Adjusting Gain.. please help

[brian1226 10+ year member]

ok i'm adjusting the gain on my sub-amp and i'm playing a 80hz tone on my deck.. i dont understand why i have to shut off loudness, eq, pass frequencys if i'm just going to turn them back on again.. shouldnt i just keep them on since it would effect the voltage going to the amp anyway? also, should the subs be hooked up to the amp when checking the voltage from the amp cuz 2 different tutorials said 2 different things

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[muskyhunter567 10+ year member]

i think 80s pretty high thats what my hpf is set to, i used 50hz or 60hz but i just dmm my gains to how i listen to my music, but i dont use bass boost or none of that stuff, this is for subs right? and i unhook my subs and then check, but i heard if you leave the subs unplugged for a long time you can fry your amps jiblets it takes me 30-45 sec to tune my amps, and ive had no problems yet and i tweak em all the time

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

i dont like that idea of changing shit, i think if you are going to do the test do it in your real world environment... also i would keep the subs hooked up but thats me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

i've also never set my gains with a dmm //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[c_james_s 10+ year member]

hey, my approach is somewhat less technical and doesn't use as many gadgets and gizmos but here it goes. I would never use bass boost or the loudness feature. bass boost and loudness add extra distortion and make your setup sound bad. most of the time people use those features because they don't have a big enough amp and want more out of it. if you find that the sound is not to your liking and you don't have enough bass than that might be a sign to get a bigger amp. I would leave everything hooked up and tune it that way. I could give a lot more pointers on how to tune it if you want. 80 hz is a good crossover point. I would set the crossovers for my components at around the same point too so there is no loss or dead spot is sound. you may also want to slightly go a little higher on the sub amp and a little lower on the 4 channel since the crossovers don't stop at exactly that point, they roll off. also never use the deck to set crossovers, do it at the amp. the amp has much better crossovers than the head unit and will be more accurate. I'm sure some people will not agree with me but oh well.

 

[terra 5,000+ posts]

Unhook the speakers. Why would having an amp not connected to the subs damage the amp?

 

[Simek4life 10+ year member]

Unhook the speakers. Why would having an amp not connected to the subs damage the amp?

x2

 

[brian1226 10+ year member]

ok in most tutorials it says to turn loudness off before adjusting gain to the right voltage.. wouldnt turning it on after make the voltage increase so it clips? also, should my hpf and lpf be set at the same hz?.. or what if i played one of the hardest bass hitting songs at 90% with all my features on (eq, hpf, lpf, loudness) and make sure the voltage doesnt exceed what its suppose to, would this be a good way?

 

[c_james_s 10+ year member]

ok in most tutorials it says to turn loudness off before adjusting gain to the right voltage.. wouldnt turning it on after make the voltage increase so it clips? also, should my hpf and lpf be set at the same hz?.. or what if i played one of the hardest bass hitting songs at 90% with all my features on (eq, hpf, lpf, loudness) and make sure the voltage doesnt exceed what its suppose to, would this be a good way?

ok. here is how I would and do tune my stereo: assuming you have all aftermarket equipment with a sub and sub amp, components and 4 channel amp. 1) turn all your gains down on all amps, turn off bass boost, turn off loudness on head unit and if on amp. turn off all crossovers on your deck so you have a clean un filtered signl going to the amps. 2) turn off sub so you can tune the components first. since your gains should be down all the way now, turn your stereo volume up 3/4 of the way. this will now be the loudest you will want to turn the stereo up since it ill start to distort above this volume setting! turn the bass, mid, treb etc to 0 for all and put in a cd that has both good bass , mids and highs that you are familiar with. depending on how many crossover points your amp has 80, 90, 100 etc. I would set it at 80 hz high pass or slightly below since the crossover slopes off. set the volts to arount 3/4 too. now with the music playing adjust the gain until you hear clipping or distortion and back it down slightly from there. now your components are set and you can move on to the sub. 3) follow the same steps you did for the 4 channel amp on this on. if you are using a sealed box than turn off you're subsonic filter since you shouldn't need it, if you are using a ported box than experiment with it on, I never used mine so I have little to no experience with it. I would set the low pass to 80hz or slightly higher for the same reason as before. I use a sealed sub box so my freq response is very linear which is why I like 80 hz as a crossover point. if you are using a ported or bandpass box you might want to specially tune it since you will have a huge peak usually aroun 45-65 hz..... perhaps there is a better way and more scientific ways but this works very well for me. I'm sorry if I left anything out but I am in a hury and don't have the time to proof read. any q's ask

 

[brian1226 10+ year member]

or maybe u guys can just tell me where abouts to set my gain since its a popular setup (half way turned, 3/4 turn, etc..).. i have 2 12'' Kicker CVR's (2ohms) at 50-400rms each sub with a Kicker ZX750.1 amp at 750rms.

also on my amp it says input level ( hi or low) what should i press it to?

 

[momad 10+ year member]

The input switch should be set to low if you are using RCA's from you head unit. If you are using speaker level inputs for your amp, you would set it to high. Setting you gains is a different story. Do you access to a multimeter or an oscope? If you have access to a multimeter and a test tone. Just figure the output power you want and multiply that by the impedance load on the amp. I am assuming you are wanting 750watts since your amp does 750 rms at 2 ohms. Multiply 750 and 2 then take the square root of that. Then hook you meter across you speaker leads make sure it is set to measure ac voltage then adjust you gain till your meter reads about 39 volts. That should give you 750 watts of power at 50hz out of your amp.

 

[wishbone 10+ year member]

or maybe u guys can just tell me where abouts to set my gain since its a popular setup (half way turned, 3/4 turn, etc..).. i have 2 12'' Kicker CVR's (2ohms) at 50-400rms each sub with a Kicker ZX750.1 amp at 750rms.
also on my amp it says input level ( hi or low) what should i press it to?

I have learned from some reading that all the gain is on your amp is a volume control. You and only you can set the gain to your comfort listening. The only tip I can give you on setting the gain is once set you should be able to turn you radio up 3/4 of the way and not get any distortion out of the speakers. I use a equalizer/crossover, and I am struggling with setting the gain and also setting the crossover trying to eliminate any distortion.

 

[Bass Addict 10+ year member]

this is dependent on the vehicle.you try turning the hu 3/4's up in my small hatch.that shit would be extremely loud.now sedans and suv's is another story lol

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

turn your head unit to 3/4 volume then you use a 50 htz tone and leave your settings the way they are, make sure your bass is all the way up on the HU.