. Once that is done, disconnect your speakers from their amp, reconnect your subwoofers to their amp, and set the gain on that amp using an appropriate tone. Hope this helps.
Keep in mind we are setting up a subwoofer amp and subwoofers play lower frequencies than speakers so a 50 Hz tone is good for subwoofers but would not be good for speakers. For speakers you would want something more like a 1kHz tone.
Reading these comments...did anyone pay attention to what he says? He clear as day explained how to do the maths. Either these people can't absorb info or are just plain too dumb to comprehend simple algebra. In that case, forgrt the car audio scene and just listen through headphones and don't short circuit your brain. All you have to do is use the same formula, just plug in your own numbers...SIMPLE! It makes no difference what brand or watts the amp or speaker(s) is. Ex. The amplifier puts out 527watts RMS, multiplied by the OHM load (0.5, 1,2,4,8,16) of the speaker(s) that the amp is receiving, press =, then on your calculator push the Square root button, it looks like a check mark with a tail...527watts x 2 ohm load= 1054, the square root of 1054 is 32.47.....32.47 (32.5) is what the output voltage you want to set the amp at. It's not complicated. For the confused out there www.math.com/students/calculators/source/square-root.htm
I wish every person that tried to teach did it like you.Some people are very good at explaining things and others just like to hear themselves talk.The latter make terrible teachers because they end up overloading the "students" brain.Thank you for chiming in here and making it simple and understandable!
If I have a 2800 watt peak amplifier and 2 15 inch 2000 watt subs do I take the rms of the amplifier and cut it in half for each channel or do I do the total rms of the amp
I understand what your saying but with out these features on after the setting of the amp gain I feel like I'm not getting the output I want. So I want to make sure if I do use them I'm not going to clip the subwoofer to the point of damaging it. Also my amp is a jl 1200.1v3 and I'm pretty sure it's close to 2000 watts rms I cannot find a birth sheet any where for these amps so I do not know the true rms power at 3 ohms. I'm running one 13.5w7 at 3 ohms it can handle 1500 rms. So i need to know the sweet spot on my amp. Jl recommended 60.0 v at 3 ohms will do 1200 rms but I think the amp can do more power. At 60.0v I don't feel it is hitting as hard as it should.
Remember... by setting your gains properly, you are setting the amplifier output that you need for the RMS power handling of your subwoofers. If you feel the output isn't what it should be, consider looking into your enclosure volume and tuning. If you do the math calculation of V = square root of Power x Resistance and it is around 60 volts, I would stick to JL's recommendation. On their website, this amplifier has an RMS rating of 1200 watts at 3ohms. So, the calculation would be V = square root of 3600 which = 60.
The amount of subwoofers you have doesn't matter.. It's how you wire them and what impedance the amp sees at the end. So if you have two dual two ohm wired to 0.5 ohm then you use 0.5 ohm. If you wire it at 2 ohm then use 2
So if your running active and only have two 15w rms tweeters on the first two channels of a 50w per channel amp you would want it to 30w max instead of 100(50Wx2)? About 10 volts.
Hi. I'm quite new to this car stereo life, but I have a few questions about the equation. I have the amplifier Orion CB.5000.1D which puts out 2500wRMS at 1 ohm. The sub(s) I'm using are JBL GTi 1200 which can handle 600wRMS (4 ohm). My questions are; in the equation, the variable P (power of amp RMS), should I use 2500(amp) or 600w(sub). The Variable R is that the resistance on the amp(1) or speakers(4)? Thanks for a awesome video, and I apologize for the bad grammar and questions.
Whether you use one speaker or 4 speakers, it’s all the same. Only difference is, when it’s more than one speaker, they will share the same power unless each speaker is rated at a different ohm(resistance).
Before I added my subwoofer, I had my bass eq all the way up on the head unit and liked how my factory speakers sounded. I turned the eq off when I put my sub in. Are there any adjustments I need to make if I want to turn my bass eq on the head unit up again? Do I need to readjust the gain?
I have the skar audio 2000.d amp with skar evl 12d4. It's at 2ohm which amp handles 1400 rms. So its 1400x2 which is 2800rms. Square root of that is 52. Is 52 volts what I need to be at ?? My speaker only handles 1250 at 2ohms and its 50 volts. What do I do?
So when doing this formula for door speakers (and a 2 channel amp) the amp is a 65w RMS (Per channel) the speakers are 60w RMS each and 4ohms. I'm coming up with 65x4=260 and then the sq root of that is 16.12. I'm a tad thrown off since mine is 4 ohms and all the other comments are 2 and 1 ohms. Is this done correctly. And also, should I be seeing 16v out of the left channel and another 16v out of the right channel when I check it on the multimeter?
+William Gingrich You would probably want to use the 60 watts RMS that the speakers are rated for. By using 65 watts, you are setting up your amplifier to put 65 watts to your speakers which are only rated for 60 watts. Other than that, your calculation looks good. If your amp has gains for both channels, you would do this for each channel.
okay, i have been searching information from everywhere and cant find it. on my pioneer (MVH-S320BT) has weird problem, i tried to measure that "pre out" voltage from the rca cabels and on the stereo own terminal and i get only 0.020V and i have tried other multimeters so the problem is not on tools. im sure everything is right on wiring and everything "should" be unbroken. im sure i have done everything right on measuring but sill doesnt get that 0.2V reading. i hope someone can give some answer for that. and my other problem in my amp (sd1600.1d evo4 2ohm) il have measured the out put voltage from that and i get only about 14V (AC) out, thats when the volume from stereo is 3/4 and gain is almost max but when i put some bass boost i get the max voltage out, what is promised on the amp manual. so far im thinking is that stereo low out put voltage causing low out put voltage to my amp aswell? thanks for help already!
For the resistance of speaker load, would that be resistance per channel? For example, having a 2 channel amp, with a 2 ohm impedance on each channel, would you use 2 as the value for R, or is it the sum of both channels, 4?
IT WILL BE PER CHANNLE IN YOUR CASE 2 OHMS sry for caps..if it was bridged ... so only one channel it will be 1 ohm depending how your speaker was set if it was set in series it would be 4 ohm if it was two 2 ohm speaker ..keep in mind if you use duel voice coils
what would you do if you had two woofers that were 300rms per sub and you wanted a total of 600rms on a 1,000rns amp at a 2ohm load? would you just add 300+300=600. 600•2=1200. √1200=34.64?
Dual Voice coil or Single Voice coil doesn't matter. Just choose the impedance the amplifier will be working with and do the calculation. In your case, V = square root of 400 watts * 2ohms... V = square root of 800... V = 28.2843
Just wanna make sure I’m doing this right I have 2 subwoofers 300 watts each side so total 600 watts and I’m doing 2 ohms so would I do 300 x 2 or 600 x 2
The reason I ask is I'm running a jl audio slash 1200.1v3 and a jl 13w7 and at the target voltage of 60.0v it's 1200watts rms and I fell the sub is not as loud as it should be. I do not want to damage it but I notice when up the levels on my head unit it gets the extra push I want. I'm afraid im could be damaging it in the long run please help.
I have my system setup line out from the kenwood head to a Kenwood eq then splitt 3ways f/r/s to a crossover to two different amps is that the right way or should I just use sub from the head to get a quality low with no distortion? And does using the eqs sub change the values of my heads freq ratings?Thxs in advance for any advice also I'm not sure if it's my craftsman DMM but my values are unstable ?
If you are using an external, dedicated crossover for the audio signal that you send to all of your amplifiers, I would recommend setting your head unit to be flat with no equalization done through the head unit and just manage any tuning through the crossover only. Hope that answers your question. Sorry for the late response.
Np on the late response ! So if I understand u correctly I should eliminate my secondary eq and connect straight to the head and keep the signals flat then tune it with my crossover! Am I correct?
Hey mate, having trouble, I have: 2x 12" 350w rms Alpine DVC subs (2ohm per coil I believe) 1x MRP-m850 (500w rms at 4ohm, 800w rms at 2ohm) They are wired to 2ohm. I can't get the voltage on the amp to come anywhere close to 40v
37.41 is your target since your amp is rated higher than your subs you use 350 watts rms x 2 for 2 subs 700 atts rms total x 2 for 2Ω load = 1400 square root =37.41
If you have a 5 channel amp. You would set the 4 lower wattage speakers to one gain (60Wx4@4ohm) and the sub channel (350Wx1@2ohm) to it's own gain correct?
I CANNOT RECOMMEND THE TNE212DV DUAL 12'S ENOUGH! Paired with the Rockvill db12 1000 watt RMS @ 2 ohms, It's so LOUD, if i turn it up too much it can be TOO STRONG!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! I no longer have to chase the bass dragon, I have it! These subs rock my 2012 cruze like a jack hammer! I love them, Much better than the dual brand 12 inches in bandpass. Those sucked! These are only 30 more dollars on amazon!
Great video. I know this is an older video but why use AC and not DC? I thought DC is what you normally use with cars? I need to tune a set of components and want to try this method to set the voltage on the front speakers as that is all I have and I just installed an amp. Okay it's late and I just realized we are on the speaker side and not the power side of the amp and we want to measure the sine wave...well correct me if I'm wrong. I just wanted to clear this up. Thanks.
DC voltage is what the battery of the vehicle has but the output power from the amplifier is AC. Yes. We are using the gain to level adjust the input signal (varies depending on the head unit) so that the amplifier can send the best possible audio signal to the speakers. Be sure to use an appropriate frequency for your test disc depending on what type of speakers you have connected to the amplifier you are tuning. This video references 50Hz because the amp is connected to subwoofers. For component speakers, you would use a high frequency test disc. Refer to your speaker's specs.
***** I finally got around to playing with this and I tried setting up the gain but wasn't getting anything without any volume and with the radio on the numbers just jump up and down. So I need to make a tone mp3 or wav file in audacity. The crossover is fixed at 3800 Hz, 6/12 dB/octave and the other number for the woofer is 55-3200 Hz. I have MBQuart DSh 213 components. In something like this, what tone would I need to use? I'm just trying to walk through the whole process to understand how to tune something like this correctly. Do I just need to make a 3200 Hz tone and use that to tune the set? I guess since there's a tweeter, that's confusing me a bit since both are considered channel one for one door and channel 2 for the other. I unplugged them just like you did. Cool stuff by the way, but it's not quite the same watching and actually doing it since I have never done this, but I'm learning.
