Pro tip: The issue with setting gain with multi meter is you should multiply the voltage by .707 to get the correct RMS value. This is why you had distortion and needed to turn the gain back down. I bet if you measure it again after using the DDM it will be around 17.2v👍👍 I’m not trying to criticize. Your info is spot on as usual.
It also will make a difference on the meter you use. MANY of the DVMs (Digital Volt Meters) on the market today are TRUE RMS, meaning they already show the RMS value, instead of peak voltage of an AC (Alternating Current) signal. Any signal above 0Hz, is AC by the way, that is what the frequency is a measurement of, how often the polarity is changing, (actually 1/2 of how often is changes since it is showing a full repetitive cycle rate, so it needs to change twice to get back to the original polarity.) Greatly simplified description... Anyway, IF the meter he was using is NOT a true RMS meter, the voltage the meter was showing would have been HIGHER than the actual RMS voltage, and with a sine wave, like he is using, the RMS voltage would already have been 0.70 volts LOWER than the displayed voltage.
It's about time I can't tell you how many videos I've watched that of either been too technical or not enough. You inform me of things I've never been told before and did it in a way I understand. thank you, Derik from Arizona
You do realize you're doing some very, very good work, Mark. I'm building a system now and your channel is teaching me a lot, and I've been DIY-ing for 30 years. I'll be donating to your Patreon soon! Thanks!
I was an installer for 19 years and did a LOT of brands. I am loyal to a handful and I have seen some favorites take a nosedive in quality. Two of my cars have the ENTIRE system replaced from the head unit through the entire audio path. My 'zip code car' had a Mach Audio system but only three channels of amplification were added. Even into my 50's I don't think I am capable of leaving ANY stock sound system alone.
Hi not sure if you will see this but I was wondering if you, I bought a JL rd 900/5 and for mids it’s has 70 watts rms @ 4 ohms but I purchased a component speakers for the front Alpine R2 S65c it basically says 100 rms . What I am wondering is should I buy another amp for the rear (they are going to be similar alpines but 2 ways) or do you think I will be good? I know sometimes with like my home audio I could get an amp that only puts out on paper a small rms but they push speakers so good idk if it’s the same or not I mean if both speakers are 100 rms but my amp says 70 ? I know if I just push the fronts it will change to like 200 I believe so I’m just not sure really. I am also putting a dsp alpine as well 6 channel
For those of you who don’t really know who this guy is..let me tell you. Mark is the Lebron James of car audio fabrication. He’s a very detailed professional who takes his work extremely serious. He has every dam tool you could think of at his disposal to make the job look as good or better than factory. Whatever your audio needs are, Mark delivers. I’ve seen many other car audio fabricators. And all have unique talents. However Mark, (IMO), is the undisputed KING of the tube.
Haha there are a lot of guys way more talented than me, but I'm doing my best to make progress and get better with every build. Thanks for the love and thanks for watching!
I know this is a very late comment and you may not care past this point, but in the most simple way think of math as if it never had letters R=resistance multiply that by your wattage the speaker can handle (this information will be displayed on the speaker itself or the box it comes in) then take the square root of it all, this allows you to find your total gain control, assuming you set the radio at the right controls before tuning the amp
Very educational video just put my first one two days ago and I’ve been running it with the knobs all the way up cause no one taught me how to use anything but your videos have taught me so much in the last two days
On a lot of these controller units and amplifiers, I really wish the manufacturers would spend the extra time to put a tick mark or an arrow on the dials. It would really help a lot of us make adjustments especially while in the car and confined spaces.
Hey there, i'm having issues with a phoenix gold SX system in my Audi. The amp keeps going into protect mode. The audio place I purchased the equipment from installed it, and I've been back 7 times trying to get them to fix it, and they don't know whats going on. They won't return the equipment, etc. Any ideas why the phoenix gold 1200.1 would be kicking into protect even on low bass / low volume ?
Nice Video. I have a friend who has advanced knowledge of state of the art car audio. He has a 4000 watt 18 speakers system which sounded unlike anything automotive sound system I've ever heard...the amazing aspect is the specialized insulation system of the vehicle rendering the immense sound undetectable from out side while the doors are shut...it is truly amazing the tech mankind has achieved.
