I was wondering how one would measure the actual rms output of an amp, i have a 2ohm stable amp, but it wired for 1ohm, no problems yet, but would it produce more power?

 

If it isn't 1 ohm capable I would NOT do that. You're going to have problems FAST, if it really isn't capable of pulling a 1 ohm load.

 

you would need a multimeter or 2 to calculate the actual power.

you'd need an ammeter and a volt meter, the combined current and voltage will give you your actual output in VA, which you then have to divide by the power factor which wilkl give you watts. however, most people skip that step and just use the VA.

 

most mid level digital multimeters should be able to do an rms reading, wouldnt that work?
ignore this comment if im totally ignorant, but its been 10 years since i was electrotech class.

 

i have a good DMM, but where do i measure?..at the + - terminals on the amp?

 

you could use an amp clamp and measure how many amps of current you draw and then do the calculation.

 

Whats an amp clamp?

 

its an inductive ring that some multimeters have, you place it around the wire you wish to measure and it reads current flow.

generally to get one thats accurate, you are looking at a pretty expensive dmm, my fluke was around $440.

 

ooh..ouch, so i guess the easiest way to measure it would be to do what Sassmaster mentioned?

 

Using the AC function on a multimeter, connect the leads to your amplifer output channel (disconnect the speaker). Take the voltage reading and square it then divide by the impedance...
If you are using a true RMS multimeter, that result would be your RMS output...If you are just using a standard commonplace multimeter then multiply that result by .707 for RMS output....Example below...

Using a commonplace multimeter; AC reading is 30 volts. 30 x 30 = 900. Sub is wired to 2 ohms, so divide by 2....900/2 = 450 watts...Then to get RMS multiply by .707....450 x .707 = 318 watts RMS