Alpine MRV-M500 amp tuning questions

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Ok heres my setup on my head unit: equalizer setting bass -7, mid +5, high +5, subwoofer goes between 0-15 usually if i want the bass loud with the music relatively quiet i run it at 15, if i want the music to be loud (usually with windows down) i will turn the subwoofer to between 0-10 depending on music and head unit volume level, simply the louder i play my music the lower i go in the sub setting. So should i always leave the sub setting on my head unit at 0? It doesn't say its bass boost just say subwoofer. So 0 on sub setting on head unit and do all my bass adjustments on the amp?
Be patient with me guys im never had any experiences properly adjusting a amp before

Your bass setting doesn't need to be at negative 7. You can have it at zero and lower your gain on the amp a bit more. The sub level can be used to adjusted depending on the song and your preference.

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

Adjusting the sub level from the head unit is no problem, one button and it pulls up, i will have to look tomorrow and see if my head unit has a hpf setting

So basically i need to turn the bass eq on the amp down to 0, leave the lpf somewhere between 80-120 and turn the gain down?

When i got the amp out of the box the gain was at nom, i had to turn it towards max before i heard the bass come up. I backed it off one notch from max. There are 6 increment levels on the gain. 100% / 6 = 16.66% per increment. Im at the 5th increment so thats approx 83% on the gain

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

Your bass setting doesn't need to be at negative 7. You can have it at zero and lower your gain on the amp a bit more. The sub level can be used to adjusted depending on the song and your preference.

If i put it at 0 the door speakers flex way too much at high volumes. I assumed that the standard bass setting was for the door speakers

 

[Zrock2010]

Have the same amp... sounded pretty good out of the box... if you want the know for gain control on the amp buy the alpine one. No point adding another set of connections into your rca's. Just another failure point..

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

Heres the head unit manual, at 53/89 is where it gets into the settings, would someone care to take a look and guide me in the right direction, ive never adjusted any of this

https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20130303105800/Manuals/500/500CDE143B.PDF

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

If i put it at 0 the door speakers flex way too much at high volumes. I assumed that the standard bass setting was for the door speakers

Do you have high pass filter options on the head unit that blocks the bass from going into your speakers? Both that and low pass should be 80hz. You wont need to use the low pass on the amp

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

Heres the head unit manual, at 53/89 is where it gets into the settings, would someone care to take a look and guide me in the right direction, ive never adjusted any of this
https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20130303105800/Manuals/500/500CDE143B.PDF

pg 54 tells u that u have hp and low pass on the hu set hp to 80-120 and lp at 120 see which is best keeping door speakers from distorting since and u have sealed box u need all the bass u can get so i'd set lp at 120hz (if xover on amp has off or pass through use that).. it also says on sub volume u have sys 1 and 2, 2 is like a loudness for sub when at low volume, so check out your settings.. while there see if u find a phase setting if so try that with subs on see if they get louder (won't hurt anything) most times does nothing, sometimes does a lot..

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

Ok thanks for clarifying. I looked this morning phase setting didn't make a difference, however the difference between system 1 and system 2 setting was pretty clear, system 2 had a lot more bass at a lower volume than system 1. I also set the hpf at 120hz. There is a setting on the head unit for sub lpf, should i leave it off on the head unit and set it on the amp or set both the head unit and the amp? Also if im experiencing too much highs on the subs should i back off the lpf to 80hz? Right now im at about 100-125 however the majority of music i listen to is rap and some classic rock and hard rock. I know its hard to tell because it varies from system to system but i just want a good start premise to eliminate all my newbie errors lol. So i guess this is starting to make sense, i can leave my standard bass setting at 0 and by using the hpf it will filter out the majority of the bass from my door speakers?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Ok thanks for clarifying. I looked this morning phase setting didn't make a difference, however the difference between system 1 and system 2 setting was pretty clear, system 2 had a lot more bass at a lower volume than system 1. I also set the hpf at 120hz. There is a setting on the head unit for sub lpf, should i leave it off on the head unit and set it on the amp or set both the head unit and the amp? Also if im experiencing too much highs on the subs should i back off the lpf to 80hz? Right now im at about 100-125 however the majority of music i listen to is rap and some classic rock and hard rock. I know its hard to tell because it varies from system to system but i just want a good start premise to eliminate all my newbie errors lol. So i guess this is starting to make sense, i can leave my standard bass setting at 0 and by using the hpf it will filter out the majority of the bass from my door speakers?

if you read my post on post 21... you'd know what to set it to... please read... That goes with what i said before with the bass levels on the head unit and how it relates to the gain setting.