Ian McDonald I’m guessing it’s 17.2v ish’ Measuring with voltmeter you need to multiply by .707 to properly calculate for RMS. Just my understanding. I could be wrong.
His POT position using the DMM is a tick higer than using the DD1. Pobably cause he readjusted the stereo volume before using the DD1. Doesn't really matter, I'm cranking my ACDC to MAX everytime!
It might be worth adding that some amplifiers (DD Audio, Audio Control, Rockford) have a clipping indicator to help set the gains properly. I has been my experience that the DD Audio clip indicators on the D Series are pretty well spot on with the DD-1.
Problem with this method is that usually car CD or USB players play a lot louder than Bluetooth, for example. So if you plan on listening to music through Bluetooth/aux cable, you should make sure you play the test tones through those when you are setting the gain. Only use a CD if you plan on mostly listening to CDs.
I'm not talking about the Constructive comments on here but it's funny watching people point out Every little mistake Mark makes,every time he mis labels something or moves his finger in a way that,that person wouldn't personally move their fingers.I have a question.Where is your Video?Where is your RU-vid channel?Where are your almost 500,000 Subscribers?!?!???It's easy to criticize someone when you have the advantage of watching after the video was made and being an outsider looking in.Keep up the great work Mark! You're so very helpful to Car audio newbs like myself.
Man i love their product. If i had my own shop that would be my premiere line of amps. Especially since the auto industry is trying their damnedest to keep aftermarket equipment out. Loving the integration
Big Ounce yes it will be a bit quieter at lower volume but it’s supposed to be a lot of people set their amps to the max settings thinking it will be the loudest but it over does it and actually isn’t as loud just distorted but if you tune it you can get that max crisp volume without a bit of distortion:)
@Mark, I just cant thank you enough for this video, my installer have made horrible mistakes on tuning the new amp and audio was worth than stock system. I followed you guidance and my car audio is 300% better than stock now ... 😁 Respect mate 🍻
Question: once I set the gain with the head unit bass at 0 and the auxiliary bass knob at max, can i then later turn the head unit bass back up or do I only use the auxiliary knob? Please help
Hey great video. I just want to make sure I got my numbers and math right, I have a clarion amp 1300 watts and the box says 650 continuous watts @ 2ohms. So my math would be 2 * 650 = 1300, the sq route is 36.055.... is this right?
For the equation that was used @ 4:00 did you use the amplifiers RMS power or Max power? Also, what if the speakers you're using are rated for less power than your amplifier can put out?
I have a after market head unit with stick speakers and 4 12’ kicker red lines (I’m 17 with minimal wage leave me alone😂) and I just turned the bass down all the way on my head unit so my speakers can play as loud as possible with no distortion and let the subs do the lows :)
When you use a dsp like the audio control 608 and you do all your adjustments on the dsp. Do you leave the amplifier crossover on off or no crossover or you further adjust on the amplifier controls?
Hi, thanks for your videos! The bass rolloff as you turn on the volume is rather a result of loudness function in the unit, that compensate humans hearing system non linearity. As your volume is low loudness function tilt up bass and highs. As you increase the volume the tilt up becomes smaller until zero tilt up from some volume level (defined by manufacturer). This looks like bass rolloff what is actually not really.
great video, but I noticed that you had low battery on the smd dd-1, I had that happen to me thinking my signal was distorted but when I changed my battery I could go a little bit more before distortion. great vid though for setting gains and crossovers.
My subwoofer guy put paint on top of the gain controls and all that and said he put them exactly where they need to be, so don't touch them and he'll be able to tell if I messed with it because the paint would be cracked on the dials. Loved that guy
Due to reflection caused by the impedance mismatch when there are no speakers, that equation I don't think, will apply to the speaker outputs. I think putting a 4 Ohm resistor in place of the speakers and then measuring the voltage, would probably help eliminate distortion.