You can download test tones from MTX.com at www.mtx.com/t/testtones. For an amplifier that you are using to power full range speakers, you can use a 1kHz test tone.
***** Thanks!. I ended up making a few tones and tried using the 3200 tone and noticed that the gain at the lowest was 16 something volts! So I changed to the 1Khz and I got the number exactly matched to the speakers. To make the tones I only changed the Hz in audacity and nothing else. I also just saved as a windows file and that seemed to work. Channel one and channel 2 have the same gain dial so I only used that. Looking at your link, you have a left and right channel tone. When do you use those? I only ask since my gain says ch1/2 on it. So I just used the left channel to change the voltage on it. I figured it would be for both sides since the ch3/4 have their own dial, and so does the sub. Man, this is pretty neat once you get it working. Now I have an LP filter dial that goes from 50 to 200 Hz, I guess this is for the subs which I don't have any. Except for ch1/2, all my other dials are pretty much turned all the way down since I don't have anything else plugged in.
Great! thanks! nobody says "why" the level set in stereo its full up... nobody says how to put the level stereo...nobody says there is no afect to use or not the speaker for test (somebody told me that i needed to have a resistance (speaker) conected for this test...) your video solved me that questions..! Good good good video! i like it! A question..may u help me? If I have a 100wrms amp and my subwoofer is 200wrms(4omh).. its suposed that i must to put the gain to the max?? and on the other hand.. I would like to know the Wrms of my stereo sistem (pioneer DEHx8600BT and others..) most of stereos say 50x4 (peakpower) but i just to know the rms of that stereos (just to know it) is it any empirical test to do it ??? THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!! Regards from Spain!
You don't need the load (speakers) connected because you already calculated the total resistance when you measured the ohms of the speakers. Speakers are only to actually hear the sound. The signal is still present at the output terminals
Hi! Thanks for uploading. Very usefull video I have a 1135 rms Amp jbl crown and a 1100 rms rockford p2/t2 subw hooked up at 4 ohm How do i get the Max out of the both? Thanks again.
We assume you have a Rockford Fosgate P2D2 which is a dual voice coil subwoofer in their P2 (Punch) lineup. Depending on which size you have, your RMS power handling is between 250 and 400 watts. Peak/Max power handling on the 15" model is 800 watts so without knowing what exactly you have, we cannot help with the equation. Please check your specifications of the exact model #'s you have and ONLY use the RMS ratings. Do not use peak or max power ratings.
I think. I would assume you would want to test it with a frequency that the speaker is lowest rated for as this will be the max rms power at that frequency
This question is more of a clarification: My alpine 5 channel amp is rated a little higher from the factory than what the speakers handle. For example the sub channel is tested by alpine at 554 rather than 500 as advertised. The sub speaker I have is rated at 500. The door speakers are rated at 110 (front comp) and 100 (rear coax). The amp was tested at 124 per channel by alpine. Am i correct in assuming that I should do my calculations based on the speaker RMS instead of the amp RMS, and then I won't be over powering my speakers?
For Power (P) in the equation, use whatever amount of power you want the amplifier to put out at the impedance your subwoofers are wired to. For subwoofers and when setting the channels used to power your subwoofers, you would use a 50Hz tone. For setting gains on amplifiers or channels of amplifiers that are used to power full range speakers, you would use a tone more like 1kHz. Both tones can be downloaded from our website at www.mtx.com/t/testtones
I have a 1850 Watt amp class D and 2 ohm Lightnjng audio L3s which I converted to 1 ohm. So my amp puts out 1850 at 1 ohm and my speakers are converted to 1 ohm as well would my voltage be 43.01 at 1 ohm or 86.02 at 4 ohms ?
43.01 volts only if your RMS is 1850 watts at 1 ohm. Times you RMS amplifier wattage by the ohm load your going to run you amplifier at then square that shit.
Hello, I need some advice please. I have one 12 inch shallow mount Rockford Fosgate R2 subwoofer with a dual 4 ohm coils; rated at 250 RMS and its hooked up to a HIFONICS ZEUS ZX4000 Rated at 400 watts RMS bridged on a 4 ohm load. Speaker is wired to a final 8ohm load. And the amp is bridged. Please tell me the correct way to connect this system! :(
I have the same sub in the video I think MTX TNE212D which is 400 RMS and Rockford Fosgate R500X1D (500RMS) Prime 1-Channel amp. What should my voltage be at?
+Krew808 Since the enclosure has a RMS rating of 400 watts, you would only want to use 400 watts RMS of your 500 watt RMS amplifier. So the calculation would be V = square root of 2ohms x 400 watts. V = square root of 800. V = 28.28 volts.
I need a little help deciding which amp to use with my subs.. My subs are Memphis audio 10"s DVC each VC is 4 ohms... I have 2 amps and I am trying to decide which one to use.. The first one is a Crossfire XP series 360 watt amp, the second is a Kenwood KAC-8103D 1000 watt max power. Also says 300w (RMS X 1 At 4 ohms and
Kenwood KAC-8103D is 300watts x 1 @ 4ohms Crossfire XP3602 is 360 x 1 @ 4ohms bridged or 90 x 2 @ 4ohms, 180 x 2 @ 2ohms. With 2 - dual 4ohm voice coils, you can wire them to a final impedance of 1ohm or 4ohms at the amplifier (www.mtx.com/t/library-wiring-diagrams) What is the RMS power handling of 1 of your 10" subwoofers? Multiply that number by 2 since you have two subwoofers. Since neither of your amps are 1ohm stable, you will have to wire them to a final 4ohm impedance at the amplifier which means you will be using the amplifier RMS ratings that are at 4ohms. Choose whichever amplifier has an output at 4ohms that is closest to the total sum of your subwoofer RMS power handling.
Hello i have Kenwood 12s rated at 400 rms max at 2000.iam using a kenwood 1000 watt amp 2000 max.and two 12s total.what would be my numbers to set gain right?thank you.
Anthony Conger First, disregard any power ratings other than RMS. 2 - subwoofers with a rating of 400 watts RMS each = 800 watts for your desired amp output so P = 800. For "R" the value would be whatever impedance you have wired your subwoofers to. So the equation would be V = the square root of 800 x R.
Hi MTX, so I recently installed a sub and amp as well as an LOC since I'm using my stock head unit. I downloaded your test tone to use to get the correct AC volts. My problem is, I'm trying to reach 31.6 volts, but I can turn my gain all the way up and my DMM won't go up past 10 Volts. I checked all my wiring and everything is in order so I'm wondering if you might know why my speaker outputs on my amp are giving such low readings.
+MTX Audio USA yea that's what I was going for, the amps output rating is 1000rms at 1 ohm. (It's a 1 ohm stable amp) so that gives me 36.1 Vots yet like I said even I turned the gained all the way my DMM reading wouldn't be anywhere near that for some reason. I just did the ear test to sure there's no clipping, maybe I need to take it to a pro.
+Daniel J Could be something to do with the output signal of the LOC... Could be something to do with the wiring/impedance of your subs being incorrect... Could be a crossover or filter setting that is limiting the output... Take it to a reputable shop and ask them to check it over for you. They may charge you a shop/labor fee but it will be worth it in the long run to make sure your system is setup properly. Spend a little now to save yourself from replacing blown equipment.
Hello I have a question do I leave my LPF all the way up or do I adjust it while setting everything else? I have 2 4ohms 12" pioneers and will be wiring them down to 1ohm. The subs are 1200 watts RMS and the amp puts out 1200 at 1ohm. Thanks !!!
CHIHUAHUA4809 The Low Pass Filter (LPF) does not effect gain. If you are setting your subwoofer amplifier and using a 50Hz tone as recommended, as long as the LPF is set accordingly to allow the 50Hz tone to play and not be filtered out, everything should be fine.
***** thanks for your replay! I have another question when I play my 50Hz tone my car speakers start distorting very fast my max volume is 40 and I can't make to 30 which is 75%. Do I go until distortion appears then turn it down until distortion disappears ?
CHIHUAHUA4809 50Hz tone is only for subwoofers. If you are setting a gain on an amplifier that is powering speakers, use the 1k Hz tone. Both are available on our website at www.mtx.com/t/testtones However, if you are using this amp for speakers, and if there is a switch to select between LPF, HPF, or FR, you should be using either FR or HPF depending on how your system is setup. FR = Full Range which is best for coaxial speakers. HPF = High Pass Filter which is what you would want if you just want your speakers to play the higher frequencies and your subwoofers play the lower frequencies. You typically don't use LPF for speakers.
i have two mtx terminators 12" subs and its says on the back of the sub 4ohm for each sub input, my amp is 700 watt rms x 1 channel at 2 ohms, and 425 watts rms x1 channel at 4ohms, would i have to divide the wattage (425watts) by two for the 4 ohm to calculate the voltage for 1 sub for P in the equation. ( i have two sub out puts on my amp for two subs). THANKS
+yousuf kan a TN12-04 subwoofer is a single voice coil, 4ohm, 200 watts RMS subwoofer. If you have two of them, your final impedance at the amplifier would be either 8 ohms (if you wired your subwoofers together in series) or 2 ohms (if you wired your subwoofers in parallel). Depending on which impedance your subwoofers are wired to, this would be your value for "R." Since you only want to put 400 watts to the pair of subwoofers or 200 watts to each subwoofer, 200 or 400 would be the value you use for "P". Your amplifier output is what we are trying to level match when setting gains so the amplifier ratings are not used in the equation. Just the impedance (R) and RMS power handling (P) of your subwoofers are what is used to determine how much voltage you want coming out of your amplifier. Your amplifier is rated for more power than the subwoofers so be careful not to overpower them.
+Modfyd Inc The gain of the amplifier is used to level match to the head unit so if you are connecting your head unit to your amplifier using the line level outputs or RCA outputs, you can turn your head unit all the way up. This way the voltage into the amplifier will be matched once the amplifier gain is set to the voltage your calculated according to your specific system.
I have one sony XS-L121P5W 12 inch sub with a sony xplod 1000 watt amp xm-zr1852. The instruction manual gives me the rms on two channels but I'm only using one channel. How do I find out the info I need? Thanks
+Yankeesftw23 Are you bridging the two channels together? If so, Sony should also provide an RMS power output of the amplifier bridged if it is a bridgeable amplifier. Not all multi channel amplifiers can be bridged.