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

Thanks jeff i will re read it just lots of good information on here and im still learning lol,

First thing i need to do is turn the bass boost down which i havent yet, not been cranking it up loud until i get it sorted out. I will drop the bass boost to 0 and see how it sounds with the bass setting in the head unit mid way like you mentioned.

As far as not using low pass on the amp, how? It doesn't have a off position for it. I will turn it and the high pass to 80 and see how it does

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

heres a couple pics of my setup, i know its nothing crazy but it works for me

View attachment 26556522View attachment 26556523

Ok guys heres how im starting out, got bass boost on the amp all the way down, gain is roughly at 80% and lpf is set to 110-125 ish. On the head unit bass is at 0 mid at 5 and treb at 5. Hpf is set to 80 on the head unit. I think i have it in a pretty good range, my alpine head unit maxs at 35 volume and I usually listen to it at about 15. At 15 i can turn the sub volume up to 15 and it hits pretty good. If i want it to hit harder i turn the volume up a little more. However i could probably crank it to 30 and adjust the sub volume accordingly to the type of music and to my taste. I have the gain set on roughly 80% which 80% of 500rms = 400rms just what my two jl audio subs are rated for together, should i turn the gain up a tad more? Maybe 90%?

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

So i think im getting closer to having my setup figured out, backed the lpf off to 80, hpf on hu is at 80. I still have a couple questions though. Should i be concerned with any of this?

Setting the Bass Bandwidth (WIDTH (Q))

Turn the Rotary encoder to select the desired bass bandwidth.

WIDE 0.50  MEDIUM 1.00  MEDIUM 1.50  NARROW 2.00

Changes the boosted bass bandwidth to wide or narrow. A wider setting will boost a wide range of frequencies above and below the center frequency. A narrower setting will boost only frequencies near the center frequency.

 Setting the Bass Center Frequency (CENTER FRQ)

Turn the Rotary encoder to select the desired bass center frequency.

60 (Hz)  80 (Hz)  100 (Hz)  120 (Hz)

Emphasises the displayed bass frequency ranges.

Turn the Rotary encoder to select the desired Mid bandwidth.

WIDE 0.75  MEDIUM 1.00  MEDIUM 1.25  NARROW 1.50

 Setting the Mid Center Frequency (CENTER FRQ)

Turn the Rotary encoder to select the desired Mid center frequency.

500 (Hz)  1.0K (Hz)  1.5K (Hz)  2.5K (Hz)  Setting the Mid Level

 Setting the Mid Bandwidth (WIDTH (Q))

Also my old mtx audio amp seemed to be hitting lows a tad lower, it was only 80watts rms per channel but i had gain at 90% and bass eq all the way up, will turning the bass eq up make it louder or deeper?

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

heres a couple pics of my setup, i know its nothing crazy but it works for me
View attachment 26556522View attachment 26556523

Ok guys heres how im starting out, got bass boost on the amp all the way down, gain is roughly at 80% and lpf is set to 110-125 ish. On the head unit bass is at 0 mid at 5 and treb at 5. Hpf is set to 80 on the head unit. I think i have it in a pretty good range, my alpine head unit maxs at 35 volume and I usually listen to it at about 15. At 15 i can turn the sub volume up to 15 and it hits pretty good. If i want it to hit harder i turn the volume up a little more. However i could probably crank it to 30 and adjust the sub volume accordingly to the type of music and to my taste. I have the gain set on roughly 80% which 80% of 500rms = 400rms just what my two jl audio subs are rated for together, should i turn the gain up a tad more? Maybe 90%?

So much wrong in this reply. Your gain is WAY too high man.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

What HU do you have? I'm betting the voltage on it is 4v Should match gain on amp with it.

 

[71dodge 10+ year member]

Heres the head unit

https://www1.crutchfield.com/p_500CDE143B/Alpine-CDE-143BT.html?tp=5684