@@jonathanharris185Well, I believe placing a resistor will change the result but only slightly. The reflections at the speaker outputs will be maximized since there's nothing plugged in, and the amp is probably designed to have impedance matching at 2-4 ohms. It's almost like shaking a slinky while holding one end attached to a concrete block. What this could change....is the RMS value the multimeter reads since the waveform could be different, and setting the gain may therefore be off.
Much appreciated, love the video very descriptive on making the knowledge easy to understand. The only thing I would comment on that would make it better is your transition timing from one sentence to another specially when you go from an edited video speak about one thing and transfer to the edited part that follows. You talk a little fast so for some it may be hard to follow on a listening paste. Little longer pauses between sentences. Liked and subscribed. Thanks again much appreciated
Ok I'm a old school DIY audio installer. Now that the Technology has change I wanted learn how to match speakers and amps. Tune them properly. Also fabricate speaker boxes. All for motorcycles. I've already subscribed, can you suggest video that can help?
Watching this at midnight 2.00 am in one remote village of India where these tuning is considered to be as alien technology, i will be able to tune my Focal Amp, JVC Stereo, Infinity component speakers along with Rockford sub in tomorrow morning, thanks to this video 😊
Thank you for the time and effort. I've watched a handful of your vids, mostly revolving around the Audio Control amps. I'm very, very interested in them. That said, in other vidz, you've shown the feature LED that AC uses to help set the gain. I'd love to see an addition to this vid, or perhaps a separate one, where you use the Scope or DDM to test out how accurate their LED is. :) Once again, thank you.
I just hooked up a boss 1000 amplifier to 4 Pioneer car speakers 2 6x9 and 2 5.5 for front...and it doesnt sound like its even working that well. It does increase the volumn with less distortion. I guess that is all the amp does. It has one of those amp increase knobs which does nothing. A new Rockville 800 watt amp and 2 8" Subs in a factory made box.. coming in a few days. Perhaps the sound quality will improve with some lower tones. All this info you talk about is over my head, plus I don't have testing equipment or money to buy the good stuff anyway. But sure like dreaming about it.You make sense. Years ago I had a $1000 dollar pioneer system put in a camaro. I'm wondering if the same system would cost the same today and sound as good. And it was awesome. Super clear sound with a Pioneer super tuner 2. Or a 3 not sure since it was 30 years ago. Not sure what the same system would cost today. But it had no subwoofer. Just very clear sounding quality stereo music. with 40 watt pioneer amps on front and a 40 on the rear 6x9's. I just spent that much on a new system and it hardly sounds any where as good as the other one. And I made sure all the wires are Plus and MINUS hook ups. RCA cables exactly where they need to be. Since my car is a 70 classic I had to make myself by a radio looking tuner which is probably the big problem with quality sound. Its a Radio, USA-230, Custom Size, AM/FM, 200 Watt, Chrome Face, Black Buttons, Chrome Knobs, Ford. Probably the crap that is causing the poor sound quality through the pioneer speakers.
Instead of using the maximum output of the amp in your calculation, if the speaker capability is less than the amps capability, would it be more appropriate to use the maximum RMS power capability of the speaker being driven? That way the speaker isn't being over powered if its power capacity is below what the amp can put out.
At 10:20 you said have the high pass set for speaker at 80hz . Now let say my speakers frequency response claims to be 35-21k Hz . Do I still do 80 or do I set it to something like 50hz (it the lowest my amp can set my high pass to) .My 4 channel lowest claims to be 20-21k Hz. It’s a Rockford fosgate T400x4ad
These kinds of videos would have been great 25 years ago. I mean they are great now, but would have also been great then too. I had no idea what I was doing, lol. Thanks!
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
Thanks Mark! Now truly understand that even though I've match the amp voltage - Sub RMS doesn't mean it's not clipping.. I guess time to get one of those DD1..
Question on amp tuning: If the amplifier is rated at 75 watts at 2 ohms and the speakers are rated at 75 watts at 2.7 ohms is it logical that the gain on the amplifier can be set to its maximum since the numbers match up almost exactly; i.e. 75 watts on each and both are in the approximate 2 ohm range? The amplifier is an Alpine and the speakers are Infinity.
