Does it matter what you designate as your max volume when setting gains?

[Umbra]

When I first went about setting gains on the amp for my subs I started with the head unit volume at 35 (out of 46; 75%) as that's what the guides I was reading recommended. The subs were added to a system comprised of the four stock speaker and an aftermarket head unit. However, the head unit only has a single pair of RCA outputs, so if I wanted to max the bass the volume needed to be at 35, which was a bit too loud for me. What I ended up doing was choosing 30 as my new max volume and turning the gains up on the amp a bit more. I used an oscilloscope, so I can see it's not clipping.

I'm going to be reevaluating this, as I'm replacing the stock front speakers with a pair of amplified components. This got me thinking, to what extent does it matter what you designate as your max volume? Hypothetically, let's say you wanted 10 to be your max instead of 46. If you were able to set your gains appropriately, how would this play out acoustically and electrically? Would it be the same as having 35 be your max?

My hunch is that you want to push your head unit as much as you can without distorting, thus decreasing the gain setting, and possibly decreasing the amount of power you'd need, which also makes me wonder to what extent preout voltages matter. I don't know; I don't fully understand how this stuff works, but that's why I'm here.

Can anyone enlighten me?

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[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Your hunch is right. The harder you push the deck the higher the preout voltage which decreases gain on the amp. While this doesnt reallly affect the amp the higher preout voltage makes it harder for the rca jack to pick up noise.

but chosing a lower volume set point doesnt severely affect anything aand just makes it easier to level match the system.

this is givin all the signals input and output are kept vleaan and free of distortion

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

^ gave a good reply. Only other thing that I want to add is that settign gains using too high of a HU volume causes problems when you try and play of a quieter source as you'll run out of ability to boost. I find more often than not, many people underset their gains, at least of the crowd that "knows what they are doing". They get so concerned with using max preout voltages and minimizing all clipping they really begin to interfere with the sytems ability to play actual dynamic music well from a variety of sources.

Generally speaking 35 out of 46 should be fine. Even on pioneer decks that soft clip at 61/62, I usually set gains so my main source is loud as I can run it safely at around 50/62 on most songs.. Alpines I generally setup to around the 25-27 mark out of 35.. That way when I get a quiet song or a phone with ****** preout voltage, I can still get reasonable output.