AMM-1 Doesn't seem accurate, anyone else?

[DrewJones]

I suppose I could understand him being upset if he had some high dollar, high power amps that were making thousands less than they should..... but I mean....

[mothra]

i have an AMM1 and have tested several amps. I have just chalked it up as a BS tool. I've tried different wire sizes, different subs and all results were horrible. I metered the Sony radio with the "built in amp" and it yielded 1 watt on a 4Ω speaker then I put a 2Ω JBL speaker and it yielded 1 watt. I metered a Soundstream 2k and it yielded 500 watts on 2 DC Level 4 D1 subs wired to 1Ω. I tried one sub wired down to .5Ω to account for any sort of rise and it yielded 300 watts. these are just the most disappointing results. There are very few AMM1 owners as a whole so it hard to get any sort of trouble shooting or support. Since I install for a shop I thought I'd use this heck out of this thing but I can't b/c it simply just doesn't do what it's suppose to do. just simply reading voltage is a failure unless you get the exact wires with the exact polarity correct when probing for your reading. if polarity is backwards on a normal DMM it'll just put a "-" to indicate the probes are backwards while the AMM1 just displays nothing so you don't even know it's backwards, you'd just assume it's the wrong wires.

I'd be interested in a D'Amore explanation on this. A $400 tool not doing what it was intended to do should be a concern.

what explanation is there? the tool works great. I don't doubt that Soundstream 2k is doing 500 watts on speakers. I hate to be the one to inform you that those amps have potential to be "one of those amps"...they aren't what they used to be if you catch my drift. I would like to see one on an AD-1. On speakers though, when they get to moving, they are not 1 ohm any more. Those subs could be as high as 6 or 7 ohms depending on the situation (while moving).

Anyway, Please read what Audiofanaticz was trying to tell you guys. Also, please read the book it comes with. As far as hooking it up backwards, don't do that. lol. Red to positive, black to negative. Easy. As far as hooking it up to test wattage, pos/neg dont matter since you are probing the speaker leads not the battery. Are you hooking positive, negative up to the battery and then running the speaker wire through the hole? Pos/neg need to be on speaker output AND one of the wires must pass through the hole at the same time. Not hooked up to the battery.

I use my AMM-1 all the time and have made several video's of it in action. If you truly feel your unit has a problem, i can replace it. If you hate it that much, send it back i will refund your money. Simple. But i will tell you this, the AMM-1 is one of my favorite tools and it is no BS.

i hear the other side and even you have to admit that all the videos that you have used the AMM1 that none of your videos are on speakers in an enclosure. all those videos are on the load bank from the AD1. you have never put that AMM1 on speakers to show how a sub wired to 1Ω on an amp that puts out X watts at 1Ω actually puts out Y watts. all the videos have been of A amp connected to AD1 on the load selected from the AD1 with the AMM1 in line. Tony did 1 video with it connected to a speaker and just mentioned how subtle things can change output. I'm not on my first AMM1. I'm sure it'll come to you that I started an overly emotional thread about the AMM1 before. I've it replaced and still no change in result. there is little to no users out there that post on the forums and the few that have, have been blasted by the forum for being stupid, not reading the manual, or the best one one "quite using cheap batteries". sorry but i've humbled up several times when it comes to SMD products b/c I own a DD1, CC1, and AMM1. I've owned several of each and even rented them out on another forum. I've had several people literally repeat setting up the device and make no changes and the device not work on the first few times then magically work, then do the same thing on the next amp. I get the pointing the finger at brands not be the same as "back in the day" as most are not but I've had Kicker, RF, Sundown,etc... not even do half of rated when wired below their rated to account for any sort of rise. while I do have an ego, I am surely not one to humble up and apologize for being a dick. I'm more than open to what I could be doing wrong to be getting 1 watt of output from a free air 2Ω speaker on a radio that has a built in amp that suppose to put out 40 watts RMS at 4Ω. i know someone asked but the AMM1 doesn't work on music, it has to be a sine wave.

[_paralyzed_]

You can't just wire to a lower ohm load to "account for any sort of rise". If you're having a ton of rise, you'll still have a half ton of rise wired lower.

In this thread Wicks has showed you with actual graphs just how crazily high impedance can rise.

What you don't seem to be understanding is that using an amm-1 in a vehicle will yield the exact results you are getting.

The problem is rise, not the amm-1. It's been said over and over again. If you measure what your actual impedance is at the time of the test and do the math you will see that the amm-1 is doing it's job.

The fact you are measuring power at all shows that the amm-1 is working fine. It will either work, or not work, it won't just read low.

