Free Test Tones for Setting Amp Gain

[Gimp]

I came across these when Google searching for some test tones to set up my new sub and sub amp via the voltage meter method (because I didn't want to buy a $15 CD). Hope that these help anyone else searching for some test tones.

This site has sine wave test tones and sweeps.
http://www.ihearyou.com/testtones/

This site has lower frequency test tones only (like for sub amp). Click on the "Free Test Tones" link.
http://www.teamtreo.com/view.php?showme=Home
<EDIT> Please note that I have since found that many of teamtreo's free test tones are recorded at +3db and using their tones to set your amp gain will result in too low a setting.

More lower frequency free test tones.
http://kan3.freeservers.com/


JBL Tutorial for adjusting amp gain: http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/index.html#
Click on "Interactive Input Sensitivity (“Gainâ€￾) Setting Tutorial" link.

 

[Gimp]

BTW,
This is the new sub:
Sub

And, this is the new amp for that sub, bridged for mono (recommended by Infinity for the Kappa Perfect 12VQ per my e-mail correspondence with them - and it was ON SALE):
Amp


I know, I know. They are both part of the same French-parented company and we are supposed to be boycotting French products, but my wife said it was OK.

 

[CougarX]

How does the sub sound?? I've been considering getting one but can't decide between the old perfect 12.1 or the new VQ. Think its worth the extra money?

 

[Gimp]

The sub and amp are in the garage and haven't been installed yet. I bought the sub after hearing it in a friend's Explorer. He has a .8-cube sealed box (same as me) with the mid-Q insert installed and it sounded fantastic. Really tight and hits hard, even with his little ol' 200-watt amp. It sounded good enough to me to convince me to buy one.
I figure to experiment a little with the inserts, acousta-stuf, and the like to try to get it perfect.

BTW, if you can go with a 10" VQ, car domain has some blemished ones for $150 each right now. It's shown on the homepage at www.sounddomain.com

 

[CougarX]

Wow, thats a helluva deal there. Can't even get em off EBay for any cheaper with no warranty and/or used!

 

[Gimp]

Yes, it is a very good deal. It almost made me want to get a 10-inch because of the price and get a new box made.

 

[Gimp]

I didn't see this the other day. It looks like for right now, they have some 12" blems on sale, too. You can get a 12.1 or a 12VQ for $180. That's a 12VQ for the same price as a 12.1.
http://www.cardomain.com/shoplist~b~Infinity~t~Subwoofers
Free Shipping, too.

I wish I had known this a week ago.
Oh, well.

 

[CougarX]

Ok, I've never had a aftermarket sub before, nor do i have anymore than basic knowledge of audio systems. Is the 12" sub worth the $30 more than the 10"? Both are rated at the same power (RMS and Max) and its my understanding that the 12 will hit a little harder than the 10 (as far as mirror rattling "harder"). I'm not looking to shake the street or anything but my longterm goal is to have this combo along with 50.5cs components in the fron and 572.5 coaxials in the back eventually both driven by an amp (although farther down the road).

So should i get the 10 or 12? I know its all up to me and what i want in the end butjust need some opinions

 

[Gimp]

It's been my experience that 12" seems to offer a pretty good balance between SQ (sound quality) and SPL (sound pressure level) and that you tend to have more of a choice of different subs in the 12" size. Most 10" seem to be a little more on the SQ side and 15" seem to be for SPL only. Naturally, there are many exceptions to anything that I just said (such as a former neighbor's kid who had a 10" in a ported box with Tsunami amp who blew out the back glass of his Isuzu pickup). In reality, you'd probably be very happy with the less expensive 10" sub and most people probably wouldn't be able to hear the difference between the two (10VQ and 12VQ) when powered similarly.

 

[expo5.0]

if your looking at high end subs with the technology we have today you almost always want to choose the largest subs you can fit in your vehicle. My 15" can dance beautifully all the way up to 130 hz and nail everything from live drum solos from tool, or dave mathews to long drawn out bass hits from the likes of david banner, or the crash when morpheus knocks neo to the ground when they fight in the matrix. if i had gone with 10s the upper end wouldn't have been any better but the bass would have been lacking.

 

[Mbrooks420]

CougarX, you may want to contact Draft of this board. He had a pair of Infinity Perfect Dvc's for sale. I purchased one of them. It was brand new, and he may be able to cut you a decent price on it. I love the sub, and couldn't have been happier for a single 12.

 

[CougarX]

Thanks for the heads up but i just ordered my sub last night. I figure that if i decide anything different i can always sell the 10VQ on EBay and get most all of what i paid for it back being as it was so cheap in cardomain.
Went with the 10 so that i can build a custom box in the factory location at some point down the road as i tend to use my cargo area frequently. I believe V8BoatBuilder built one for his 10 that was just about the right volume for a 10VQ (.75 cu ft) as per infinity's recommendations.

