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Back in the ’90s, I used to set amp gains by turning the level pot all the way up and then backing it down a little bit. REAL technical, I know.

In this install, I wanted to use my multi-meter to set the input sensitivity by following the instructions in the manual for my JL HD 600/4 that I use for my tweeters & mid-ranges.

I have a cheap multi-meter I bought from Parts Express years back, but figured it’d work for this job, it all seemed so simple.

However, since the amp location is in a tight space, I elongated each multi-meter lead using speaker wire, and then attached the opposite speaker wire ends to the =/- speaker wire input plug for the amp.

I then got the correct test tone from the JL website, put it on my iPhone, set it on loop, made sure the amp input was all the way down, made sure that the HU volume was 3/4 full (no EQ, etc on HU), turned on the car, and got the test tone loop going.

However, the multi-meter didn’t read what I was expecting. In fact, it only registered 12.7v when I had the gain turned all the way up for the mid-range channel.

Any ideas what’s going on? The amps work, the tweeters & mid-ranges work, I can play music through the system, etc.

Is it my cheap multi-meter?

The fact that I elongated the leads using speaker wire?

Because the car engine was on?

Wondering if I should just go back to my ’90’s method…

Thanks for any input!