TonyD'Amore

A bank of fixed resistance... sounds like Chase.

I understand what he is saying as well, just giving him a hard time. Jokes aside, even if that setup worked, you would then know how many VA your amplifier can put out into a bucket of concrete. Still wouldn't tell you how many Watts your amplifier puts into your SPEAKERS

Do we have anyone art-sy in here? I'd love to see a sketch of a guy dynoing an amplifier with a bucket of concrete with a pos scope, a voltmeter, a clamp meter, and a calculator attached to it.

You should manufacture and sell your bucket-o-concrete meter. Sounds profitable. The shipping costs might suck though. I remember when we stared 3 years ago, someone told us "I could build a DD-1 with $10 of parts from Radio Shack". I'm still waiting to see it.

You are looking at about $5000 worth of testing equipment sitting on my make shift bench. I have the tools to do the job correctly, most people dont. The AMM1 now provides an affordable solution that. That's what i'm trying to say, with cost difference between the tools needed to get an accurate test the amm1 is a hands down winner. Yes clamping with the right tools can give you More accurate result but still not 100% and not as cost effective. Let's face it us audio guys are always looking for a good way to save money while still getting the install done right. The amm1 helps do that plus some with ease and accuracy. Sorry if anyone feels like i'm baking clamping, not trying to. It's the way of the past and inaccurate compared to the amm1. For a cost effective tool the amm1 is a steal. Unless the amm1 is cheaper than 250 bucks then it's actually not the better deal. But if you honestly need something that can measure taking into account for the power factor then I guess spend the extra money. 99% of people don't do it and so the industry standard is basically clamping for voltamps. If the Fluke meters are used with an purely resistive load (99% of people do not have this), and you can guarantee that NO CLIPPING occurs then the AMM-1 and clamps should agree. So you need a True RMS Voltmeter, a True RMS clamp meter, an oscilloscope, and a non-inductive load bank. So basically an Amp Dyno. Add a zero to the end of that $250

The first 5 minutes of Video 5 on this page describe why a DMM and clamp become inaccurate if the signal clips at all, even if they are "True RMS" meters. What is RMS? Find out here http://www.damoreengineering.com/freeeducation.html

It will go into protect with a 4 ohm load. (breaker will pop) But should do about 3600W before that happens. Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you shock the shit out of your self.

If the box is already made it would be able to tell you the port tuning frequency. The sealed tuning would have to be measured as a sealed box only, not firing into a ported box. So if you were building a bandpass box you would be able to do this during the building process

Connect it to your home stereo's speaker connections and see if you get signal then.

The Amp Dyno doesn't care one way or the other. It will measure the true power coming into it regardless where it is coming from. You could connect it to a wall socket if you wanted to dyno your house.

Just wanted to take a minute to describe some of the differences between the AD-1 Amplifier Dyno and the AMM-1 Audio Multimeter The AD-1 Amplifier Dyno can do these things that the AMM-1 cannot do: 1. Measure Amplifier Output into a purely resistive load bank 2. Measure Amplifier Output until 1.0% THD is reached 3. Measure Amplifier Output into 10 different load impedances with the touch of a button 4. Measure Amplifier Dynamic Power Output (IEC-202 Standard for headroom) 5. Capture the exact B+ Voltage that was seen at the amplifier at the moment the last power reading was made 6. Two DD-1+ built in. 7. Measure amplifier output in car using resistive load bank vs your speakers, this provides VERY consistent measurements so the effects from changing things like a better B+ power cable, better ground, better battery etc can be easily and accurately measured This is the exact type of testing the the factories use when manufacturing the amplifiers, and meet CEA standards. They are very defined tests with strict rules. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The AMM-1 Audio Multimeter can do these things that the AD-1 cannot do: 1. Measure amplifier power into your speaker load, both apparent power (VA) and true power (Watts) 2. Measure impedance of your speaker load at any freq from 20Hz - 1kHz 3. Measure the current vs voltage phase shift of a reactive load (Power Factor) 4. Measure the DC Voltages like a multimeter 5. Super fast DC Min/Max for measuring drops and peaks of a DC voltage 6. Measure the Power CONSUMPTION of AC powered devices, like microwaves and light bulbs for example 7. Find the tuning freq of your subwoofer box, box rise and such That is a short summary, I'll be checking when I can to answer any technical questions about the product. Thanks! Tony D

You can read clipped power. On the VA and Power Factor screen, the VA reading isn't limited by the clipping detector so you can just take the VA number and multiply it by the Power Factor % and you will have Watts (clipped or not)

Instead of the 0dB for the first part of the process before going to the overlap setting?

Check out Video 7 of our series of educational videos. As usual, this one starts off answering the homework problem from Video 6, and then goes into the science behind the gain control knob and properly setting gains.

If you still think "clamping" to measure amplifier output power is "close enough" you should watch the answer to the homework problem from Video 6, here at the beginning of Video 7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q48LQou_VhE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q48LQou_VhE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q48LQou_VhE

Video 7 is posted.

Nailed it

Done. http://damoreengineering.com/amm-1.html

Why you need a SMD IM-SG Impedance Meter at 27:25

If the topic of why clamping isn't accurate still isn't clear, check out Video 6 of the D'Amore Engineering University series here

There is now a tool for you sir.

yes

yes

Basically. Just that it uses your speaker loads and measures how much power your amplifier is putting into your speakers. The amp dyno uses load resistors and measures how much power the amplifier is capable of putting out.\

The latest installment of the D'Amore Engineering University Free Education Series has been uploaded. Video 6 - AC Current and Power (Super Scary Halloween Special).