Explaining amp gain

[Sufkayx]

Hi

I may sound stupid for asking but im fairly new to car audio and have a little system consisting of

2 Alpine type R's 12d2 subs

4 Alpine type R component speakers

Lanzar OPTIDRIVE 2600 mono amp at 0.5 ohm which puts out 2600 at .5

4 cubic foot ported enclosure tuned at 36 hz

i have my subs wired to .5 and the subs are rated at 1k each whilst im using a 2600 amp

I am wanting to know what the gain is for im aware that its to match the output of the headunit with the amp but wanted to know if the gain determines how much power the amp recieves, at half gain will my amp get 1300 rms ?

or will my amp still put out 2600 but just need the deck volume to be turned up more than if the gain was at 3/4

Hope some one cant help

[Jhunt94]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q48LQou_VhE

Gain is pretty much a multiplying factor. You are matching the output of the headunit to have maximum clean output out of the amplifier. The gain is not a volume knob, so it's not like at 1/2 gain you have (x) amount of watts. The gain attenuation is measured in voltage not watts. Also if your headunit has higher volt rca's, consequently your gain will be at a lower position than if you have lower volt rca's (1-2volt). So to get the maximum clean output, you first have to know where the maximum clean output of the head unit is, and then adjusting the gain to match that.

[Sufkayx]

@jayhunt94

Great.

How do i match the voltage coming out of my headunit and also my amp. Do i use a multimetre and if so at what volts do i set them both

[Jhunt94]

Ideally you use either a DD-1, or an oscilloscope. The multi-meter method doesn't work bc you have to know specifically what volume the head unit distorts at, and depending on a ton of factors you don't know what the max unclipped voltage from the amplifier should be.

[Sufkayx]

Ohh i understand now,

The other day i was at a show and had my volume cranked up to around 30 of 35 and gains were set at around 75% after around 15 minutes i could smell some thing burning whent over yo my enclosure and smoke was coming out of the port. Took both subs out and they stunk so let them cool down and put them back in. I presume that was the voice coils burning but unsure whether it was b cause of clipping from the amp or because of me running 2 subs rated at 1k each of a 2600 watt amp. The cone of the subs were touch hot and the amp was warmer than it usually gets when i checked it

[Jhunt94]

It was most likely from clipping.

[Sufkayx]

Ok i will be buying a dd1 soon so that should help me out thanks for all the help

[Jhunt94]

no problem man

[andru]

There might be someone near you with a dd-1 take a look on the tool map http://www.easymapmaker.com/map/07b8a5c187dae6b87933b0458f8ba311