How many watts is it?

[noon]

I was just wondering how can you tell how many watts your amp is really putting out. When i bought my 500 watt amp i was told that it put out 631 watts. How does this guy know that? Is their some magical test equipment that he used or can i use a volt/ohm meter, some resitors, electrical tape, and my trusty knife? I am sure there is someone out there who know how to Macgyver something.

 

[Sir Nuke]

For starters Noon, Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to our Club. There are TWO BIG fridge'S in the corner with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. (stash)

make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom don't care....and take it easy.

oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!! (stash)


NOW....get the spec sheet out of the box that your amp came in....I assume you kept all that good stuff right? look in the specification section of the manual and see what the amps RMS rating is....you REALLY don't care what PEAK or MAX levels are...what is important is what the amp can CONSTANTLY produce. Example...the amp I have is rated at 40 watts RMS to each speaker X 4....plus 125 watts RMS to the sub....so its can put out 285 watts RMS total. ..... but......the MAX rating or PEAK is 75 watts X 4 plus 185 watt to the sub....so that is 485! which is what is on the box.....and are only numbers there to impress the unsuspecting and unknowing.

 

[1sty]

You can hav an alternator shop do a load test and which will tell you how much current the amp is pulling. Then find out the effiecincy rating from the manufacture, you'll have to call them.
Use these numbers and you'll know the power.

Basicly for the load test just see what the car pulls from the alternator then turn on the system and go for broke. There are such things as watt meters but they aren't cheap.

Also alot of manufacturers use some BS meathods when rating amps. Like using huge power circuits to stabalize voltage and amperage supply in way a car never could. Then they give you only a power rating at 14.4 volts where many cars charge with no load. Play the system a little and the voltage drops to 13. This is how crappy manufacturers can claim high power levels that are totaly unrealist in a car.

 

[noon]

i really just wanted to know how many watts my amp is producing at certain gain levels so i dont blow any more speakers

 

[Sir Nuke]

i really just wanted to know how many watts my amp is producing at certain gain levels so i dont blow any more speakers

typically you would be safe by using the RMS ratings for the amp....and having speakers which are rated for MORE power RMS than the amp is going to put out. kind of a rule of thumb I have always used with speakers....and I have never EVER blown a speaker...not in a car...nor in my home stereo systems.

 

[1sty]

What are the subs and wht is the amp?
What impedance of the subs?
How many subs?
What impedance are they wired to?
What happened when they blew?
What kind of box are they in?
WHo built it?

Sorry for the questions but there maybe something else going on here, too much power usualy isn't wat blows a speaker.

 

[noon]

First pair of subs that i had where lanzar kh-1, then the second pair where 400W max pioneer IMPP. All subs have been 10s and have been 4ohm wired to 2ohm in a bandpass box that i bought at a local audio store. I have been using a rockford fosgate 500bd1 with the cross-over set at 100hz. When the speakers blew the first time i started to smell something funny then my amp's protet circut came on then no snound. When i would turn my car off and back on again everything would be ok so, i just turned the gains down and did not play my music as loud. then one day everything was not ok subs started to make a rattling sound then no snound at all. The last time that they blew was on election day. Only thing in my set up that has changed is that i added a capasitator. I noticed the funny smell but, this time it was stronger. The amp protect circuit did not come on this time. When i go to check out happened, smoke was coming out of my speaker box. to this day my trunk still smells like blown speakers.
btw my new sub is going to be a SPL ML-12w 1200w max so i am guessing 600w rms proboly will be in a sealed box

 

[1sty]

The Bandpass box is the problem!
A bandpass box only allows a pass band of frequencies to escap the box. This means you tend to not hear the subs blowing themselves up. Also a Bandpass needs to be specificly desinged for eash sub. You can't just drop any sub in any bandpass box.
On the next set of subs do a sealed custom built 3/4" MDF box and you'll be fine.

The sealed box will let you know when there distorting also where the bandpass hides it until there fried. Distortion is what kills subs. So unless your going to use an ocsilliscope to set the gains next time aviod the bandpass box.

 

[noon]

thanks for all the help