How do i know my amp is pushing max power. All comments welcomed.?

Question

i have a 12" Orion hcca push by a hifonics 2000( until i get money for a bigger amp). How do i know its pushing out all 2000 watts. Do i turn my gain all the way up or what? Also i know people say do use Bass Boost but how do u compete without using bass? One more, got a yellow top battery for the one sub and my lights still dim at night. do i need another battery and alternator too?

Answer 1

It depends on how you wire up your subs and what ohm load is trying to be driven.

Gain will allow more of less voltage to the amplifier. sometimes to much gain or a over driven amp will begin to clip on signal wavelengths.



Personally, I don't think I would suggest that you crank your gain and bass boost.

that's just reckless.. and I never suggest having sub volumes cranked either.. besides

when you crank on things like your gain or bass boosts .. you'll only get more distortion.

I'm not saying this is always true, but its' very likely.



---

side note - when you ask some how much bass boost to use and they laugh...it could mean their subs and amps are animals and do not require bass boost.



---

Stopping the dimming in your lights....

This is going to happen .. but it does not have to happen . to help settle this issue you " could "

upgrade you alternator to something larger, and you could also find a larger battery and a lot of people do. If someone tries telling you that a cap will stop your lights from dimming.. thats not always true at all. I never got into them but they are more for those who have 90 million watt subs and 100 million watt amps... Im being drastic of course... are you paying attention ?





Some people with massive amounts of speakers and amps run SEVERAL alts and 15 or 16 batteries.

Answer 2

upgrade to 0 gauge wiring. upgrade the big 3 to 0 gauge wiring. then upgrade alternator to high output alternator if you still have a problem with lights dimming. a way to test how much power your amp is putting out is to use a voltmeter across the speaker wire terminals and measure AC voltage.



P = V i

V = i R



P = (V^2)/R



so take the square of the voltage you measure and divide by the resistance of your sub. should give you a general idea how much power is going through at that point in time.



this does not account for clipping though. you would need an oscilloscope for that. but if the hifonics does rated power of 2000 W then you should have it equal. when pushing your system to the max.



check this out: http://www.jlaudio.com/header/Support/Tutorials/Input+Sensitivity+%28Gain%29+Setting/Tutorial%3A+Input+Sensitivity+%28Gain%29+Setting/287546

Answer 3

its not going to push out all 2000 watts..the real power output, or RMS, would prolly be around 1800 watts, if that much...more than likely less than that. Your concerns should be with how much clean, undistorted wattage is pumping. Otherwise its just very expensive noise, like dragging a loose exhaust pipe at the end of a busted muffler.

If power is your lust, then buy another battery, and buy another alternator. That way, you may be able to use your car to drive in as well.

Answer 4

smoke come out the top

and sparks fly out the speakers

and of course noise control arrives