You're being confronted with the harsh reality that in real world applications and due to the complexities of electricity that amplifiers rarely ever put out rated power.

The incredibly low wattage figures you've listed seem absolutely normal to me.

The answer is rise. RISE. RISE. RISE. RISE. RISE.

You clearly have underestimated the amount that impedance rise is present in audio.

Use your amm-1 to measure the actual impedance you see. It is not what the amp is wired at.

Also your "free air" test- well, that's a free air speaker and of course the impedance will be all over the place.

It's weird. It's like you completely understand what impedance rise is, it's just that you are unwilling to accept that impedance rise is happening to you.

The numbers you posted in the first post seem completely normal and accurate to me DUE TO RISE.

Your amm-1 is working fine, you're just not willing to accept that in a real world environment no one gets near to "rated" power. No one. Not even the best of the best.

[_paralyzed_]

Do the kenwood/focal test again, but also measure the impedance during the test. Then do the math. You will see that your impedance is much higher than you assumed it was and that your amm-1 is working just fine.

[audiofanaticz]

preparing to prove someone wrong. please hold

[audiofanaticz]

i hear the other side and even you have to admit that all the videos that you have used the AMM1 that none of your videos are on speakers in an enclosure. all those videos are on the load bank from the AD1. you have never put that AMM1 on speakers to show how a sub wired to 1Ω on an amp that puts out X watts at 1Ω actually puts out Y watts. all the videos have been of A amp connected to AD1 on the load selected from the AD1 with the AMM1 in line.

Here ya go

You can watch the video all the way through and watch the before and afters, or go to 4:43.

AMM-1 being used on subwoofers in an enclosure

https://youtu.be/qcYOtBC_ONU?t=4m43s

Here is another one.

https://youtu.be/--sdgtgzR4k?t=3m45s

Dismissed.

[audiofanaticz]

AMM-1 being used on a woofer free-air

AMM-1 being used on a subwoofer free-air

[CstrokerV]

i want a amm-1 need to get my cc-1 and a img first lol.... or fascoup can send me his for 100 bucks lol

[TonyD'Amore]

i have an AMM1 and have tested several amps. I have just chalked it up as a BS tool. I've tried different wire sizes, different subs and all results were horrible. I metered the Sony radio with the "built in amp" and it yielded 1 watt on a 4Ω speaker then I put a 2Ω JBL speaker and it yielded 1 watt. I metered a Soundstream 2k and it yielded 500 watts on 2 DC Level 4 D1 subs wired to 1Ω. I tried one sub wired down to .5Ω to account for any sort of rise and it yielded 300 watts. these are just the most disappointing results. There are very few AMM1 owners as a whole so it hard to get any sort of trouble shooting or support. Since I install for a shop I thought I'd use this heck out of this thing but I can't b/c it simply just doesn't do what it's suppose to do. just simply reading voltage is a failure unless you get the exact wires with the exact polarity correct when probing for your reading. if polarity is backwards on a normal DMM it'll just put a "-" to indicate the probes are backwards while the AMM1 just displays nothing so you don't even know it's backwards, you'd just assume it's the wrong wires.

Sounds like yours is an early one. What firmware does it have?

[TonyD'Amore]

i have an AMM1 and have tested several amps. I have just chalked it up as a BS tool. I've tried different wire sizes, different subs and all results were horrible. I metered the Sony radio with the "built in amp" and it yielded 1 watt on a 4Ω speaker then I put a 2Ω JBL speaker and it yielded 1 watt. I metered a Soundstream 2k and it yielded 500 watts on 2 DC Level 4 D1 subs wired to 1Ω. I tried one sub wired down to .5Ω to account for any sort of rise and it yielded 300 watts. these are just the most disappointing results. There are very few AMM1 owners as a whole so it hard to get any sort of trouble shooting or support. Since I install for a shop I thought I'd use this heck out of this thing but I can't b/c it simply just doesn't do what it's suppose to do. just simply reading voltage is a failure unless you get the exact wires with the exact polarity correct when probing for your reading. if polarity is backwards on a normal DMM it'll just put a "-" to indicate the probes are backwards while the AMM1 just displays nothing so you don't even know it's backwards, you'd just assume it's the wrong wires.

I'd be interested in a D'Amore explanation on this. A $400 tool not doing what it was intended to do should be a concern.

The AMM-1 is dead on with the $3500 AD-1 Amp Dyno. Like others have said, what was the impedance on those runs mentioned above? Because "wired to 1 ohm" means nothing at all. It could be 15 ohms at the frequency that was used for testing, in which case a 2k amp would only put out a few hundred watts.