Distortion?

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

So I got my setup installed that's in my sig, and got all my gains set. When I turn it up to where it starts getting really loud, and the song has somewhat heavy bass it starts to get distorted I think. Of course this should be normal, but the thing is it doesn't sound like normal distortion, it's more of an occasional "click" sound. Is this normal or is something not set right?

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[thevic24 5,000+ posts]

could be the amp(s) clipping, if its a loud pop-could be the driver bottoming out.

 

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

Ah yeah it does kinda sound like the driver could be bottoming out, that makes sense.

 

[macq32 10+ year member]

are you using APF for both (playing all frequencies)? or do you have your comps doing highs and rears hitting the lows. Use a dmm to set gains, its the safest way

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

youll know if its bottoming out usually, if it sounds violent, its probaly that.. if not.. it might be clipping

 

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

Gains were set correctly with a DMM, so that's not really the problem. Both front and back are set to full. Front is set close to 80 hz and rear 65 hz.

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

set to full? they should be set on "high-pass" - hpf

 

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

Ah okay, that should help.

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

o yeah i cant belive i didnt think of this before.. but could it possibly be tinsel slap? (which hpf should help) i dont know if those speakers have stitched tinsel leads

 

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

Hm no idea.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Clipping doesn't make a clicking sound in your speakers. It's either the driver being overpowered to the point of mechanical noise or tinsel slap...or both.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Gains were set correctly with a DMM, so that's not really the problem.

No they weren't and yes there is.

Don't set your gains with a DMM, it's silly. Would you believe the police if they wanted to give you a ticket for speeding based solely on how fast they thought you were going without a radar gun???? Using a DMM is worse than that.

 

[dewey79 10+ year member]

Turning on the high pass filter can help, but if they are full range speakers, you shouldn't have to. The damage could already be done, but make sure all of your wires are tight so that your amplifier is maximizing it's ability to control the speakers. I have seen this happen when someone trys to put to much base into speakers without enough power or trying to make a speaker do something it is not capable of. A good set of components will handle a lot of power and produce a good amount of base. I have some infinity perfects and they take a lot of power. I don't have anything else on the amp with them either because I want them to be powered properly.

 

[undeadxsunshine 10+ year member]

No they weren't and yes there is.
Don't set your gains with a DMM, it's silly. Would you believe the police if they wanted to give you a ticket for speeding based solely on how fast they thought you were going without a radar gun???? Using a DMM is worse than that.

Didn't know that using a DMM was that bad, from what I've read on here it seemed like the right way to do it. It actually did turn out well though with them set like that. I only get the noise with a few songs super heavy bass, and only when it is up really loud. With the filter turned to high I didn't get the noise, but I also didn't try pushing them that hard. Bottom line is once I get a sub to take care of my lows I can filter out more of the lows to really make sure none of this happens.