A question regarding amplifier input voltages.

I have a clarion eq feed by one input from the deck measuring 4 volts.

The output of the eq is 7 volts but my 3 amps have only 4 volt inputs. I'm told this can cause a problem. How can I bring the voltage down safely while still maintaining the full range and quality of signal.

M@

 

Do you have output gains on your EQ?

When I used anolog components I would determine about how much gain I would need at any frequency, gain all the EQ bands by that amount plus 2 and set my output gain to be 4 volts or to what ever the max input voltage allowable of the next component in the system.

If you have an Active Crossover, you want to match the gain for the amp at the crossove and not the EQ. In this case whatever comes in to the EQ goes out (unity gain) to the Active Crossover and the crossover max input gain need be determine so you don't over gain the input stage of the crossover with the EQ.

You can overlap the gains on the amp, that is send much more voltage than the amp requires. In fact most people like a 3 dB gain overlap because the system will be louder. The down side to overlapped gains is when the amp input stage becomes saturated you will lack dynamics and your sound stage will be flat as in no depth.

 

If you overload (AKA clip) an input stage then the output of the amplifier will sound clipped since it is amplifying the clipped signal (even with the amplifiers gain setting very low and the output stage not being over driven). This should be fairly audible and is not all that common