+Yankeesftw23 Your subwoofer has an RMS power handling rating of 350 watts. Your amplifier's unbridged RMS output is rated at 185 watts per channel at 4ohm or 200 watts per channel at 2ohm. Since your subwoofer is a SVC 4ohm sub, it can only be wired as 4ohms at the amp which means you would be providing 185 watts to your subwoofer that wants 350 watts to perform properly. You should consider getting an amplifier that is better matched to your subwoofer.
+MTX Audio USA Alright thank you for the info and do you reccomend amplifying the rear speakers in my car. Im keeping the receiver stock for now will it affect my sound quality tremedously?
This may be a dumb question and forgive me if so, but my understanding is that setting the gain with pretty much everything flat puts your amp right below clipping or distortion? So you're really not supposed to use "bass boost" nor tune the bass frequencies up when you go to equalize, or turn your subwoofer level on the HU up any afterwards? What you set your gain to is effectively as high as you can go with output? Not sure if I understand
I’m an intermediate installer learning how to install my first setup and from everything I have watched and learned setting the gain at the exact level with a multimeter is the best way because the amp will not go above that voltage limit and potentially damage the sub with too much power, and I have also read that on your head unit the LPF, if you have one should be off and any bass levels should be flat. Bass boost is not a volume control and I would leave it at 0 on the HU and amp as the gain is already transmitting the maximum performance range that the sub can get to so you’re not missing out on that much power. So to sum it up, the gain, at the correct level, will provide for the best and maximum performance out of your sub without going past the voltage that would potentially blow or damage your sub. Set your LPF and Subsonic filtering as necessary, the standards are LPF at about 80 and subsonic at about 35 but that depends on if you have a ported or sealed box which there are videos that better explain that.
@@handon11 No worries! I had the same concern as well being a noobie and trying to install a sub on my own and after one blown voice coil it has definitely been a learning experience so I’m glad I could help!
I have a DB Drive Speed Series amp mono 900w rms @2 ohms and two Kicker CVR dvc 400w rms 800w max @2 ohms, connected in parallel. I need to know how to adjust the gain on my amp to prevent clipping and how to set properly the frecuency (Hz) and bass boost. Thanks.
V = square root of (P (800 watts) * R (2ohms)) would equal V = square root of 1600. The square root of 1600 is 40 so V = 40. Be sure your subwoofers are wired correctly for a 2ohm load at the amp. You can get a diagram by using our Subwoofer Wiring Diagram tool on our website at www.mtx.com/t/library-wiring-diagrams
LOV2XRL8RL If your subs are 400 watts RMS each, you would only want to send 800 watts to them even though your amp is capable of 900 watts. If you calculate using all 900 watts, you could potentially overpower your subwoofers.
I use bluetooth aux device with ground loop isolator. Streaming music via Spotify Highest Quality. And my phone is Samsung S9+ Max volume is 15 on phone and max volume on sony head unit 50. Which setting is best ? Max volume on phone and 3/4 head unit ? Or %60 on phone 3/4 on head unit. Some folk says you should set BT volume about %50-60 to avoid distortion. Thank you for help
Interesting study. When I BT my Apple to my head unit, the two units sync volume. Up to 50% head unit volume, the Apple vol runs @50%. As I increase past 50%, the Apple vol follows up to 100% with literally no distortion. I set my amp gain @ 85% on the head unit.
Just curious I keep hearing different things when setting up this way. Some say have your bass boost and bass settings on the receiver all the way up? The reason is because if you set everything at 0 while setting it up and you play something that you just want to turn the bass up on now all of a sudden your going over the voltage you set the gains at and are now clipping. So which way should it be done?
I learned the hard way on why not to use bass boost on your amp. I fried 2 subs pretty easily lol. If the sub isn't loud enough without bass boost, then you want a louder sub.
@@pimpedstratus oh, I just have a level control knob that controls the volume of the subwoofer that I would use to turn down the bass if it was too loud, otherwise I leave it all the way up at the max. I just set the gain with the knob at the max so I can't accidentally blow it.
I know the ohms load of my speakers but how do I get the desired voltage rms of the amp are you saying to divide the rms power of my amp by my ohm load or multiply it? Also could you give me an example? Do I put the multi meter on ac or dc? Also I have a friend who has been doing car stereo for years and he tells me that if you want to prevent a valet person or someone else's from blowing up your speakers, to set the volume of your radio to 3 notches before the top setting and then adjust the amp gain controls right before distortion you should be less likely to blow your speakers. For example my radio goes max volume 35 He suggests 32 then turn up gains. Is this bad advice? I tried it I think my radio distorts at 29 or 30.
What about the sub level control on the headunit, should I set this all the way up before I set my gains , or leave it at 0? It goes up to 10db on my headunit.
+Andre Conner Leave all of your headunit settings at 0 or "flat" when you set the gains. After your gains are set appropriately, you can use the head unit filters to fine tune the sound according to the type of music you listen to and your personal preferences.
MTX Audio USA yes but I think the original question is asking if there’s a seperate subwoofer control from the other menu filters. Would it be okay to set this to 10, so when the highest setting is selected for sub output it does not exceed the subwoofer rms?
Some people say to get the desired voltage to calculate the RMS power of the speaker times the ohms then square root it. Mtx says to calculate the RMS power of the amp times the ohms of the sub. Which way is Right?
You are correct. You should use the total RMS power or your subwoofer(s). In our example the total RMS power handling is the exact same (500 watts) as the RMS output of the amplifier. By using the total RMS power handling of your subwoofer(s), you can use an amp that has more RMS output than you need and be confident that you aren't going to overpower your subwoofer(s). If you would use the RMS output of the amp without considering the power handling of the subwoofers, you would be setting the gain to maximum output which could be bad for your subs depending on their rating. Thanks for bringing attention to this. We've answered this question multiple times in the comments. It's just that our specific example is exactly the same RMS rating for the two subs (250 watts each) and the amplifier (500 watts x 1).
What he didn't tell us is that most multimeters are horribly inaccurate when reading rms voltage at higher frequencies. This works at 50-60 Hz for setting a sub amp, but will be way off setting a multi-channel amp.
I just bought a new Mono block Amp, maybe you could help me. Its says its rated 1 Ohm @ 1,800 Watts RMS X 1 Channel. I have 3 subs rated at 300rms. Im running them so my ohm load will be 1.34. What should my gain be?
Have a amp 4ohm x 100 watts = 400 sq root = 20v. I have set my multimeter to Ac voltage, no speaker wires in amp, stick the probes from mm into postive and negative speaker holes, and play pink noise track at 75% volume, turn up the gain slowly, im only getting a little over 2v, nowhere near 20v, what am i doing wrong ?
abdullghoriO1 you would use the amount of power that you want to output to your subwoofer. It is going to be the RMS Power handling of your subwoofer or the sum of all subwoofers if running more than one.
abdullghoriO1 If your AMP is more powerful then your speakers you can use the RMS of the speakers with the same “ohms law” equation to achieve the same none clipping multimeter voltage desired
So I get how to measure the voltage, know all about the resistance (which isn't going to be a set number playing music) But my question is, would it be a good idea to test with as close to 0 as possible tones (in my case I'm working with a 1.3Ohm Ultimax 10") so I would set my voltages to around 25.5V. -And I tend to see some rebassed songs near 0db, so I would rather set the amp for as close to 0 as possible to prevent it going past RMS (I technically don't run my sub that hard as I'm not into the bass drowning out the music/sensitive ears) Also around 33hz in this sealed box it's at 4.3Ohms so 25.5V at that resistance gives me about 151 watts instead of the targeted 500w. Is that something you just ignore and it is what it is? or am I missing something. Technically 2 questions... Any insight on this is welcome.
Jimmy Hernandez it’s been a while since I’ve asked this and I have learned a bit since then. The sub will have different resistance depending on the frequency played. Which will use more or less power depending on what it is at a given frequency. I think my original question was when setting up a car amp and setting the volume with the voltage. In my case it was about 25v I think for 500w. I was asking about the impedance rise that would only let my sub see 150w vs 500w and if I should ignore that because at the time i didn’t understand that that impedance rise was the subwoofer playing more efficiently at that area thus using less power with the same output as the areas around it.
+Carlos Portillo Not enough info here to calculate the equation. How many subs? When you say dual, does that mean there are two subs or they are dual voice coil subs? What is the subwoofers RMS power handling rating? What impedance are your subwoofers wired to? What is your amplifiers RMS power rating at whatever impedance you have your subwoofers wired to?
Sorry there are two 15" SVC subs with 600watt rms each wired to 2ohms.....the amp is a Power One Series Monoblock two channel Class A/B Car Amplifier RMS Power Rating: 4 ohms: 250 watts x 1 chan. 2 ohms: 500 watts x 1 chan. 1 ohm: 1000 watts x 1 chan.
+Carlos Portillo If the subs are SVC 4ohm voice coils, your two subs can be wired together for a final impedance of either 2 or 8ohms at the amplifier. Since you have a two channel amplifier but listed ratings for 1 channel, I assume you are bridging the amplifier. Assuming 2ohms at the amplifier, your amp will have an output of 500 watts. You want an output of around 1200 watts at 2ohms to get the whole performance of your subwoofers. Based on what you listed, the amplifier isn't powerful enough for your subs.
You would use the calculation explained in the video... V = square root of desired output power x whatever resistance the amplifier will see (in your case, 1ohm). So... If the sub has an RMS power handling rating of 1500 watts, your calculation would be V = square root of 1500 x 1. V = square root of 1500. V = 38.73
Hi, great video. I'm trying to setup my system, here's what I have: Amp 900 RMS at 2 Ohm and Sub dual coil 350 RMS wired for 2 Ohm. My question is what should I use for P 900 or 350. Thank you.
***** Huh? Then you would be tuning to give 900 watts RMS to a speaker that's only rated for 350 RMS at 2 ohm. My understanding is you should only be tuning to what the sub can handle...which would mean the opposite of what you recommended. So if the sub is rated for 350 RMS @ 2 ohm the target would/should be 26.46 volts, right? That or I'm completely misunderstanding how this works, which is possible....
snowmobileracer69 Sorry... I may have misunderstood the original situation. IF the amp is rated at 900 watts RMS at 2ohms and Artem Alforov has 1 subwoofer rated for 350 watts RMS and that is wired for 2ohms, he would use 350 for P in the equation. However, I would recommend trying to find a different rating and impedance that would more closely align with the subwoofers RMS rating. For example, MAYBE the amplifier is rated at 450 watts at 4ohms. IF the subwoofer is capable of being wired to a 4ohm impedance, this would be a better match. Without knowing the exact specs of the products, it's hard to say what the best possible setup would be. Sorry for the confusion.