Can RMS power be calculated using the voltage? (Can you work the voltage at clipping backward to get an RMS value?) Even though an amplifier may be overrated/underrated, will finding the maximum voltage before clipping(using a dd1) be an accurate RMS value? Thanks ✌
This content is priceless!!! We already know you love premium quality equipment from AudioControl, do you have any comments about the Kicker Key amps with integrated DSP and auto-tuning capabilities. My guess it’s like comparing a full DSLR camera vs a point and a point and shoot one.
Kicker is a reliable manufacture and the Key is nice but using a camera analogy I would equate it with shooting on Auto mode vs Manual. The Key corrects things, but it does it automatically. At the end of the day a pro using "manual" mode and knowing what they are doing will be able to create a better finished result.
So let’s say I was gonna set the gains in a vehicle with all the factory stereo equipment just adding the amp and subs. Would I still play the tone as loud as I could with the head unit connected to the door speakers? Seems like every video I see there’s no speakers hooked up. Only the amp.
If my amp has a subsonic filter, would I turn that down before setting my gains or should I turn it up like I do with the crossovers. Thank you and keep making these amazing videos. They are so helpful.
Cut it down. Personally I have better bass with the subsonic filter off BUT it can cause damage long term if you don't use it at all. You'll see the more it goes UP the less bass you get. You'll either have a on off switch or a knob to adjust manually. If you have a knob after you set gains turn the sub filter maybe 10 percent but it's up to you. It essentially filters out bass notes inaudible to a person's hearing capabilities. Such frequencies could over time damage the woofer
Hey Mark, I have a LC1.800. I'm looking for info on how to set the accubass and can't find any help. Do you have a video available on how to set these up?
But when you set your gains with DMM, shouldn’t it be to the speaker specs and not the amp specs? Meaning, if the amp produces 125W but we’re putting a 100W speaker, we should be setting the gain for the speaker?
Question..The amp comes with a bass knob and the LC2i comes with a bass knob. Which one do I use? Also do I need to adjust the gain on the LC2i first or the amp? Do I only adjust gain on LOC or both? Thank you!
Great video Mark. Quick question for you....is there a way to lessen the wattage of an amp before it goes to the speakers? For example, if the speakers are 100 watts RMS but the amp is 125 watts rms, can adjust it so that the amp only puts out closer to 100 watts? is the extra 25 watts even that huge of a concern? Thanks!
sonic electronix did a video showing how to match high wattage amp to low wattage sub by setting the gain to a position to achieve the desired wattage but in this video you say that its still using 100% of the amplifier power so that means changing the gain won't increase or decrease power? im confused. please somebody anybody reply. i need to know if i can safely use my 2.5K amp on a 1200 watt sub.
The difference between the gain using the DDM and the DD-1 is significant. What was the pre-distortion voltage after using the DD-1?? Also, why was the amp's RMS used in the equation and not the speakers? I'm so confused.
With a quality amp like this would you suggest running a pre amp crossover? Would you get higher quality sound; or are the built in crossovers good enough?
Extremely important to set your levels right from your headunit to your amp & hpf & lpf’s one key note is, if your a daily driver like me and only use your volume knob below 60% threshold on your stereo you are almost never going to get to a clipping or distortion peak. Unless again!!! your levels are not set properly from beginning to end.
Thank you. This video with the help of Kicker's tech hotline to confirm specs enabled me to tune my first amp/sub combo. The only thing I found confusing was that the power formula used to determine gain voltage was based on the amp specs, and kicker told me to use the speakers specs for the calculation (Amp was 750 RMS versus Speaker which was 400 RMS). I assume that if I used the amp rating (750) and set the gain it would have been too much for the sub. Thank you for this video.
Thanks for the video. I was curious about the difference of using a load resistor when checking for voltage drop. A DMM - obviously has a much higher impedance than a 4 ohm load. I suppose the voltage would be the same, just much lower current out of the output channel of the amp.
Great video, I learned a lot! One problem though... I can't stop thinking about about the song you used to test. Someone on RU-vid uses that as an outro song or something, who da faq is it?!
