How to Set your Gains with a Multimeter

[anthonycventura]

nice. what's the link to that chart on your computer?

[8320884]

what do u think of meades new distortion detector? worth it or waste of money?

[Roscoe100486]

Excellent video! Pretty clean set up too. About how much do DMM's go for?

[ihaveabutt]

@Roscoe100486 20 bucks honestly...i mean they make 200$ models but for this application it isnt nessacary.

[sounduser]

You must used a 60 or 50 hz tone. Cheap meters are calibrated to this frequency, because they are used by domestic electricity supples.

[uselesstheory]

what about companies who give you rated power at 14.5v vs real world 12.5v? would that change anything or no?

[ihaveabutt]

@uselesstheory theres nothing wrong with giving 14.5v the fact that people run 12.5 is due to small electrical but yes. if your running 12.5 you need to factor that in the equation not 14.5

[uselesstheory]

@ihaveabutt so def a good idea to clamp test the amp to get the actual power at your average voltage before setting gains sounds like. i kept watching vids on gains and nobody has pointed this out haha. thanks man

[vsmooth1983]

Hey Guy WHere'd U Get THe Chart From Thats On The Computer Screen id like to use it later when i do my new set up.

[agent1543]

You have to also make sure you turn all of your "Bass Boosts, Treble, Bass, Crossovers" Off before doing this. My 500watt Alpine @ 2 ohms was 31.6 AC Volts. bcae1.net has a Wire section, of you list the amp you have and the load it will give you the voltage at the amp. That's what I used to get the 31.6v. Hope this comes in handy for other people. Thank you again for putting this video on. I did this a few months ago, I was going to buy a Meade Meter, but now I don' tneed to.

[Guitarrassdeamor]

What is the difference between doing 50hz/60hz/whatever?

[bdog99049]

@ihaveabutt oh okay. maybe my low pass is lower than I thought or something...

[bdog99049]

So I played a 60 hz tone and the voltage was lower than the 30 hz tone. Is this Normal? And do you know what frequency produces the highest voltage? (so I can get the best possible tuning without distortion)

[ihaveabutt]

@bdog99049 yes 60hz die to it taking the most power from your amplifier

[shoutofthedevil13]

ok i have a ? so if i had a 1200 watt amp @ 1 ohm then that would be 34.6 volts right?

[N1CH0LAS12]

I love it "the one thing you will need is a multimeter" lol

[Chil3kwa]

@ 0:54 he says "so you wanna set you amp to AC volts" I bet he meant the multimeter

[badmofo529]

why are all these people that dont really know what they are talking about saying that this method is bullshit? it is a very accurate method if you know simple math, and the ACTUAL output power of your amp. if you have an amp like sundown, aq, dc ect you will be safe because you will get a lower gain setting than possible because they are underrated. the only people that would blow shit are people running ap or jensen or something else that is overrated.

[Enigma311311]

I just giggled at this video..

[ihaveabutt]

Your not detecting signal but rather maychong the output voltage with your cars. See clipping is more about voltages not being proportionate and stretches out the signal.

[petes0213645975]

This is so retarded. You set your gain at the maximum point before the signal clips. a multimeter cant detect clipping of a signal. So to everyone who watches this video, its a load of shit. You need an O-Scope or a SMD DD-1 to detect clipping from your amplifier or headunit. Dont set your gain using a multimeter. Its worthless

[TheKyyylemorris]

@petes0213645975

just saying i dont want to drop 150 on a smd dd-1 to tune a 200 dollar amp, so i will be sticking to this method. alot more safer than by ear long as your amp is over rated. js

[petes0213645975]

@TheKyyylemorris but still, multimeters can not detect clipping..... So this method is useless to do that and that is what im just saying

[TheKyyylemorris]

@petes0213645975

i get what your saying, but it isnt useless, i mean its not as exact has something that can check to clipping and it might not get you every bit of power you can possibly get but its safer than ear. lol

[supersanchez1991]

can you please help me out i dont really understand i am kinda new at this. i have a jbl amp that is connected as 580W at 2 ohms. and my kicker sub is rated 500W at 2 ohms. so my voltage will be 34.05v right? now i just have one amp i run the rca cables from my headunit to the back of my amp, my amp is only powering my sub and nothing more. when i do this test should i dissconnect my speakers from the headunit? thank you all the help will be appreciated.