So let's say I have everything zero'ed out on my head unit and after I set my gain on my amp to the target voltage i set my crossovers and frequencies. My target voltage is still the same. Now if I get in my car and start to turn up the subwoofer controls from 0db to +10db and turn the loud setting on won't that take my target voltage up and start to distort my subwoofer?
It could... But manipulating the audio signal using features like bass boost and loud settings is a bit different than setting your gains. When you set your gains, you are level matching the output of your amplifier to the RMS power handling of your speakers/subwoofers to ensure a good combination and to not over or under power your speakers.... When you use bass boost and loud settings, you are actually manipulating/changing the audio signal prior to any amplification of it. This is why we recommend setting your gains with no bass boost or loud settings on. Once your gains are set appropriately, if you want to tweak and tune your system to your personal listening preferences, using these features can help. But if your bass boost is all the way up and your loudness setting is all the way up, you could distort your subwoofer whether your gains were set correctly or not because those features can cause a clipped signal to be sent to the input of your amplifier before the amp gain ever comes into the scenario. Hope this makes sense.
But what about the actual wattage coming out of the amp when subs are connected and multimeters are used. I have to turn the gain up high to get close to 1000 watts with a 40 Hertz tone with the subs connected and my signal starts clips on the oscilloscope. But my target rms is 1000 so I set my gain to 44 volts. Max volume I get like 35 volts and 3 amps. What gives??
Is this formula for DC output voltage or AC output voltage? An audio engineer told me that formula used is for DC output and we should be using the AC formula which is different to what we are looking for. Can someone shed some light on this?
I've watched multiple videos and read multiple articles on this and this video by far was the easiest to understand and I've played around with my settings bass boost all that even using an ocillascope....but tuning my amp exactly the way y'all have directed in this video just using a dmm made my system sound 10 times better.
Yes your right seen millions of videos and this was straight to the point and looks possible to anybody can do it
I running 2 1500rms subs at half ohm..so id.go.1500x.5=750×2subs=1500 and the square rt of 1500=38...so.38volts is my number..
@@ronnydisalvo80 no sir you have to use the rated rms output number of your amp....so say your amp is rated at 2000 rms at .5 ohm....multiply 2000 by .5 and find the square root with is approx 31.62.....
@@ronnydisalvo80 you have 2 subs wired in a way that gives you .5 ohm load
@@ronnydisalvo80 so how can I do that on mine bro ..??
@Alex Villanueva - However you plan to wire the subwoofer(s) to the amplifier. If you are wiring two subs down to a final impedance of 2ohms, you would use two ohms for "R". If you are wiring one DVC sub down to 1ohm, you would use one ohm for "R".
I have 2 dual voice coil 4 ohm subs running parallel at 1 ohm and they are 1000 watts rms per sub. My amp is 3700 watts rms @ 1 ohm. Will that be to much for the subs to handle? When I do the math do I add the rms wattage of both subs together? After setting everything to 0 then raise the gain till I get my target voltage when I then turn up the bass boost and LPF the voltage goes up. Is that ok?
+Rizz1117 your amp is a bit too much for those speakers.
+Rizz1117 Between the RMS power of your subs and your amp, you'll go with the lowest one if they are not equal. So you would go with 2000 RMS for the 2 subs so you over power and blow them. You would want to target your AC voltage at 44.72 volts
I went to an audio shop to install a five channel and they were good “installers” but were not technical.had no clue how to properly set the gains on the amp and lc7i. had the levels up way too high. Took my multimeter and set properly using the technique in this video since I don’t have a SMD 2. Thanks.
I have a Orion hcca 12" dvc 2 ohm. I have it wired down to 1 ohm. When I do this formula do I use the final impedance 1 ohm or the 2 ohm to plug into this equation?
STRAIGHT TO THE DAMN POINT!
@JT Rut
Setting the gains on amplifiers that are powering door speakers is done in similar fashion but you would use a tone more appropriate for the speakers. For example, we have a 1kHz tone you can download from our website at www.mtx.com/t/testtones
I tried this on my new system. Everything's new except for the RCA's. I can't get a reading in my multimeter. Could it be the RCA's
@@tpm1868did you use the DC voltage setting to check your power wire(12v+/-)? when you turn the head unit does the remote receive a dc current(12v)? (you can use the ground for the negative on the multimeter for these two tests/probes) -------------------- You can test the RCAs with a multimeter if you set it in AC volts and probe the center pin and outside ring of the same plug/wire, while music is playing if you get an ac voltage that is going up and down they are working as intended. If you can answer some of my questions, I can defiantly help you figure out what the issue is and we can get you jamin just like that reggae playlist you have on your channel. Been letting it play all day...
@@Dheath thanks for getting back to me. Had to replace my deck. Dead sub out rca. Now with new deck everything's working just fine
Most head units DO NOT output a clean undistorted signal at full volume. The first step would be to find the volume level at which the head unit puts out the highest UNDISTORTED output. Usually by using a 1kHz tone at a 0dB reference level. You didn’t mention to defeat all tone controls, loudness, DSP, and set the balance and fader at center. Also the way you are demonstrating to set the gains are with 0dB of gain overlap. That wouldn’t sound loud enough. The best compromise for quality/loudness would be a gain overlap of 10dB. That means you would have to set the gain on the amp using a -10dB signal.
If you want balanced system, that 0dB is just fine. Not everyone wants SPL build
I have a 4 channel amp with 2 gain controls.
One for channel a
One for channel b
Using a test tone of 1000hz and a multimeter, my left side speaker will be 15v but the right side will be 7v..there is only one gain control for this...why are my voltages different?
Bass boost off, radio at 3/4, bass knob at 3/4 play test tone close to box tuning or cabin resonance, then multimeter the speaker output of your amp measuring VAC turn the gain up until your at your calculated voltage [VAC=√power (desired wattage)x Resistance (your ohm at the amp)] VAC=√P*R
Informative. No time wasted!
My led clip light will turn on when I adjust the filter afterwards so I set the filters first then adjusted the gains.
If it's flashing it's ok solid no good
Makes sense set the sound you want...then adjust the level of the sound you like to play the loudest safest gain level
@@ukokepaoa5536 filters should only lower the power or loudness.
For most amps, The only adjustment I can think of that increases sound or power other than the gain knob; would be the bass boost switch or knob found on some amps
very well said fast an easy
Watched it a few more times just cause i enjoyed the presentation lol
Thanks for the video
I have 2 Doubts
1. , can you explain what should be the positions of HPF & LPF, switches while doing the gain setting for speakers and subwoofers
In a 4 channel amp.
2. In every videos in UA-cam regarding the gain setting , they are using RCA input.. is that mandatory.. ?? What would happen if I use speaker level input instead of RCA while doing the Gain setting...
Sweet! 😁 So my 300w mono amp is set at about 17.32 v ac! Thanks!
@Lucas Patterson - If you have two single 4 ohm voice coils, you can wire them to a total 2ohm load or an 8 ohm load. To see how to wire to these impedances, go to www.mtx.com/t/library-wiring-diagrams If your amplifier is 90 watts for one channel, be sure to use the wattage ratings at whatever impedance you are wiring your subwoofers to. 90 watts isn't much for two subwoofers so you will most likely under power your subwoofers which can be worse than overpowering them in some applications.
Lucas Patterson
same impedance options would apply if both speakers are single 4 ohm voice coils. They can either be wired to a 2ohm load or an 8 ohm load on the amplifier channel. As far as external bass controllers (EBC's) or remote bass controls, please refer to our article about EBC's here - www.mtx.com/t/library-external-bass-controls
My amp has both a gain control and master level. When doing this where should the master be set? If it's all the way down there's no output at all no matter where the gain is set. Should it be all the way up and set the gain based around that level? Or find some balance between the two? The amp is a Jensen xda91rb. Also worth mentioning that there's no controls on the amp. Everything's controlled through an app via Bluetooth
Simple proper explanation video thank you
Thanks for the video. I'm still hung up on the R term, it seems like I've read conflicting info on the web. I have a single 10" 4-ohm DVC subwoofer that is rated for 300W RMS. I have a mono amplifier that outputs 300W @ 4 ohms or 500W @ 2 ohms. When I calculate V = (P*R)^0.5, I am using R = 2, since while my subwoofer is a 4 ohm model, because of the wiring and single subwoofer it puts a 2 ohm load on the amplifier. If I set P = 300W, I then get a target V = 24.5 volts. Does this seem correct? Because some other info I have come across seem to indicate that in my setup R = 4, in which case my target V = 34.6 volts! Thanks!
You would use whatever impedance your subwoofer is wired to so if you have wired your DVC 4ohm sub down to 2ohms, R would = 2
***** Gotcha, thanks!
to start my amplifier claims to be rated 1400rms at 1 ohm. massive n3 nano block amp. I wired my dual 2 ohm subwoofer down to 1 ohm load a rockford t2 12 1200rms.. how do I match my amp to this sub. my desired rms is 1200.. if 1200 x 1 ohm is still 1200. and the square root of 1200 is 34.64 .. is that correct or did I just go wrong I'm lost plz help
+You're Hating You got it. So you would connect your multimeter (on the voltage setting) to the speaker outputs of your amplifier and while playing a 50Hz (or appropriate frequency) tone, adjust the gain setting until you get to around 34.64 volts of output.
thank you for you video it was helpful.. I added some of the bass boss halve ways and turn down the lpf just a tad under the gain and the subsonic just a lil bit up like 1/16 of an inch and finally no more distortion thank for the help
Is that a tnp212d2 or tnp212dv? I have the dv paired with mtx tna500d. Are they the same?
Thank you so much this made my day
So my sub is wired to 1 ohm
So I would do 1000 x 1= 1000
Then square that= 31.6 correct?
If you want your amp to output 1000w and your ohm load is 1, then yes you are correct.
I have tried all methods of tuning but nothing works to me as well as tuning by music, but I do not like that method because it's not precise. I currently have a 12" Alpine Type S on 2 Ohms in a ported box that's tuned to 32Hz being powered by a JL Audio Slash 500/1. I'm wondering, would it be better if I played a 32Hz test tone, tuned it by ear and then record the maximum UNCLIPPED voltage and then play various music and increase the gain until I reach that voltage I achieved at 32Hz? I'm wondering becuase the 50Hz method does not work well for me at all, when I tune it using this method and clamp my amplifier the maximum I see is 250-300 Watts RMS @40Hz when I should be seeing 500 Watts RMS. It also doesn't feel like 500 Watts using the Ohms Law method.
