Getting a More Poweful Amp than speakers can handle. question

[adreano17]

my philosophy is to get a amp that is more powerful than needed, but still properly setting gains. This will allow voltage drops and not straining the amp to do more than what it can handle with increased amprage pull. is this a good practice? or just get the amp that i actually need for it. i.e a 80RMS capable amp for a 80RMS speaker vs a 100RMS capable amp for a 80RMS speaker

[JWBryant]

I think that would work if say you had an amp that was 120 wrms at 1 ohm and 80 wrms at 2 ohms and you ran it at 2 ohms versus if you had an amp that was 80wrms at 1 ohm and ran it at that.

[adreano17]

I think that would work if say you had an amp that was 120 wrms at 1 ohm and 80 wrms at 2 ohms and you ran it at 2 ohms versus if you had an amp that was 80wrms at 1 ohm and ran it at that.

exactly

[Quiet]

Going over RMS is fine, and it's the best way to go, as long as you do it right. A lot of SQ guys like having a lot of overhead power. Music is very transient, and if your musical peaks are well within the power capability of the amplifier, your music will sound cleaner.

What you need to do is set your gains with a DMM.

Step 1: Determine the RMS output of one channel of your amplifier and the rated RMS input of your speakers/subwoofers you will be using on that channel. Select the lower of the two for referencing the chart above.

Step 2: Match the impedance (ohms) you have on one channel of your amplifier to the column on the chart.

Step 3: Turn your amplifier gain all the way down.

Step 4: Disconnect all speakers/subwoofers from the amplifier

Step 5: Insert the leads of the multimeter in to the channel you are setting (if bridging an amplifier use the terminals you would be using)

Step 6: Set the multimeter to ac volts

Step 7: Turn on the head unit, zero out all EQ settings, turn off all filters (low pass/high pass), and make sure loudness is off.

Step 8: Insert the test tone cd

Step 9: Set the volume to 75%-80% of the maximum volume on your head unit.

Step 10: Start playing the appropriate test tone - recommended 50hz for subwoofers, 1000hz for mids/highs

Step 11: Slowly turn the gain until you obtain the voltage from the chart

Step 12: Turn off the head unit, unhook the multimeter, hook up your speakers/subwoofers, then readjust your filters/eq settings to your liking and you're done.

yeah i know it's copypasta, but so was the place I got it from.

This was in another post (thanks Kranny) but I couldn't find the thread. TONES

Edited April 15, 2012 by srp365

[adreano17]

Going over RMS is fine, and it's the best way to go, as long as you do it right. A lot of SQ guys like having a lot of overhead power. Music is very transient, and if your musical peaks are well within the power capability of the amplifier, your music will sound cleaner.

What you need to do is set your gains with a DMM.

Step 1: Determine the RMS output of one channel of your amplifier and the rated RMS input of your speakers/subwoofers you will be using on that channel. Select the lower of the two for referencing the chart above.

Step 2: Match the impedance (ohms) you have on one channel of your amplifier to the column on the chart.

Step 3: Turn your amplifier gain all the way down.

Step 4: Disconnect all speakers/subwoofers from the amplifier

Step 5: Insert the leads of the multimeter in to the channel you are setting (if bridging an amplifier use the terminals you would be using)

Step 6: Set the multimeter to ac volts

Step 7: Turn on the head unit, zero out all EQ settings, turn off all filters (low pass/high pass), and make sure loudness is off.

Step 8: Insert the test tone cd

Step 9: Set the volume to 75%-80% of the maximum volume on your head unit.

Step 10: Start playing the appropriate test tone - recommended 50hz for subwoofers, 1000hz for mids/highs

Step 11: Slowly turn the gain until you obtain the voltage from the chart

Step 12: Turn off the head unit, unhook the multimeter, hook up your speakers/subwoofers, then readjust your filters/eq settings to your liking and you're done.

yeah i know it's copypasta, but so was the place I got it from.

This was in another post (thanks Kranny) but I couldn't find the thread. TONES

hey its you again lol. how much you think over RMS is good?

[Quiet]

how much can you afford? LOL

[Skullz]

More power is god mode in both front stage and sub stage allowing you to play at much louder levels with little to no distortion but you can go to big and lose balance in a system and have way to much sub stage and not enough front stage. This is where you need to make a choice in how you decide to do a system, do you want an spl machine that throws down nice numbers, do you want a system that plays loud and clean or a system that is not quite an SQ machine but has sq qualities without going all in or a full blown sq machine with everything.

Each one has it's place and was pointed out already and it really comes down to money and how much your willing to spend to reach the desired goal.

[Quiet]

Proportion is good. But it really doesn't have anything to do with this. If you set your gains like the chart shows, then you should be ok. Having more power than RMS isn't going to make it any louder than just having RMS, but it will make it sound a lot better when you're playing it loud.

[STEvil]

using a larger amp will not remove voltage drops. If anything it can make them worse.

that said more is better if done right.

[noodlebot]

thanks srp365 that first post was exactly what i needed