[kymish]

where can i get the chart?

[seancarraher]

this is how not to set your gains........the whole video i expected to hear beavis laughing in the background ......... "he he he he ya ya POWER!!!!!! POWER !!!!!POWER!!!!!!"

[Enigma311311]

@seancarraher lmao..

[wow1022]

i put a 2k ohm load with resistors and calculated it

[tmorales509]

I have a question I have a spl grla 1800.2. 380 watts rms x 2 at 2 ohms so I do 380 x 2=760 and the square root of that is I think 27.4 or so. anyways when I start turning my gain up it doesn't reach that voltage. with the gain at Max the voltage is only 22. what does thi s mean, I know the amp probably doesn't do 760watts rms since the fusing is only 60 amps.

[icemikexc90]

hi, i want to sent gains on a alpne pdx-m12, but with no load does this still work ?

[123mrcanttouchthis]

You are the fucking man, man

[redbulladdiict]

k i have a 2000w 2 channel amp running 2 cvr 12d2 at 4 ohms so id do 2000x4=8000 sqr is 89.4 idk if this is right why i was asking that and how do i figure out what my head units max vol. is just turn it up till the it sounds like shit on the highs or turn it up till i hear or feel movement on the subs?

[mirodriguez888]

to get the rms watts do you get it from the subwoofers rms and if u do would it be 450 watts since i have 3 150 watt subs

[ciskjezarb]

Nice tutorial first of all...great info and straight to the point. Now I have a question/problem. I am setting my gains using a 30hz test tone. Now the problem lies here because after I set the voltage to match the worked out voltage (mine is 45 V) using the 30hz tone but than I play a 50hz tone which causes the voltage to be higher than 45V and this should not occur as according to my knowledge lower frequencies are the ones that require the most voltage. Any ideas why this is happening? 10x

[MAK3ITRAINONDEMHOES]

so if my amp puts out 800 wrms at 1ohm but im running it at half an ohm then do i multiply the 800 times 1 or times .5?

[eirol15]

nice tutorials ... gudluck !!!!!

[johnziebass]

what if its a high current amplifier...?? wattage=(v)volts x (I)current

[ihaveabutt]

@johnziebass what do you mean by high current? it shouldnt matter. its the same equation

[MillerFootball]

@johnziebass Voltage not amps don't burn your meter up using current. Volts = Amps * Ohms

[KF7AYS]

This only works for setting the amps at that tone not the entire range.

Good luck and when you blow your speakers, be sure to sue this idiot.

[ihaveabutt]

@KF7AYS set it for ur most power using FS. then ur fine for the rest of the range...so if 40hz is ur peak./ set to that and you will be fine everywhere else..

[wayward03]

@KF7AYS your a moron, please do not contribute to audio conversations.

[wakingjudea420]

ive got a rf t1500-1bd rated at 1824 @ 1 ohm on the birthsheet. do i use that to figure out the voltage?

[53Raider]

what website did you get this chart from?

[dragonsage2008]

hey i have a hifonics hif1500d running it at 2 ohms for 1000rms max at 14.4 volts im runngin at full tilt is about 12.87 is what i normaly drop down to i have a 2 volt pre amp out put i was wondering what should i set my gain to like this with a dmm and at ac would i set the dmm to batt setings at 12 volts what would i set my dmm to then thanks in advace

[vorkev1]

my head set nver sounds bad or distorted even at full and the aferage lising is 62 out of 100

[SuperErwin71]

NICE BATTERY

[popstoastymonkey]

hi, i have kind of an unrelated question. my amp only one frequency setting knob (i think a crossover knob) if i set it to say 75 is that number the max, min, or middle of the range of frequencies that will be played?

[ihaveabutt]

@popstoastymonkey that is the max that the amp will amplify but wil still play above that unamplified.

