Samson S700 level adjustment? (1 Viewer)

[Craig_B]

After calibrating my SVS 20-39cs and Samson S700, I have my sub level on my Denon 3802 at -11 out of -12 with the front knob on the Samson cranked all the way to the right. Should I lower the Samson so I have more room to adjust downwards if i need it? The clip light comes on quite often on the Samson on heavy bass scenes at this level.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

You could reduce the samson- and increase the Denon, but it is essentially robbing peter to pay paul, it will be lowering the input and upping the receiver output to get the exact same SPL... it won't help your clipping problem.

If you lower the amp knob- this just means the amp will need more signal to get to max output. When you raise the Denon output, you essentially end up back where you started-- you've raised the bar of what the amp needs, but then raised the amount the receiver is sending.

The config you have right now is best in terms of sound quality. If you are clipping the amp in order to get the bass levels you want, you need a bigger amp.

-V

 

[Juan_R]

Craig,

I have the volume level on the Samson S700 all the way up as well. When I calibrate the sub I use the sub volume on the receiver and adjust accordingly. I have had my stuff pretty loud and I did not bottom out the sub, and this was without the improved driver which I just installed last night.

 

[Ned]

The clip light comes on quite often on the Samson on heavy bass scenes

Do you mean a single clip light flashes or all 3 are solidly illuminated? The amp is nowhere near its limit unless all 3 are solid.

 

[Craig_B]

Thanks Vince, I guess I will leave it where it is.

This may be a stupid question, but is the clip light affected by the overall volume level you are playing at or is it tied to the level of bass, or both? i.e. Will it not come on (clip) at low levels of overall volume even with bass heavy sources?

Thanks,

Craig

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

This may be a stupid question, but is the clip light affected by the overall volume level you are playing at or is it tied to the level of bass, or both? i.e. Will it not come on (clip) at low levels of overall volume even with bass heavy sources?

The clip light is affected by overall volume and bass level. It is literally a gauge of how much bass signal you're sending to the amplifier. The louder the master volume, the more signal you'll be sending. The more bass in a scene, the more signal you'll be sending.

It's just a light to let you know that you're sending more signal than it want to get. If you have to send that much signal to the amp to get calibrated ref levels, then this usually means you could use more amp output (a bigger amp).

 

[EarleD]

There have been a bunch of threads here lately about the Samson and other amps clipping. I have the Fidek 600 watt amp with my pair of original 20-39's and have never seen the amp's clip indicator light, even at levels over refernce(+5 on my Denon 3802's volume control).

Is the Fidek a better amp even though it has a little less power? The fan noise in not a issue as the amp is behind the front wall of my HT. Check out my website, the space is behind the wall behind the TV.

I am going to the ART 351 then to the Fidek, the amps gain is maxed out and the receiver sub gain in at -5. This gives me a level about 3-4db hot.

I have noticed that if I take the EQ out I ned to recalibrate the subs to about -10 on the recievers level.

Earle

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Earle,

The clipping issue is influenced by a lot of factors. I wouldn't take the fact that the Fidek amplifier doesn't clip in your configuration as a sign that it is "superior".

Rather, these people with clipping issues might simply have bigger rooms or less efficient drivers- requiring that they push more wattage.

Also, the Fidek might be a little more generous than the Samson on clip indication- some amps flash the little red light at 3db under max. Most amps don't actually start to "clip" in a serious way until you've exceeded the max by a few DB. It is very possible the Fidek clip indicator doesn't come on unless it MEANS it, and the Samson comes on early, and have a solid FLASH for when it is really clipping.

I think it comes down to an issue of how much power people need. In your particular space, with your specific subs-- the wattage availble from the Fidek is plenty without pushing the amp to clip. In their particular space, with their specific sub(s)-- they simply need more wattage and have to push their amps harder.

-V