Why do you use the RMS power of the amplifier instead of the RMS power of the speakers?
If you have speakers that handle less RMS power than your amp then you would be supplying more power to the speakers they are able to handle.
I believe you should use the power of the subs instead.
To Sigve Skaugvoll,
We cannot reply to your comment because your settings won't allow us. Anyway, to answer your question, you need to know what the final impedance of your subwoofers is going to be. If you are wiring two subwoofers to a final impedance of 4ohms at the amplifier, then you would use the RMS rating of your amp at 4ohms. Not the 2500 watt rating at 1ohm. The resistance ( R ) value of the equation is the final impedance of your subwoofers that the amplifier will see. Hope this helps.
Thanks for a quick replay!
I'm going to have a final impedance of 2ohms at the amplifier when I'm parallel wiring my subs. Does this means that I have to use the RMS rating of my amp at 2ohms (which is 1800w) or what my subwoofers "wants" which is 600w
I guess the only thing that still is a little unclear for me, is what ( P ) is suppose to be, is it going to be 1800 since that's my amps RMS rating, or am I going to use 600w because thats the desired power that my subwoofer wants?
Thanks again for answering my questions :)
Excellent video I just have one question when your playing the 50hrtz do you keep your bass and treble settings on the head unit or do you zero everything out
I have a Kenwood XR-900-5 running a Kicker VCompS12 2-Ohm (300rms watts) sub. The amp is capable of 600rms watts @2-Ohms on the 5th channel. Recently the sub blew and Kicker is replacing it. In the mean time I've been running one Sony XS-L121P5 4-Ohm (350rms watts) sub fine, w/o changing any settings. I now want to run two Sony XS-L121P5 4-Ohm subs on this amp, which obviously would have to be wired in parallel at 2 ohms to get the 600rms watts total this amp can supply. The 5th channel on this amp is dedicated to the sub. What would the voltage out need to be in order to run these two subs on this amp?
how do you determine your target voltage?
I bought a multimeter today for this purpose. I got home and stuck it in a plug socket to test it worked and it was 243 volts so it’s good. Ngl I was a bit scared about sticking it into the plug socket tho in case it went bang 😂😂😂
Lol
If the subwoofer 4 ohm but it is bridged , ohm is cut in half. İn this case we calculate by multiplying RMS by 2 instead of 4 ohm , correct?
Yes
I have two dual 4 ohm 10 inch AB XRs I have them wired down to 1 ohm for my skar rp2k1d amp so you use what your amp is rated to not the subs
This is a good way to do it without having the proper equipment. But, what about amperage? What is the speaker output amperage? And, what about the phase of the power output? Because I was watching D'Amore Engineering discussing this topic and how/why this method is inaccurate and why even a clamp meter would be inaccurate. Anybody have any answers?
The audio I do on bikes, obviously wanna higher RMS on your amp than your speaker... I set gains by going by the Voltage x Amp = Wattage. and from there i can adjust to each speaker giving it the exact amount RMS with the radio all the way up so they cannot blow the speakers. LOL
Why do you use a CD with 50hz? i'm trying to do this with all my components in the car already, and my head unit is connected to my amp and my regular car speakers. Any suggestions? I'm thinking i will disconnect the car speakers from the head unit so i can turn the volume all the way up with out waking my neighbors.
We use a 50Hz tone because that is a common frequency range for most music. For your speakers, you would use a frequency that is somewhere in the frequency response range of their specs. For example, you wouldn't use 50Hz if the speakers have a frequency response of 75Hz to 20kHz.
You would want to disconnect your subwoofers to set the gain on the amp that powers your speakers. Once that is done, disconnect your speakers from their amp, reconnect your subwoofers to their amp, and set the gain on that amp using an appropriate tone.
Hope this helps.
Keep in mind we are setting up a subwoofer amp and subwoofers play lower frequencies than speakers so a 50 Hz tone is good for subwoofers but would not be good for speakers. For speakers you would want something more like a 1kHz tone.
@@MTXAudioUSA Thanks for the informative video and answering all these questions that I've had myself. Much appreciated!
Reading these comments...did anyone pay attention to what he says? He clear as day explained how to do the maths. Either these people can't absorb info or are just plain too dumb to comprehend simple algebra. In that case, forgrt the car audio scene and just listen through headphones and don't short circuit your brain.
All you have to do is use the same formula, just plug in your own numbers...SIMPLE!
It makes no difference what brand or watts the amp or speaker(s) is.
Ex. The amplifier puts out 527watts RMS, multiplied by the OHM load (0.5, 1,2,4,8,16) of the speaker(s) that the amp is receiving, press =, then on your calculator push the Square root button, it looks like a check mark with a tail...527watts x 2 ohm load= 1054, the square root of 1054 is 32.47.....32.47 (32.5) is what the output voltage you want to set the amp at. It's not complicated. For the confused out there www.math.com/students/calculators/source/square-root.htm
At last, someone who gets it!
Nope they just wanna ask stupid questions
ik this shit is very simple and easy to remember
IamTheEggMan lol your explanation was better thanks haha
I wish every person that tried to teach did it like you.Some people are very good at explaining things and others just like to hear themselves talk.The latter make terrible teachers because they end up overloading the "students" brain.Thank you for chiming in here and making it simple and understandable!
I dont use my cd player due to the roads are shit where i live. Can i tune the amp using blue tooth with a hz test on a ipod?
If I have a 2800 watt peak amplifier and 2 15 inch 2000 watt subs do I take the rms of the amplifier and cut it in half for each channel or do I do the total rms of the amp
This is a great video thanks man
So if I've got a 2600w amp but only using 1300w on one channel at 4 ohms do I set the gain with the 1300 rate or the 2600 for overall.
1300
I have an amplifier 1800 watts and two 12 speakers 4 ohms each should i calculate by time 4 or times 8?
Depends if you're going to wire them in parallel or in series. In series your total ohms would be 8. In parallel your total ohms would be 2.
I understand what your saying but with out these features on after the setting of the amp gain I feel like I'm not getting the output I want. So I want to make sure if I do use them I'm not going to clip the subwoofer to the point of damaging it. Also my amp is a jl 1200.1v3 and I'm pretty sure it's close to 2000 watts rms I cannot find a birth sheet any where for these amps so I do not know the true rms power at 3 ohms. I'm running one 13.5w7 at 3 ohms it can handle 1500 rms. So i need to know the sweet spot on my amp. Jl recommended 60.0 v at 3 ohms will do 1200 rms but I think the amp can do more power. At 60.0v I don't feel it is hitting as hard as it should.
Remember... by setting your gains properly, you are setting the amplifier output that you need for the RMS power handling of your subwoofers. If you feel the output isn't what it should be, consider looking into your enclosure volume and tuning. If you do the math calculation of V = square root of Power x Resistance and it is around 60 volts, I would stick to JL's recommendation. On their website, this amplifier has an RMS rating of 1200 watts at 3ohms. So, the calculation would be V = square root of 3600 which = 60.
So if I have 2 subwoofer at 2ohm each do I multiply by 1 ohm total??
The amount of subwoofers you have doesn't matter.. It's how you wire them and what impedance the amp sees at the end. So if you have two dual two ohm wired to 0.5 ohm then you use 0.5 ohm. If you wire it at 2 ohm then use 2
@New Alert That's correct. I'll edit my post
So if your running active and only have two 15w rms tweeters on the first two channels of a 50w per channel amp you would want it to 30w max instead of 100(50Wx2)? About 10 volts.
Hi. I'm quite new to this car stereo life, but I have a few questions about the equation.
I have the amplifier Orion CB.5000.1D which puts out 2500wRMS at 1 ohm. The sub(s) I'm using are JBL GTi 1200 which can handle 600wRMS (4 ohm). My questions are;
in the equation, the variable P (power of amp RMS), should I use 2500(amp) or 600w(sub). The Variable R is that the resistance on the amp(1) or speakers(4)?
Thanks for a awesome video, and I apologize for the bad grammar and questions.
Whether you use one speaker or 4 speakers, it’s all the same. Only difference is, when it’s more than one speaker, they will share the same power unless each speaker is rated at a different ohm(resistance).
Before I added my subwoofer, I had my bass eq all the way up on the head unit and liked how my factory speakers sounded. I turned the eq off when I put my sub in. Are there any adjustments I need to make if I want to turn my bass eq on the head unit up again? Do I need to readjust the gain?
abdullghoriO1 once the gain is set properly, you can use your EQ adjustments to fine tune the sound for your listening preference.
I have the skar audio 2000.d amp with skar evl 12d4. It's at 2ohm which amp handles 1400 rms. So its 1400x2 which is 2800rms. Square root of that is 52. Is 52 volts what I need to be at ?? My speaker only handles 1250 at 2ohms and its 50 volts. What do I do?
So when doing this formula for door speakers (and a 2 channel amp) the amp is a 65w RMS (Per channel) the speakers are 60w RMS each and 4ohms. I'm coming up with 65x4=260 and then the sq root of that is 16.12. I'm a tad thrown off since mine is 4 ohms and all the other comments are 2 and 1 ohms. Is this done correctly. And also, should I be seeing 16v out of the left channel and another 16v out of the right channel when I check it on the multimeter?
+William Gingrich You would probably want to use the 60 watts RMS that the speakers are rated for. By using 65 watts, you are setting up your amplifier to put 65 watts to your speakers which are only rated for 60 watts. Other than that, your calculation looks good. If your amp has gains for both channels, you would do this for each channel.
Do the hz test tones depend on what subs you got or should i use the 50hz test tone you used for my comp r 12s?
40/50Hz is for subs only, 1KHz is for regular speakers. I prefer 40Hz tone
okay, i have been searching information from everywhere and cant find it. on my pioneer (MVH-S320BT) has weird problem, i tried to measure that "pre out" voltage from the rca cabels and on the stereo own terminal and i get only 0.020V and i have tried other multimeters so the problem is not on tools. im sure everything is right on wiring and everything "should" be unbroken. im sure i have done everything right on measuring but sill doesnt get that 0.2V reading. i hope someone can give some answer for that. and my other problem in my amp (sd1600.1d evo4 2ohm) il have measured the out put voltage from that and i get only about 14V (AC) out, thats when the volume from stereo is 3/4 and gain is almost max but when i put some bass boost i get the max voltage out, what is promised on the amp manual. so far im thinking is that stereo low out put voltage causing low out put voltage to my amp aswell? thanks for help already!
