test tone gain setting

[jharijan 10+ year member]

I'm setting the gain on my amp and I downloaded two 50 hz test tones from two different websites and when I went to set the gain with my dmm the readings were different for each test tone. Anyone know why this might be? here is where I downloaded them from.

http://www.ronelmm.com/tones/

http://www.realmofexcursion.com/

Also, as I am pretty new to this, whats the best way to connect two speaker wires into the same terminal, I'm using 12 ga wires? I just twisted them together but it was a real pain in the ass and doesn't look very good when connected to each terminal of my amp. any advice for both of these questions is appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

It has to do with the volume level of each perspective MP3.

Look at the statistics of the first link:

Versus the statistics on the file that ROE has:

The volume difference alone will make your readings different for each test tone.

 

[jharijan 10+ year member]

which one should I use?

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

Neither because now you need to tune with your ear!

 

[jharijan 10+ year member]

humor me, if I were going to use one which would be the more accurate?

also, any suggestions about the speaker wire question?

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

The tone from http://www.ronelmm.com/tones/ should fit in with "most" modern era music since I hardly see anything recorded with an RMS louder than -6 dB.

The test tone from ROE should allow you more headroom since it is extremely rare to see music with an RMS level of -3 dB. On the flip side, you may notice that your subwoofers are not playing loud enough to suit you.

Of course, setting gains with a DMM is still no guarantee that you will not clip your amplifier or blow your speakers. In fact, it doesn't really even get you in the ballpark, unless your ballpark encompasses the distance between the planets Earth and Pluto.

As for your wire issue, only you can do what looks best for your setup. I never seem to complete an install so I just hide my wires as best as possible. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

-10dB