pick up an oscilloscope today
 

So I was walking down the hall of my local high school. (I work in one, not a weirdo, lol) and stumbled into the science room where I saw a scope just sitting there. After asking the teacher about it turns out he was a audio engineer and made woofers for many years (TFone’s I think, lol). 3 hours after picking his brain we went out to the car and scoped one of my amps to show me how it works. My question to you guys is, are there any of you who know how to use this thing correctly or is there anything I should know before playing around with it. I was shown how to use it and it looks pretty straight forward just wanted to make sure. If anyone is interested I could share my findings to see if it’s actually worth going to the trouble of using one. He let me have it for a week or so

http://www.mjs-electronics.se/images/Philips/pm3206.jpg

Thanks guys
Frank

Analog scopes FTW!!!! I`ve used a few newer digital ones, and they suck large hairy donkey testicles compared to an old analog scope.

scopes are the best way to set amp gains and determine maximum safe output levels on your HU, also great to check for any distortion.

I use a true RMS multimeter on DC to do roughly the same thing, play a test tone at 0dB and there should be zero DC.

Distortion contains DC offset? A scope is certainly usefull for monitoring the shape of the waveform and output level.

cioppaf: For your intended usage that scope is great. Simple controls and no unnecessary features.

ya it's a great unit, very simple to use

even tested the output of my ipod to make sure it wasn't clipping at full volume, lol

I remember Apple changed the firmware on those to reduce the max volume because they could cause hearing damage. I wonder if the first gen ones could clip (ie drive to the rails). Did you use a sine wave test tone? They often go to full output and then you would really know.

yes I used 0/db sine waves, I think i used 50Hz, 1K, 200Hz and a few other just for fun and I got no clipping. Then I played a song and didn't see any clipping.

Is there any other way to check for gains other then with a scope?

you can try by ear, but the scope is 100%