amp gain

[drifterman33 10+ year member]

ok so i tunned my gain to the specific voltage using a dmm which read 31.6 ac volts....I wasnt sure on if i did it correctly so then i took it to circuit city and the guy there put in his music and then turned it down alot.....i am wondering if my setting was good or was the guy at circuit city an idiot.....

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[2loud4u 10+ year member]

Set it with a 0db or -3db test tone

 

[drifterman33 10+ year member]

i did 50hz 0db to 31.6v

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

at least he didn't turn it up.

 

[ninjatek 10+ year member]

at least he didn't turn it up.

the owner of a local shop does the same thing.. uses the multimeter to run all the tests, takes notes, does some math, sets the gain, tests it out, and once he is satisified, turns the gain down just a small fraction just to be safe

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

hows it sound?

 

[drifterman33 10+ year member]

this guy set it almost half way down....it sounded fine at the beggining but now if i turn it up loud it distorts

 

[dirtye30 10+ year member]

why would you go to CC anyways?

 

[drifterman33 10+ year member]

because they are basically the only car audio shop that is close to me....and i didnt think that i did it right because I had to turn it up so high...........I really am looking for SPL not SQ and the guy at CC turned it down for SQ....what do you think i should do?

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

trust the dmm - using a 0db tone gives you a conservative setting anyway.

 

[drifterman33 10+ year member]

so having the gain turned up that high wont send the amp into clipping?? Also I think i have to turn it up that high because my hu has weak pre outs...so is it a good idea to turn it back up??

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

so having the gain turned up that high wont send the amp into clipping?? Also I think i have to turn it up that high because my hu has weak pre outs...so is it a good idea to turn it back up??

it shouldn't my head unit has weak preouts also my max unclipped preout voltage is 0.08 and i set my gain with everything flat at that volume number on the head unit that reads that voltage then set my gain to w/e i want 400 rms for my kicker and i have no problems with clipping at all cuz i set it with a 60 hz 0db tone, i thinkyou'll be fine with it up, just watch the sound quality of the music.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

it shouldn't my head unit has weak preouts also my max unclipped preout voltage is 0.08 and i set my gain with everything flat at that volume number on the head unit that reads that voltage then set my gain to w/e i want 400 rms for my kicker and i have no problems with clipping at all cuz i set it with a 60 hz 0db tone, i thinkyou'll be fine with it up, just watch the sound quality of the music.

Your max unclipped preout voltage is less than a tenth of a volt?

Am I reading your post right?

And if so - what model Pioneer HU are you running?!?

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

in the instruction book it says 2.2 but with eq flat i only got 0.08 right beforeit clipped, should i increase the bass on the head unit to get the 2.2 then?