Hey,
Got a question about setting the gains on my 4 channel amplifier
(Kicker Dx400.4).
I will powering 4 speakers with this amplifier.

Say I used Ohms Law to determine the voltage I wanted and set the gains for the front two speakers on "Amp1" so that the wattage out is 90watts.
Does that mean BOTH speaker A (L+/L-) and speaker B (R+/R-) are EACH
getting 90 watts or is that wattage split between the two speakers
meaning that each speaker gets 45 watts.





Thanks

 

What is the rating on the amp? Also unfortunately every amp is different, doing the math is only half of it. You also need an O-scope to determine if the amp is sending/receiving a clipped signal. I just ordered one off ebay for $60 and they are easy to use and understand... Just make sure your waves are rounded and not square(analog, not clipped, clipped looks like a digital wave) and you can set it as high as you can before they start squaring off.

 

never go above 1/4 as a rule of thumb.

use an oscilloscope to set it correctly. or just use the rule of thumb.

 

Amp is rated at 100 watts per channel @ 2 ohms so 400watts in total.

Ya I got an o-scope so I know when the signal is clipped. When I set the gains as high as I can (using 1khz 0db test tone) before they start to clip my voltage is 17.3 volts.

Using Ohms Law p=(V^2)/R law that would mean I would be putting out like 146watts which is why I am wondering if that wattage would be split or go to each speaker.

@Tru, do you know how your 4 channel amp divvies out the power..? I am assuming you have 2 gain knobs on your amp as well?

 

the gain control for amp 1 would control channel a and channel b together. so if your amp is rated at 100w rms X4 unclipped and u set the gain properly then channel a and channel b will be delivering 100w each.

now there is going to be some discrepancies due to parts tolerances and stuff but one might be 101 with the other 99 or something but it wont be anything noticeable at all

at 2 ohms each channel will drive 100w and at 4 ohms each channel will drive 50w on the kicker DX400.4

 

So should I adjust the gains just before I see clipping (mentioned above) which is 17.3 volts, or should I stop at the voltage derived from Ohms law, which was like around 14.4 volts?
From what we discussed earlier and what was mentioned earlier by tru2 and area I think I should just set the gains till I see clipping.

 

you should be fine up to 17.3 because if you dont have any overlap when listening to music otherwise you wont have any volume

 

Awesome thankyou emp, area, and tru for the input.


So just to make sure I read correctly, if I set the gain just before I am clipping which is 17.3 volts, channel A and B would be delivering 100watts each if I were to use 2 ohm speakers and 50 watts if I used a 4 ohm speaker?

 

correct

 

Aight, thanks again everyone.

 

I currently am not running a 4 channel but an audio nerd like Emp. I do systems on the side under the craigslist/internet/business name "Boxes by Skinny T"