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if you over-attenuate the input voltage, you'll have a very weak signal, which the output stage of the amp is still going to produce the same amount of power trying to amplify. the result is a lower volume (due to the overly attenuated input voltage) being amplified with the same amount of output power.

So the output stage of an amplifier has a variable amount of gain? i.e. it will up the voltage MORE if the signal it is receiving is less than "optimum"? I always thought the output stage had a fixed gain, say like 15:1 or 4 volts in, 60 volts out, and the only time this gain changes is when the input voltage is large enough such that the output voltage(rms) attempts to exceed .707 times that of the voltage rail(clipping).

What am I missing here? Thats the way opamps work isn't it?. Are high output transistors different?

-Fishy

man, just speak in spanish cause i dont understand anything u guys said, all i know, if my system is loud, sounds decent and doesnt blow, im happy.

PS i bought a case of beer all to myself, because i have a very bad infected pore or sweat gland under my arm and it hurts bad. Plz dont laugh im very serious. Hopefully it gets better but yeah beer w00!

I don't know Mith. It just seems like kiki is saying that at a certain load a 600 watt amplifier produces 600 watts at all times. If your not getting 600 watts of sub output(heat plus acoustic output) I'd say there was a lot of heat being dissipated somewhere else. You know, that conservation of energy thing and all.

I still think knowing the voltage limits of a source and the minimum impedance of a driver/enclosure combo you can use an amplifier's "gains" to attenuate the source's signal sufficiently to guaranantee a specific maximum output. In other words make sure you don't send more than 600 watts to a pair of Atlas 15's with a 1200.1.

Sure it's a dangerous proposal. If you miscalculate source voltage or driver impedance the result could be one dead Atlas, but I don't see how it couldn't be done.

-Fishy

I plan on gettin a kx600.1 if i can sell my amp so its not problem heehehe

Yeah thats definitely the safest route.

I dunno. It just bugs the hell out of me when I don't understand how something works...... on a rudimentary level at least.

:)

-Fishy

yeah me too, im like almost drunk now atm though because i bought a case of beer and drank a 6 pack in an hour and a hafl

You're ready to pop that bastidge then.



-Fishy

no, not really my frickin face is numb but my armpit still hurts... WHY!!!! :help:

the "gain" setting on an amp is a variable resistor. it attenuates the line input signal going to the amp. that's all.

what I'm saying is that an amp isn't going to produce more or less power by changing the input sensitivity. don't use it as a volume knob. If you have a 600 watt amp, you're not going to be able to turn it down to a 400 watt amp by lowering the gain setting. set gain once, properly, and leave it alone. the input sensitivity of an amp should be set to match the line voltage at the RCA cables plugging into that amp. nothing else.

ive just read that atlas subs are mostly SQ oriented, is there any other subs I can get for around 160 bucks a sub that are more spl oriented? I mean as i posted before my car rattles a lot and that takes away from the sq anway