Hi I need to know how to tell of my sub's are clipping. Please explain what clipping means so I dont trash my 15. Also the reason I ask is b/c when I turn it up loud wich is about 80% vol. never over, the words cut out and in on some songs, and the cd's are fine.
If it's really bad, you can hear the distortion. Otherwise the only way to tell is to hook an oscilliscope to your amp and look at the sine wave.
Clipping happens mostly when you try and over drive an amplifier. It is when your amplifier, which normally outputs an AC signal starts adding some DC because its being overdriven, this causing the normal sine wave to appear "clipped" and if it's really bad it won't even be a sine wave anymore, it will be a square wave. When this happens your sub won't move as much as it should with the power that is going into it, thus causing it to not cool as much as it should for that amount of power and you could fry the voice coils. With moderate clipping it won't happen right away, and usually won't happen unless its being overdriven for extended periods of time. With bad clipping, or the sine wave, it's very dangerous and WILL damage your subs probably soon.
For more info, ask glasswolf, he will either tell you, or reference a webpage, which I have read that explains everything in good detail.
ok. From that I dont think my subs are clipping. But like i said the words cut in and out on some songs, and sub still plays the bass. Just the words, and highs seem to cut out exspecially on songs with loud high's.
Is it an a/b amp or a class d amp? Maybe your setting on the amp are set to do stuff that would result in that. Check your amp for dials like a lowpass or a subsonic filter. Sorry I can't be much help. Sounds strange, though. Maybe it's distorting like crazy! Do you really know what distortion sounds like? How is your gain set on the amp, by the way? Also, are you using a factory head unit or a after market one?