posted
I am unsure of the true analysis of clipping and would like help to understand it. Lets say for example the sine wave being put out by the amp has a 20v amplitude. that means if my preouts of my headunit are 4v i need to set my gain on my amp at 5v. 4x5=20. however, if i set my gain to 8v, 4x8=32 making the top of the 32v signal get clipped off. is all this correct? where does the 20v amplitude even come from? how do i know the amplitude of the sine wave? -Ryan
Posts: 17 | From: CA | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by ryanerb: I am unsure of the true analysis of clipping and would like help to understand it. Lets say for example the sine wave being put out by the amp has a 20v amplitude. that means if my preouts of my headunit are 4v i need to set my gain on my amp at 5v. 4x5=20. however, if i set my gain to 8v, 4x8=32 making the top of the 32v signal get clipped off. is all this correct? where does the 20v amplitude even come from? how do i know the amplitude of the sine wave? -Ryan
The only real way to tell is to use an o-scope to monitor the voltages.
The increased "amplitude" you refer to is the gain structure in the amplification stage, the amp takes a certain input and amplifies it by a preset amount, the gain is used to provide the amp with the proper amount of input voltage to the stage.
Due to input impedance and output impedance variations and the transient nature of music it's not a perfect science.
If it really bothers you find an o-scope and get to work.
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Posts: 1587 | From: Springfield, MO | Registered: Oct 1999
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if you just want to mess around then you can d/l software o-scope programs readily
Posts: 3421 | From: Owosso MI, USA | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ryanerb: I am unsure of the true analysis of clipping and would like help to understand it. Lets say for example the sine wave being put out by the amp has a 20v amplitude. that means if my preouts of my headunit are 4v i need to set my gain on my amp at 5v. 4x5=20. however, if i set my gain to 8v, 4x8=32 making the top of the 32v signal get clipped off. is all this correct? where does the 20v amplitude even come from? how do i know the amplitude of the sine wave? -Ryan
Also, I believe your understanding of the numbers on the gain knob is a bit off. It isn't a multiplier. In fact, it's quite the opposite. If you turn the gain from 4V to 8V, the output voltage will be cut in half. The gain should be set at roughly the output voltage of your source, but like was said above, if you wanna be exact about it, you'll need an o-scope. The reason the voltage would be cut in half is because if you have an 8 volt source, the amplifier needs to amplify the signal only half as much as if you had a 4 volt source. At least that's my understanding of those numbers. I wouldn't trust them to be too terribly accurate though. Either set them with an o-scope or with some very careful listening.
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