[psychopathic2009]

Hi i am running a soundstream rubicon 2500.1 @ 1 ohm what should my voltage be at. TY

[ihaveabutt]

@psychopathic2009 that depends. what voltage do you drop down to at full tilt? its based on your voltage while playing at your max volume. so if you had 12v even at full bump you would want to match the output on the amps in ac current to the respective wattage on the amplifiers. its a bit confusing tell me yor whole setup and some numbers your getting voltage wise so i can help you better

[psychopathic2009]

@ihaveabutt Hello i am running a Alpine 9835 deck & Audiocontrol epic 160 & 2 Soundstream rubcion 2500.1 Amps & 2 Fi audio 18" BTL N2 fully load D2 Subwoffers & 1 XS Power D3100 battery & 2 250 amp circuit breakers & a Mickman 250 amp Alt & All 0 Gauge power & ground wire and 8 gauge speaker wire and did the big 3 upgrade. My lowes voltage is 12.8-13.0 and highs is 15.0-15.7

[USMCfosho]

BASSHEADS UNITE! Great tutorial brotha!

[tmorales509]

be ok to go with a 6db bass boost and turn the gain back a little?

[tmorales509]

I have a question, ok you set the gains for a certain voltage output via a 50 or 60hz test tone, lets say for example my amp is 360watts@4ohms, so id be looking for 37.94volts. Ok so once i do that with a test tone and then go and play regualr music the amp is not gonna put anywhere near that voltage, when i play regular music i get at most 19volts. Im guessing you could compensate for that loss if your head unit has a subwoofer volume control, you could just turn it up but mine doesnt, would it

[ihaveabutt]

@tmorales509 you want to set it for your maximum voltage at your tone..so that way while playing music you come no where near clipping most of the time. yes it will be less rms wattage but really the difference between 50watts less and not clipping vs a clipped signal is night and day. play it safe dont feel like you need to have everything maxed out always.

[icemikexc90]

hi, the amp is the alpine PDX-m12, its rated power is at 2 or 4 OHM, thanks for the swift reply.

[icemikexc90]

hi, just need a little help, i have a pdx-m12, its test cert says 1334 RMS, so say i want to set it to 1300, 1300 x 4 ohm + 5200 which would meen 72.11 V, is this right.

[ihaveabutt]

@icemikexc90 is the amp rated at 1334rms at 4ohm or 1ohm?

[seanaspire]

lmfao is this tdi im pimping my tdi too, got boost gauge,tempt gauge oil press gauge oil temp gauge pillar 1000 rms kenwood nice tail lights and kenwood sticker on back window lol and more etc

TDI-Tec VW all the way

[ihaveabutt]

@seanaspire its a chipped 1.8t. not tdi

[crulockdown]

Oh and another question. Ok im bout to install a 15 inch kicker cvr rated 500wrms and ive got a 1000watt audiopipe amp that puts out 600wrms now should i take the 500wrms rating and times it by 2 that way i would be sending that much and not 600wrms?

[ihaveabutt]

@crulockdown i would tune the amp for 600wrms and then factor in voltage loss. impedance rise etc. wich wil set you back to around 500W give or take

[crulockdown]

@ihaveabutt Thanks will do

[crulockdown]

Hey nice vid man but where can we get that chart that you have?

[MrSuicideSPL]

@underlok this along with ur God given meter(ur ears) is fairly accurAte if you know what your doing and take those variables into account. I know youre right in some instances because some amps dont do rated power and u cant even get the vlotage ur looking for. But i hear u

[UnderLoK]

Honestly man I'm not trying to be a jerk but the DMM is nothing more than a myth.

What if your input voltage (RCA) is too low? What if your amp is rated at 14.4 and you don't have the car running? What if the opposite? What if it's at 14.9? What if you charge at 15.2? What if your amp sucks and while rated at 1200 it only does 900 clean?

There are just far too many unforeseen variables for this method to be effective. While I appreciate the effort, if you HU clips at 25 your cooking subs.

[smokey420allday]

if u have an O scope... i hate you... LMFAO!! at least your honest

good vid man, this will help alot of people from blowing there shiz up -thumbs up-

[DAABOSS69]

good vid man should have bumped it haha.. new amps comming hifonics ftw

[ihaveabutt]

@DAABOSS69 did u get the cyclops? dual 0 power and grounds look beast on it.

[EXOcontralto]

Nice one mate!

[91basshead]

nice man glad u made the vid  this is jeepshaker from d4s btw

[goatskindreams]

thanx buddy