For the resistance of speaker load, would that be resistance per channel? For example, having a 2 channel amp, with a 2 ohm impedance on each channel, would you use 2 as the value for R, or is it the sum of both channels, 4?
IT WILL BE PER CHANNLE IN YOUR CASE 2 OHMS sry for caps..if it was bridged ... so only one channel it will be 1 ohm depending how your speaker was set if it was set in series it would be 4 ohm if it was two 2 ohm speaker ..keep in mind if you use duel voice coils
what would you do if you had two woofers that were 300rms per sub and you wanted a total of 600rms on a 1,000rns amp at a 2ohm load? would you just add 300+300=600. 600•2=1200. √1200=34.64?
You got it! Even though your amp is capable of more power, this way you won't overpower the subs and your amp should run nice and cool.
What about Dual-Voice-Coils? A DVC 4 ohm sub which I'm wiring down to two ohms. The sub is rated at 400 RMS and the amp is rated at 600 RMS.
Dual Voice coil or Single Voice coil doesn't matter. Just choose the impedance the amplifier will be working with and do the calculation. In your case, V = square root of 400 watts * 2ohms... V = square root of 800... V = 28.2843
Just wanna make sure I’m doing this right I have 2 subwoofers 300 watts each side so total 600 watts and I’m doing 2 ohms so would I do 300 x 2 or 600 x 2
The reason I ask is I'm running a jl audio slash 1200.1v3 and a jl 13w7 and at the target voltage of 60.0v it's 1200watts rms and I fell the sub is not as loud as it should be. I do not want to damage it but I notice when up the levels on my head unit it gets the extra push I want. I'm afraid im could be damaging it in the long run please help.
I have my system setup line out from the kenwood head to a Kenwood eq then splitt 3ways f/r/s to a crossover to two different amps is that the right way or should I just use sub from the head to get a quality low with no distortion? And does using the eqs sub change the values of my heads freq ratings?Thxs in advance for any advice also I'm not sure if it's my craftsman DMM but my values are unstable ?
If you are using an external, dedicated crossover for the audio signal that you send to all of your amplifiers, I would recommend setting your head unit to be flat with no equalization done through the head unit and just manage any tuning through the crossover only. Hope that answers your question. Sorry for the late response.
Np on the late response ! So if I understand u correctly I should eliminate my secondary eq and connect straight to the head and keep the signals flat then tune it with my crossover! Am I correct?
OK that's 3 to 4years ago all my amplifiers have clip indicators on them haven't blown a subwoofer or speak since I used it?
Hey mate, having trouble, I have:
2x 12" 350w rms Alpine DVC subs (2ohm per coil I believe)
1x MRP-m850 (500w rms at 4ohm, 800w rms at 2ohm)
They are wired to 2ohm. I can't get the voltage on the amp to come anywhere close to 40v
37.41 is your target since your amp is rated higher than your subs you use 350 watts rms x 2 for 2 subs 700 atts rms total x 2 for 2Ω load = 1400 square root =37.41
If you have a 5 channel amp. You would set the 4 lower wattage speakers to one gain (60Wx4@4ohm) and the sub channel (350Wx1@2ohm) to it's own gain correct?
shoot, what if the amp is solely pushing a subwoofer? Does that change how we set the knobs on the amp prior?
I CANNOT RECOMMEND THE TNE212DV DUAL 12'S ENOUGH! Paired with the Rockvill db12 1000 watt RMS @ 2 ohms, It's so LOUD, if i turn it up too much it can be TOO STRONG!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! I no longer have to chase the bass dragon, I have it! These subs rock my 2012 cruze like a jack hammer! I love them, Much better than the dual brand 12 inches in bandpass. Those sucked! These are only 30 more dollars on amazon!
Great video. I know this is an older video but why use AC and not DC? I thought DC is what you normally use with cars? I need to tune a set of components and want to try this method to set the voltage on the front speakers as that is all I have and I just installed an amp. Okay it's late and I just realized we are on the speaker side and not the power side of the amp and we want to measure the sine wave...well correct me if I'm wrong. I just wanted to clear this up. Thanks.
DC voltage is what the battery of the vehicle has but the output power from the amplifier is AC. Yes. We are using the gain to level adjust the input signal (varies depending on the head unit) so that the amplifier can send the best possible audio signal to the speakers. Be sure to use an appropriate frequency for your test disc depending on what type of speakers you have connected to the amplifier you are tuning. This video references 50Hz because the amp is connected to subwoofers. For component speakers, you would use a high frequency test disc. Refer to your speaker's specs.
***** I finally got around to playing with this and I tried setting up the gain but wasn't getting anything without any volume and with the radio on the numbers just jump up and down. So I need to make a tone mp3 or wav file in audacity. The crossover is fixed at 3800 Hz, 6/12 dB/octave and the other number for the woofer is 55-3200 Hz. I have MBQuart DSh 213 components. In something like this, what tone would I need to use? I'm just trying to walk through the whole process to understand how to tune something like this correctly. Do I just need to make a 3200 Hz tone and use that to tune the set? I guess since there's a tweeter, that's confusing me a bit since both are considered channel one for one door and channel 2 for the other. I unplugged them just like you did. Cool stuff by the way, but it's not quite the same watching and actually doing it since I have never done this, but I'm learning.
You can download test tones from MTX.com at www.mtx.com/t/testtones. For an amplifier that you are using to power full range speakers, you can use a 1kHz test tone.
***** Thanks!. I ended up making a few tones and tried using the 3200 tone and noticed that the gain at the lowest was 16 something volts! So I changed to the 1Khz and I got the number exactly matched to the speakers. To make the tones I only changed the Hz in audacity and nothing else. I also just saved as a windows file and that seemed to work. Channel one and channel 2 have the same gain dial so I only used that. Looking at your link, you have a left and right channel tone. When do you use those? I only ask since my gain says ch1/2 on it. So I just used the left channel to change the voltage on it. I figured it would be for both sides since the ch3/4 have their own dial, and so does the sub. Man, this is pretty neat once you get it working. Now I have an LP filter dial that goes from 50 to 200 Hz, I guess this is for the subs which I don't have any. Except for ch1/2, all my other dials are pretty much turned all the way down since I don't have anything else plugged in.
Great! thanks! nobody says "why" the level set in stereo its full up... nobody says how to put the level stereo...nobody says there is no afect to use or not the speaker for test (somebody told me that i needed to have a resistance (speaker) conected for this test...)
your video solved me that questions..!
Good good good video! i like it!
A question..may u help me?
If I have a 100wrms amp and my subwoofer is 200wrms(4omh).. its suposed
that i must to put the gain to the max??
and on the other hand..
I would like to know the Wrms of my stereo sistem (pioneer DEHx8600BT
and others..)
most of stereos say 50x4 (peakpower) but i just to know the rms of that
stereos (just to know it) is it any empirical test to do it ???
THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!
Regards from Spain!
You don't need the load (speakers) connected because you already calculated the total resistance when you measured the ohms of the speakers. Speakers are only to actually hear the sound. The signal is still present at the output terminals
Hi! Thanks for uploading. Very usefull video
I have a 1135 rms Amp jbl crown and a 1100 rms rockford p2/t2 subw hooked up at 4 ohm How do i get the Max out of the both?
Thanks again.
We assume you have a Rockford Fosgate P2D2 which is a dual voice coil subwoofer in their P2 (Punch) lineup. Depending on which size you have, your RMS power handling is between 250 and 400 watts. Peak/Max power handling on the 15" model is 800 watts so without knowing what exactly you have, we cannot help with the equation. Please check your specifications of the exact model #'s you have and ONLY use the RMS ratings. Do not use peak or max power ratings.
***** thnx for the reply i checked and i have a rockford T2 15 inch
Sandeep Raj Moenilal OK, that subwoofer T2D215 has a 1200 watt RMS power handling. Would still need to know the exact specs of the amplifier.
Does the active crossover system(Tweeter and Woofer Speakers) also use the same procedure to set the amplifier gain?
I think. I would assume you would want to test it with a frequency that the speaker is lowest rated for as this will be the max rms power at that frequency
This question is more of a clarification:
My alpine 5 channel amp is rated a little higher from the factory than what the speakers handle. For example the sub channel is tested by alpine at 554 rather than 500 as advertised. The sub speaker I have is rated at 500.
The door speakers are rated at 110 (front comp) and 100 (rear coax). The amp was tested at 124 per channel by alpine.
Am i correct in assuming that I should do my calculations based on the speaker RMS instead of the amp RMS, and then I won't be over powering my speakers?
For Power (P) in the equation, use whatever amount of power you want the amplifier to put out at the impedance your subwoofers are wired to. For subwoofers and when setting the channels used to power your subwoofers, you would use a 50Hz tone. For setting gains on amplifiers or channels of amplifiers that are used to power full range speakers, you would use a tone more like 1kHz. Both tones can be downloaded from our website at www.mtx.com/t/testtones
I have a 1850 Watt amp class D and 2 ohm Lightnjng audio L3s which I converted to 1 ohm. So my amp puts out 1850 at 1 ohm and my speakers are converted to 1 ohm as well would my voltage be 43.01 at 1 ohm or 86.02 at 4 ohms ?
43.01 volts only if your RMS is 1850 watts at 1 ohm. Times you RMS amplifier wattage by the ohm load your going to run you amplifier at then square that shit.
Hello, I need some advice please. I have one 12 inch shallow mount Rockford Fosgate R2 subwoofer with a dual 4 ohm coils; rated at 250 RMS and its hooked up to a HIFONICS ZEUS ZX4000 Rated at 400 watts RMS bridged on a 4 ohm load. Speaker is wired to a final 8ohm load. And the amp is bridged. Please tell me the correct way to connect this system! :(
I have the same sub in the video I think MTX TNE212D which is 400 RMS and Rockford Fosgate R500X1D (500RMS) Prime 1-Channel amp. What should my voltage be at?
+Krew808 Since the enclosure has a RMS rating of 400 watts, you would only want to use 400 watts RMS of your 500 watt RMS amplifier. So the calculation would be V = square root of 2ohms x 400 watts. V = square root of 800. V = 28.28 volts.