 

[CougarX]

Ok, got my sub and amp saturday. Infinity 10VQ and JBL P180.2

Just so everyone knows, you CAN'T run an amp and sub off the factory HU if you have the Mach/Premium/Luxury system with the factory amp and sub. The factory HU must have a low pass and high pass filter built in or have a very poor frequency response range. Using high level inputs from the rear speakers produces virtually no bass unless you turn the amp crossover all the way up to 320Hz which is just boomy bass. Even tapping into the factory wiring for the stock sub and running RCAs from the +/- lines going to the factory sub amp doesn't produce the low end frequencies that you would expect. Even if i turn the HU all the way up the bass is still barely over the factory level (although much much cleaner sounding).

I tried turning the input voltage to the min (250mv) and turned the filter to 320Hz on Low Pass and still could get hardly any bass. There is no gain on my amp, but while this would have helped it is only patching anf not fixing the problem. I finally hooked it up to the Pioneer HU that is in my boat using long RCAs and then everything came alive. The sub sounded like a high-end sub with 400+ watts going to it should.

So come Monday I'm gonna get me a new head unit, some bass blockers for the door speakers (they sounded like $hit last time i hooked them up to an aftermarket HU) and go from there.

 

[Gimp]

Glad to hear you got your stuff in but sorry to hear about your probs with the stock HU. With one of my nephews, we were able to tap into the speaker wires for the speaker-level inputs to power a sub without any problems in his S-10 but his stock HU didn't have an internal amp so maybe that was your problem.
Mine is in and it sounds terrific. I am especially pleased with the very good price on the amp. It's a lot of amp for a Hundred-Ten bucks; I was quite surprised.
When you said that there was no gain on your amp, if you were talking about the P180.2, it's the adjustment labeled "input level". On mine, using the formula (based on the JL Audio tables) to compute the output level across the bridged terminals (Voltage = square_root(Power x Resistance), I came up with 37.94 volts AC - 360 watts RMS bridged X 4 phm load = 1440; square root of 1440 = 37.94 volts. I turned set all of the HU adjustments flat (EQ flat, "loud" off), set all of the external equalizer adjustments to their neutral positions (no boost, no cut at any of the frequencies), set my multimeter to AC volts and attached the leads to the + and - bridged speaker terminals on the amp, played my CD with a 50 Hz test tone, set the HU to 3/4 volume, and adjusted the gain (input level) to read 38 volts AC on the meter.. Turned it off, hooked the sub up to the bridged terminals, and got stunned by how good (and loud) it sounded for a relatively inexpensive sub and amp combo.

Anyway, good luck with your new HU. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[CougarX]

I thought some amps had both an input level and a seperate gain control? I knew you could get louder by turning down the input level but its not really a gain, right? I'm still new to all this audio stuff. I have read a lot and understand it in words but this is my first actual hands on experience with this stuff.

Anyway, I've got an old Pioneer CD player that i had in my 92 explorer that I'm going to hook up for now. It doesn't have an internal crossover so i'm probably gonna need some bass blockers for the door speakers for now. By X-Mas though this will all be replaced with a new Pioneer HU, Infinity 50.5cs components in the front, 572.5cs in the back and a infinity 4 channel amp for the door speakers. Maybe I'll even get bored and replace the JBL amp with an infinity sub amp so its all infinity.

 

[Gimp]

Input Level, Gain - no matter what it's called, it serves the same purpose. It's not a volume control, it's used to match the input voltage of the amp to the output voltage of the head unit. For example, if you get a Pioneer HU, it will more than likely have a 2V pre-out voltage whereas some others have only 1V pre-out and others might have 4V (or higher) pre-out. The input level control, or gain control, is used to match the HU output voltage to the amp.

JBL, Infinity, Harman Kardon - they are all owned by the same company. Harman International. I'm assuming that when I contacted Infinity about what would be a good amp to power this sub that had to play at least a part in their recommending a JBL amp. They were also the ones who specifically recommended the P180.2 saying that not only would it be a perfect amp to power the sub that with the newer JBL Power amps coming out, that it would be coming down in price, saving me money.

Those Kappa components, the 5.05CS, sound outstanding. I have them in my front doors powered by that same P180.2 amp. Sometimes you can save some money by looking around for last year's model and picking them up on a clearance. At any site that lets you store a "wish list", put what you want on these wish lists and then they can e-mail you when they go on sale. Sometimes patience will pay off in great savings.