Why do some people give the wrong suggestions in car audio?

Question

For instance, I've seen where someone answered with a suggestion that, "it never hurts to overpower a sub as long as you don't give it any distortion".

This is totally false. Overpowering a sub is what leads to damage distortion or not.

He also suggest a higher powered amp than what's required and further suggest to "just turn the gain down".

This person claims to be an installer for 16 years and yet doesn't even know what the gain control is for. It's not a volume control knob!

The gain MUST match the RMS volts of the source or HU.

Furthermore, he claims that, "under powering a sub will cause damage".

This is also totally false as under powering a sub just means the output will be low. If you think about it, turning the volume down actually under powers a subwoofer. How will this damage them?

HardThinker, if your going to answer questions, at least give correct answers through research and stop guessing. You're suggestion will trash someones system.

Go here for under powering:
http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm

Go here for gain controls:
http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm

Go here to learn a lot about car audio:
http://www.bcae1.com/

I think you'd better do some more research on the matter before you spout wrong answers.

Prove me wrong. Show me scientific fact that disputes the above.

I'm a 25 year electronics technician, audio specilaist. I help put in the sound system at the U.S. Cellualar Coliseum with 20,000 watts of audio power and I've installed countless audio systems.

To suggest adjusting the gain by ear is ludicrous.

It all boils down to the fact that you don't know ohms's law, that's obvious. So your answers are all on experience of doing it wrong regardless of what competitions you've been to.

Oh, and a pair of subs means two, 2 X 600 is 1200 in my book. Now if he meant 600 watts RMS total, then yes, 1200 would be too much, or not so much according to you.

Ha ha...distortion destroying a speaker, that's a good one.

Here it is:

I can drive speakers with a 100% clipped square wave signal all day long with no problems as long as the thermal and mechanical limits of the speaker are not exceeded.

I can feed a speaker 100% distortion all day long with no damage as long as the thermal and mechanical limits of the speaker are not exceeded.

I can exceed the thermal and/or mechanical limits of a speaker and watch it fail in short order.

These are electrical and physical truths and anything else is a myth.

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Well navymn78, this is the correct and most accurate:

http://www.bcae1.com/settinggainswithscope.htm

If you don't have a scope (most people don't) a 0dB test tone CD and a true RMS VOM will do the trick.

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Answer 1

"you might just learn something. POWER does not kill a woofer...distortion does."
-Geez dude this is what he is talking about. A woofer have an rms rating which is nothing more than a thermal rating for the voice coil. If my subs voice coils can handle no more than say 100 watts and i give it 150 it will over heat and can even melt the vc if driven with too much power for too long. Yes there are some subs that can be driven with more than the rated rms power but the company probably wont honor their warranty due to the fact that you purposely exceeded the rms rating. And to the guy that blew his w6 that is also another perfect example of a poor install. If you had infact set your gain to match the HU and not added any bassboost you wouldn't have blown/killed the sub. Like sparky said don't you in fact underpower your subs when you turn down the volume??? Point made!

Here is a perfect example of what this is all about.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvAUCJWnJRd0xudnvxa6Nn_sy6IX?qid=20061127014653AAWiT7I

Answer 2

lol @ noobs. play your music and turn down the volume. the voltage level drops, and your subs are now being underpowered. but dont do it, because your subs might blow up or something if you give them too little power.
and yes, you probably haven't had much, if any, problems if you set the gains by ear, because you can do this and get it decently well. but if you want it right, you need to measure voltage. thats litterally what the gain is for. go to jl audio's website and look for gain setting in the amplifier tutorial. This is from a respected company that actually makes amplifiers, and they tell you the correct way to do it is by measuring volts.

Answer 3

before each and every thing, enable me answer your question with a question. Why is a fuse blowing up in a circuit? 2 solutions: a million- short circuit. which skill, Resistance of the load is almost closed to 0 or call it Continuity Resistance or in different words your Amplifier or in spite of the indisputable fact that the gadget perhaps is being with the help of-handed with the help of a short circuit connection with the help of the constructive terminal of the battery and its adverse / floor terminal.. verify your connections and incorrect polarity could also reason fuse to blow off. the present or Voltage isn't attaining with the help of your Amplifier and thereby you may't make your Amp paintings. verify your output connections too. i.e. speaker terminals/ wires there ought to nicely be short circuit interior. 2 - too a lot Load. in the experience that your gadget has a plausible of drawing large quantity of modern to provide massive quantity of skill at the same time as your source of modern (ie. the battery) has decrease aperage than your gadget then fuse will easily blow. Fuse is variety of a hose of water or Air.. in the experience that your hose can not help the stress of compressed air or the stress of water that hose will easily explode. verify verify and double verify your connections... degree the Resistance between your constructive and adverse terminals of your Aplifier... and finally attempt this consumer-pleasant diagnostic answer: Get a intense wattage 12 volt bulb (like a head lamp or brake lamp) connect it to sequence with your gadget making paintings like a fuse then if that bulb lighting fixtures fixtures up like as if this is been linked on to the battery and then see if the Amplier works and if not you've a foul Amp or shorted Amplifier Circuit.

Answer 4

i agree. lol. not with the guy above though. but with the topic starter.

BUT!!! BIG BUT!!! underpowering a woofer CAN damage it. for example... i had a JLw6 powered by a 300w Rockford Fosgate. th amp was 300w MAX and 150w RMS. the RMS and MAX on the woofer was 1500w MAX and 400w RMS. my small amp killed my woofer. it demagnetized it. so the magnet got messed up. it is beyond repair.

you can go roughly 10-30w RMS over the woofers suggested RMS. that is still safe. honestly, you can probably even go up to 50w RMS over depending on what woofer you have. i knowJL, Infinity and MTX's can go over 50w RMS that was suggested. Alpine, 10-29, Pioneer, 10-20.

but that guy sounds like a complete idiot.

Answer 5

Sparky, if you dont adjust the gain by ear, then how do you do it? I have been doing it by ear for over ten years now and have NEVER run into a problem.

Answer 6

I totally agree with what your saying. To many people are giving answers to questions that they have no idea what the answer is.

Answer 7

Yahoo! gets off the hook with their disclaimer. http://answers.yahoo.com/info/disclaimer

The people that give wrong answers the ones assuming they are immune to Ohm's law.

Answer 8

Because they don't know enough and don't know that they don't know enough. Same as in the other sections.

Answer 9

Rant, rant, rant. I know more than you, blah, blah, blah. How is this a legitimate question? Keep it to yourself, please.