I need a little help deciding which amp to use with my subs.. My subs are Memphis audio 10"s DVC each VC is 4 ohms... I have 2 amps and I am trying to decide which one to use.. The first one is a Crossfire XP series 360 watt amp, the second is a Kenwood KAC-8103D 1000 watt max power. Also says 300w (RMS X 1 At 4 ohms and
Kenwood KAC-8103D is 300watts x 1 @ 4ohms
Crossfire XP3602 is 360 x 1 @ 4ohms bridged or 90 x 2 @ 4ohms, 180 x 2 @ 2ohms.
With 2 - dual 4ohm voice coils, you can wire them to a final impedance of 1ohm or 4ohms at the amplifier (www.mtx.com/t/library-wiring-diagrams)
What is the RMS power handling of 1 of your 10" subwoofers? Multiply that number by 2 since you have two subwoofers.
Since neither of your amps are 1ohm stable, you will have to wire them to a final 4ohm impedance at the amplifier which means you will be using the amplifier RMS ratings that are at 4ohms. Choose whichever amplifier has an output at 4ohms that is closest to the total sum of your subwoofer RMS power handling.
Thank you..
Hmmm this is also a "rough" way to measure if an amp is actually outputting what its rated for. Thanks!
I still need help I have a skar rp 1500 and a audiopipe txxbd4 12 2 ohm 1100 rms but I'm wiring it to 1 ohm so what I will do 1100 time 1 or 2
Now would I put the multimeter where the speaker wires (attached to the sub box) are?
could you post a link for the tone track in the vid. I tired just typing in the url you displayed in the vid, but could not find the page on the site
Hello i have Kenwood 12s rated at 400 rms max at 2000.iam using a kenwood 1000 watt amp 2000 max.and two 12s total.what would be my numbers to set gain right?thank you.
Anthony Conger First, disregard any power ratings other than RMS. 2 - subwoofers with a rating of 400 watts RMS each = 800 watts for your desired amp output so P = 800. For "R" the value would be whatever impedance you have wired your subwoofers to. So the equation would be V = the square root of 800 x R.
Hi MTX, so I recently installed a sub and amp as well as an LOC since I'm using my stock head unit. I downloaded your test tone to use to get the correct AC volts. My problem is, I'm trying to reach 31.6 volts, but I can turn my gain all the way up and my DMM won't go up past 10 Volts. I checked all my wiring and everything is in order so I'm wondering if you might know why my speaker outputs on my amp are giving such low readings.
+Daniel J Make sure you are using your amplifiers RMS power output ratings. Not the MAX or peak rating.
+MTX Audio USA yea that's what I was going for, the amps output rating is 1000rms at 1 ohm. (It's a 1 ohm stable amp) so that gives me 36.1 Vots yet like I said even I turned the gained all the way my DMM reading wouldn't be anywhere near that for some reason. I just did the ear test to sure there's no clipping, maybe I need to take it to a pro.
+Daniel J Could be something to do with the output signal of the LOC... Could be something to do with the wiring/impedance of your subs being incorrect... Could be a crossover or filter setting that is limiting the output... Take it to a reputable shop and ask them to check it over for you. They may charge you a shop/labor fee but it will be worth it in the long run to make sure your system is setup properly. Spend a little now to save yourself from replacing blown equipment.
Hello I have a question do I leave my LPF all the way up or do I adjust it while setting everything else? I have 2 4ohms 12" pioneers and will be wiring them down to 1ohm. The subs are 1200 watts RMS and the amp puts out 1200 at 1ohm. Thanks !!!
CHIHUAHUA4809 The Low Pass Filter (LPF) does not effect gain. If you are setting your subwoofer amplifier and using a 50Hz tone as recommended, as long as the LPF is set accordingly to allow the 50Hz tone to play and not be filtered out, everything should be fine.
***** thanks for your replay! I have another question when I play my 50Hz tone my car speakers start distorting very fast my max volume is 40 and I can't make to 30 which is 75%. Do I go until distortion appears then turn it down until distortion disappears ?
CHIHUAHUA4809 50Hz tone is only for subwoofers. If you are setting a gain on an amplifier that is powering speakers, use the 1k Hz tone. Both are available on our website at www.mtx.com/t/testtones However, if you are using this amp for speakers, and if there is a switch to select between LPF, HPF, or FR, you should be using either FR or HPF depending on how your system is setup. FR = Full Range which is best for coaxial speakers. HPF = High Pass Filter which is what you would want if you just want your speakers to play the higher frequencies and your subwoofers play the lower frequencies. You typically don't use LPF for speakers.
i have two mtx terminators 12" subs and its says on the back of the sub 4ohm for each sub input, my amp is 700 watt rms x 1 channel at 2 ohms, and 425 watts rms x1 channel at 4ohms, would i have to divide the wattage (425watts) by two for the 4 ohm to calculate the voltage for 1 sub for P in the equation. ( i have two sub out puts on my amp for two subs). THANKS
+yousuf kan a TN12-04 subwoofer is a single voice coil, 4ohm, 200 watts RMS subwoofer. If you have two of them, your final impedance at the amplifier would be either 8 ohms (if you wired your subwoofers together in series) or 2 ohms (if you wired your subwoofers in parallel). Depending on which impedance your subwoofers are wired to, this would be your value for "R." Since you only want to put 400 watts to the pair of subwoofers or 200 watts to each subwoofer, 200 or 400 would be the value you use for "P". Your amplifier output is what we are trying to level match when setting gains so the amplifier ratings are not used in the equation. Just the impedance (R) and RMS power handling (P) of your subwoofers are what is used to determine how much voltage you want coming out of your amplifier. Your amplifier is rated for more power than the subwoofers so be careful not to overpower them.
how do you test for clipping from the radio so that I know at what volume to put my radio to when adjusting my amplifier gains?
+Modfyd Inc The gain of the amplifier is used to level match to the head unit so if you are connecting your head unit to your amplifier using the line level outputs or RCA outputs, you can turn your head unit all the way up. This way the voltage into the amplifier will be matched once the amplifier gain is set to the voltage your calculated according to your specific system.
+MTX Audio USA it's a factory radio, so let's say it's not a low level output. Can I still keep the volume all the way up?
@Mark Seven it typically doesn't happen. But I'm still curious.
I have one sony XS-L121P5W 12 inch sub with a sony xplod 1000 watt amp xm-zr1852. The instruction manual gives me the rms on two channels but I'm only using one channel. How do I find out the info I need? Thanks
+Yankeesftw23 Are you bridging the two channels together? If so, Sony should also provide an RMS power output of the amplifier bridged if it is a bridgeable amplifier. Not all multi channel amplifiers can be bridged.
+MTX Audio USA No i am not bridging the two channels and I believe the amp rms is 185w
+Yankeesftw23 Your subwoofer has an RMS power handling rating of 350 watts. Your amplifier's unbridged RMS output is rated at 185 watts per channel at 4ohm or 200 watts per channel at 2ohm. Since your subwoofer is a SVC 4ohm sub, it can only be wired as 4ohms at the amp which means you would be providing 185 watts to your subwoofer that wants 350 watts to perform properly. You should consider getting an amplifier that is better matched to your subwoofer.
+MTX Audio USA Alright thank you for the info and do you reccomend amplifying the rear speakers in my car. Im keeping the receiver stock for now will it affect my sound quality tremedously?
This may be a dumb question and forgive me if so, but my understanding is that setting the gain with pretty much everything flat puts your amp right below clipping or distortion? So you're really not supposed to use "bass boost" nor tune the bass frequencies up when you go to equalize, or turn your subwoofer level on the HU up any afterwards? What you set your gain to is effectively as high as you can go with output? Not sure if I understand
I’m an intermediate installer learning how to install my first setup and from everything I have watched and learned setting the gain at the exact level with a multimeter is the best way because the amp will not go above that voltage limit and potentially damage the sub with too much power, and I have also read that on your head unit the LPF, if you have one should be off and any bass levels should be flat. Bass boost is not a volume control and I would leave it at 0 on the HU and amp as the gain is already transmitting the maximum performance range that the sub can get to so you’re not missing out on that much power. So to sum it up, the gain, at the correct level, will provide for the best and maximum performance out of your sub without going past the voltage that would potentially blow or damage your sub. Set your LPF and Subsonic filtering as necessary, the standards are LPF at about 80 and subsonic at about 35 but that depends on if you have a ported or sealed box which there are videos that better explain that.
@@bryan3327 this is what I was looking for and answered my question thoroughly! Thank you so much!
@@handon11 No worries! I had the same concern as well being a noobie and trying to install a sub on my own and after one blown voice coil it has definitely been a learning experience so I’m glad I could help!
I have a DB Drive Speed Series amp mono 900w rms @2 ohms and two Kicker CVR dvc 400w rms 800w max @2 ohms, connected in parallel. I need to know how to adjust the gain on my amp to prevent clipping and how to set properly the frecuency (Hz) and bass boost. Thanks.
V = square root of (P (800 watts) * R (2ohms)) would equal V = square root of 1600. The square root of 1600 is 40 so V = 40. Be sure your subwoofers are wired correctly for a 2ohm load at the amp. You can get a diagram by using our Subwoofer Wiring Diagram tool on our website at www.mtx.com/t/library-wiring-diagrams
***** Thank you. I believe it would be 900 (2) = 1800. Sqrt is 42.42 thanks again!
LOV2XRL8RL If your subs are 400 watts RMS each, you would only want to send 800 watts to them even though your amp is capable of 900 watts. If you calculate using all 900 watts, you could potentially overpower your subwoofers.
***** Very good point. Thank you, I'll follow your instructions.
***** So I did this today. Set the gain at 40v. But when I set the bass boost and frecuency it went up to 43v.
Just for single output Amplifiers? How to calculate resistance in multiple output amplifier?
can i apply this formula to normal speakers instead of a sub?
Yes bit with normal speakers ur test tone needs tk be a 1000hertz tedt tone instead if a 50 hertz twst tone aame process applies wjth everythjng else
I use bluetooth aux device with ground loop isolator. Streaming music via Spotify Highest Quality. And my phone is Samsung S9+
Max volume is 15 on phone and max volume on sony head unit 50.
Which setting is best ?
Max volume on phone and 3/4 head unit ?
Or %60 on phone 3/4 on head unit.
Some folk says you should set BT volume about %50-60 to avoid distortion. Thank you for help
Interesting study. When I BT my Apple to my head unit, the two units sync volume. Up to 50% head unit volume, the Apple vol runs @50%. As I increase past 50%, the Apple vol follows up to 100% with literally no distortion. I set my amp gain @ 85% on the head unit.
