H 2 the eigel Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 Im sitting here and my friend says "Gain=Volume on the amp", i quickly said no. He is now asking for the reason why. I quite frankly do not know the exact reason. Basically why is the gain not the volume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sound xtreme Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 the gain is an adjustment to compensate for the incoming line voltage. Too little and the wave being amplified doens'nt come fully crested, too much and the wave squares (clips). So while turning the gain up does increase the vloume, it IS NOT a volume knob. Tell douce bag friend that if that his way of thinking, hope he enjoys doing recones :tease: 1997 Astro front:6 sets of T3 componets Subs: 8 level 5 18"s (building 6th order BP) Amps: 4 really big ones (totalling just shy of 50K) Batts: Alt: Ohio Generator 1996 Chevy Suburban Sub amp: A fifth really big amp Subwoofer: 2-15" DC Level 4 XL Batts: C&D high rate--(x4) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cr@sh Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 Sticky this = Win! I have seen so many people on here and other sites refer to it as volume control. My old install at cardomain, never finished! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decaf Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 because to the logical consumer if it makes it louder its volume has been raised simply put it matches ur headunits preout voltage so ur amp is sensitized (low/high) to the signal correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ISO Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 Yep I'm going to through in my $0.02 too. For the last couple of years on the forums, even people here on our forum have been telling people that it is fine to use the gain control to adjust the amount of power the amplifier sends to its outputs and this is just not true as it is not a safe practice to get used too. One example is that depending on what musical passages are being played the amp will eventually attempt to put out its rated power even if its just for a split second and over time you should suffer some damage when useing cheap or weakly designed subwoofers. Depending on the Head Unit or source, amplifiers only have one designated spot on the gain control and thats it period. For the idiots out there what it does when its adjusted propperly is help the signal (Head Unit or source) to work in conjuction propperly with the amplifier so it is giving off the best output and sound quality overall and there sometimes a few minor bonuses too for example I have had Class A/B amps run more efficiently or better yet produce less heat from the heat sink verse how much heat and thermal time I was used too before I learned the details about this and its pretty cool to hear the difference of the Sound Quaility when your gains are set propperly. Its a Damn Shame that this MYTH about how a gain control has gotten so popular to set the amount of output power an amplifier makes has gotten. The people that are preaching this kind of information have failed to inform the people that are useing this type of technique about minor degration of sound quality and poorer performance as far as the noise floor goes inside the cab of a vehicle. The whole point of the gain control on an amplifier has to do with makeing the amplifier and the source unit feeding the amplifier work together to achieve the best possible signal colaboration of the two units so they act as one the best they can together and obviously produce the best possible performance out of the products that are being used. If you want to contest me as I do not feel like argueing I highly recommend consulting any of the major long term car audio amplifier manufactures as I know someone will try to say this information is not correct. Isobaric - Refers to the practice of coupling two drivers together to make them act as one. "Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go." Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The Destruction of a person builds character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decaf Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 ^panties in a bunch if u use a -3/-5db sine wave and an oscope u dont need any fancy numbers to calculate, just watch the wave til its starts to not be rounded people using the "rms chart" and a dmm are basically attempting to do the same thing without the visual aid of the oscope, so why are u doggin people for attempting to do the right things the rms chart works in theory up to the amps rated power... anything thing below rated power would be close to accurate, but u are correct if u meant people think they can set an amp to 1700 and it only produces 1500 << that does get annoying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Posted December 5, 2009 Report Share Posted December 5, 2009 You CAN limit the output of an amp with the gain knob If the maximum output of your headunit is, say, 4v, you can feed the amp a 4v signal and then dial in your power. Since the input voltage will never exceed 4v you know the output voltage will never exceed whatever you set it to Unless you clip the input of course.......... 10.x volts fo' life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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