Advice Needed: Electronic Xover Gain & Amp Gain Question

[Bluenote]

I am using a Cache Electronic Xover for Mids/Tweets (only) in a 3 way front stage set up. They are powered by a JL HD600@150x4. The Tweets are connected to the Front channel and Mids to Rear channel on both Xover and Amp.

Heres my Dilemma....The Cache Xover has it's own gain setting and the JL Amp has gain settings too...

Which gains should be used for proper adjustment of the Mids/Tweets? Or, should gains be set on both units?

Your advice is needed (I always search first but came up only with Amp specific Tutorials)

Thanks!

Bluenote

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[subzero 5,000+ posts]

I am using a Cache Electronic Xover for Mids/Tweets (only) in a 3 way front stage set up. They are powered by a JL HD600@150x4. The Tweets are connected to the Front channel and Mids to Rear channel on both Xover and Amp.
Heres my Dilemma....The Cache Xover has it's own gain setting and the JL Amp has gain settings too...

Which gains should be used for proper adjustment of the Mids/Tweets? Or, should gains be set on both units?

Your advice is needed (I always search first but came up only with Amp specific Tutorials)

Thanks!

Bluenote

If you have a external electronic xover, that is so you can take a full rang output of a front chanel and separate it, like into 2 or 3 channels, Hi-Mid-Lows.. And most will have some pretty good freq controls and you can use those to fine tune the sound. Then when you amplify- You can leave to amplifiers on full range, They will only amplify what you feed it. But if you feel you might need to add a secondary adjustment and decide to tweek the amplifier settings, you can. No harm. Just be careful not to clip signals by boosting signal strenght going into the amp. and becareful not to overdo the gains on the amp. Boost control on amps tend to get missussed and abused. I keep mine flat. My subsonic filter is set around 25hz, and my lp filter is at 100hz. With front stage adjustments, it works about the same.

I think you should just keep the amps on full range and only deal with the elec xover.

 

[stereo_luver 10+ year member]

Match the output gains on the crossover to the same as what the headunit is putting out. This way you have a clean even signal for all channels. You'll need some test tones to do this and it really is easy to do. If you raise the gain setting on the crossover too much you may run into some noise issues as in some humming or hissing. Get the gains as close as possible across the board. Then adjust the gains on your amp to suit your needs. Remember each component in the signal path has the ability to 'dirty' the signal before reaching the amp / amps.

Chuck

 

[Bluenote]

Hey thanks for the feedback (so fast) //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

So, based on both responses...I can or should adjust gains with X-Over primarily and use the Amp Gains only if I find it necessary.

Right now I've had my amp gains less than 1/4 up, and Xover at minimum...I will flip that around to see what I get...