Just curious I keep hearing different things when setting up this way. Some say have your bass boost and bass settings on the receiver all the way up? The reason is because if you set everything at 0 while setting it up and you play something that you just want to turn the bass up on now all of a sudden your going over the voltage you set the gains at and are now clipping. So which way should it be done?
I learned the hard way on why not to use bass boost on your amp. I fried 2 subs pretty easily lol. If the sub isn't loud enough without bass boost, then you want a louder sub.
@@Ken751 this has nothing to do with what I'm talking/asking about, that is a whole different subject!
@@pimpedstratus oh, I just have a level control knob that controls the volume of the subwoofer that I would use to turn down the bass if it was too loud, otherwise I leave it all the way up at the max. I just set the gain with the knob at the max so I can't accidentally blow it.
I know the ohms load of my speakers but how do I get the desired voltage rms of the amp are you saying to divide the rms power of my amp by my ohm load or multiply it? Also could you give me an example? Do I put the multi meter on ac or dc? Also I have a friend who has been doing car stereo for years and he tells me that if you want to prevent a valet person or someone else's from blowing up your speakers, to set the volume of your radio to 3 notches before the top setting and then adjust the amp gain controls right before distortion you should be less likely to blow your speakers. For example my radio goes max volume 35 He suggests 32 then turn up gains. Is this bad advice? I tried it I think my radio distorts at 29 or 30.
What about the sub level control on the headunit, should I set this all the way up before I set my gains , or leave it at 0? It goes up to 10db on my headunit.
+Andre Conner Leave all of your headunit settings at 0 or "flat" when you set the gains. After your gains are set appropriately, you can use the head unit filters to fine tune the sound according to the type of music you listen to and your personal preferences.
MTX Audio USA yes but I think the original question is asking if there’s a seperate subwoofer control from the other menu filters. Would it be okay to set this to 10, so when the highest setting is selected for sub output it does not exceed the subwoofer rms?
Some people say to get the desired voltage to calculate the RMS power of the speaker times the ohms then square root it. Mtx says to calculate the RMS power of the amp times the ohms of the sub. Which way is Right?
You are correct. You should use the total RMS power or your subwoofer(s). In our example the total RMS power handling is the exact same (500 watts) as the RMS output of the amplifier.
By using the total RMS power handling of your subwoofer(s), you can use an amp that has more RMS output than you need and be confident that you aren't going to overpower your subwoofer(s).
If you would use the RMS output of the amp without considering the power handling of the subwoofers, you would be setting the gain to maximum output which could be bad for your subs depending on their rating.
Thanks for bringing attention to this. We've answered this question multiple times in the comments. It's just that our specific example is exactly the same RMS rating for the two subs (250 watts each) and the amplifier (500 watts x 1).
What he didn't tell us is that most multimeters are horribly inaccurate when reading rms voltage at higher frequencies. This works at 50-60 Hz for setting a sub amp, but will be way off setting a multi-channel amp.
I just bought a new Mono block Amp, maybe you could help me. Its says its rated 1 Ohm @ 1,800 Watts RMS X 1 Channel. I have 3 subs rated at 300rms. Im running them so my ohm load will be 1.34. What should my gain be?
Have a amp 4ohm x 100 watts = 400 sq root = 20v. I have set my multimeter to Ac voltage, no speaker wires in amp, stick the probes from mm into postive and negative speaker holes, and play pink noise track at 75% volume, turn up the gain slowly, im only getting a little over 2v, nowhere near 20v, what am i doing wrong ?
Is the rms rating used in this calculation that of the amp or that of the sub? I have a 250w rms sub but my amp gives 412.5w continuous rms
abdullghoriO1 you would use the amount of power that you want to output to your subwoofer. It is going to be the RMS Power handling of your subwoofer or the sum of all subwoofers if running more than one.
abdullghoriO1 If your AMP is more powerful then your speakers you can use the RMS of the speakers with the same “ohms law” equation to achieve the same none clipping multimeter voltage desired
So I get how to measure the voltage, know all about the resistance (which isn't going to be a set number playing music)
But my question is, would it be a good idea to test with as close to 0 as possible tones (in my case I'm working with a 1.3Ohm Ultimax 10") so I would set my voltages to around 25.5V. -And I tend to see some rebassed songs near 0db, so I would rather set the amp for as close to 0 as possible to prevent it going past RMS (I technically don't run my sub that hard as I'm not into the bass drowning out the music/sensitive ears)
Also around 33hz in this sealed box it's at 4.3Ohms so 25.5V at that resistance gives me about 151 watts instead of the targeted 500w. Is that something you just ignore and it is what it is? or am I missing something.
Technically 2 questions... Any insight on this is welcome.
You're measuring the resistance of the speaker coils. Music doesn't affect the ohm rating of the set of speakers. At least not from what I can recall.
Jimmy Hernandez it’s been a while since I’ve asked this and I have learned a bit since then.
The sub will have different resistance depending on the frequency played. Which will use more or less power depending on what it is at a given frequency.
I think my original question was when setting up a car amp and setting the volume with the voltage. In my case it was about 25v I think for 500w. I was asking about the impedance rise that would only let my sub see 150w vs 500w and if I should ignore that because at the time i didn’t understand that that impedance rise was the subwoofer playing more efficiently at that area thus using less power with the same output as the areas around it.
10.78volts
Powerone crunch amp p1 2000.1 a/b type amp with dual 15" kicker comps what would my ideal level/gain be? just changed from dual mtx subs.......
+Carlos Portillo Not enough info here to calculate the equation. How many subs? When you say dual, does that mean there are two subs or they are dual voice coil subs? What is the subwoofers RMS power handling rating? What impedance are your subwoofers wired to? What is your amplifiers RMS power rating at whatever impedance you have your subwoofers wired to?
Sorry there are two 15" SVC subs with 600watt rms each wired to 2ohms.....the amp is a Power One Series Monoblock two channel Class A/B Car Amplifier
RMS Power Rating:
4 ohms: 250 watts x 1 chan.
2 ohms: 500 watts x 1 chan.
1 ohm: 1000 watts x 1 chan.
+Carlos Portillo If the subs are SVC 4ohm voice coils, your two subs can be wired together for a final impedance of either 2 or 8ohms at the amplifier. Since you have a two channel amplifier but listed ratings for 1 channel, I assume you are bridging the amplifier. Assuming 2ohms at the amplifier, your amp will have an output of 500 watts. You want an output of around 1200 watts at 2ohms to get the whole performance of your subwoofers. Based on what you listed, the amplifier isn't powerful enough for your subs.
+MTX Audio USA Thanks any amp recommendations?
+MTX Audio USA just got a 1200watt rms kicker amp
Will doing this hurt my door speakers? I can’t really unhook those
how do you use this concept for using 1ohm using a brx2400.1 on a 1500rms sub the sub itself is dvc 2ohm but wired to 1ohm kinda confused
You would use the calculation explained in the video... V = square root of desired output power x whatever resistance the amplifier will see (in your case, 1ohm). So... If the sub has an RMS power handling rating of 1500 watts, your calculation would be V = square root of 1500 x 1. V = square root of 1500. V = 38.73
Nice tutorial :) Unfortunately test tone link is not working for me.
www.mtx.com/testtones
Hi, great video. I'm trying to setup my system, here's what I have: Amp 900 RMS at 2 Ohm and Sub dual coil 350 RMS wired for 2 Ohm. My question is what should I use for P 900 or 350. Thank you.
I forgot to mention that I also use Audio Control LC2I converter.
You would use the RMS power rating of your amplifier which would be 900 watts.
***** Huh? Then you would be tuning to give 900 watts RMS to a speaker that's only rated for 350 RMS at 2 ohm. My understanding is you should only be tuning to what the sub can handle...which would mean the opposite of what you recommended. So if the sub is rated for 350 RMS @ 2 ohm the target would/should be 26.46 volts, right? That or I'm completely misunderstanding how this works, which is possible....
snowmobileracer69 Sorry... I may have misunderstood the original situation. IF the amp is rated at 900 watts RMS at 2ohms and Artem Alforov has 1 subwoofer rated for 350 watts RMS and that is wired for 2ohms, he would use 350 for P in the equation. However, I would recommend trying to find a different rating and impedance that would more closely align with the subwoofers RMS rating. For example, MAYBE the amplifier is rated at 450 watts at 4ohms. IF the subwoofer is capable of being wired to a 4ohm impedance, this would be a better match. Without knowing the exact specs of the products, it's hard to say what the best possible setup would be. Sorry for the confusion.
26.45 is your target volts 350 watts rms x 2 for 2 Ω =700 square root 26.45
So let's say I have everything zero'ed out on my head unit and after I set my gain on my amp to the target voltage i set my crossovers and frequencies. My target voltage is still the same. Now if I get in my car and start to turn up the subwoofer controls from 0db to +10db and turn the loud setting on won't that take my target voltage up and start to distort my subwoofer?
It could... But manipulating the audio signal using features like bass boost and loud settings is a bit different than setting your gains. When you set your gains, you are level matching the output of your amplifier to the RMS power handling of your speakers/subwoofers to ensure a good combination and to not over or under power your speakers.... When you use bass boost and loud settings, you are actually manipulating/changing the audio signal prior to any amplification of it. This is why we recommend setting your gains with no bass boost or loud settings on. Once your gains are set appropriately, if you want to tweak and tune your system to your personal listening preferences, using these features can help. But if your bass boost is all the way up and your loudness setting is all the way up, you could distort your subwoofer whether your gains were set correctly or not because those features can cause a clipped signal to be sent to the input of your amplifier before the amp gain ever comes into the scenario. Hope this makes sense.
But what about the actual wattage coming out of the amp when subs are connected and multimeters are used. I have to turn the gain up high to get close to 1000 watts with a 40 Hertz tone with the subs connected and my signal starts clips on the oscilloscope. But my target rms is 1000 so I set my gain to 44 volts. Max volume I get like 35 volts and 3 amps. What gives??
Battery alternator
Is this formula for DC output voltage or AC output voltage? An audio engineer told me that formula used is for DC output and we should be using the AC formula which is different to what we are looking for. Can someone shed some light on this?
can i just use bluetooth and use youtube for the 50hz or the test sound must be from a cd
question: i am using a 1000rms 4ch amplifier (250rms x 4). should i use the channel power or total amplifier power?
Use the channel power and test each channel output assuming all channels are wired to the same impedance.