I've had issues with my colossus amps clipping in the past. The voltage would always read different also when it clips. Between 12 and 13v. My question is will lack of current cause an amp to clip like this? My main wire to the battery bank was cheaper over rated wire which was prob only capable of carrying 100amps. Ive completely redid my setup and now I have a 8ft run of some oversized 0ga ground and positive wire directly to the alt. I'm waiting for my amps to be fixed so I can test it out.(pieces broke on the board from vibration). I hope this was the problem.
Clipping is caused when an amplifier is overdriven and trys to deliver more voltage or current than it is capable of. In other words, turn the gain down, way down. Turn the bass on the radio down. You are asking the amp to do more than its capable of. When an amp is ask to create a signal that requires more power than its power supply can deliver, a signal is produced up to the amps maximum capability then the signal clips, it becomes flat. The result is a sine wave that becomes a distorted square wave. The square wave is a distorted DC signal which can destroy speakers. So yes, a lack of current or voltage can contribute to clipping, but remember, clipping is a an amplifier being ask to do something its not capable of.
An amp is only capable of supplying its full power if the charging system is capable of supplying sufficient power. In this case I was trying to pull 600 amps thru 16 ft of what's actually 4ga. It's not clipping from signal overload according to my Memphis line driver.
