Front stage overpowering substage

[sjv13 10+ year member]

I just installed a 4 channel amp, bridged to only my front stage. So each side of the front has 150wrms at it's disposal, and I set the gains safely according to my speakers wrms rating. Anyways, my front stage is now overpowering my 500wrms substage, and on some songs I cant turn up the volume to the point that my sub bangs like it should because the highs are just ear piercingly loud. I would just dial down the gain on the 4 channel, but the thing is that on other songs the balance is perfect. So I'm stuck and not quite sure what to do.

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

turn the gains down

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

turn the gains down

Did you even read what he said?

OP some songs are going to be louder than others. It ***** that they aren't all the same volume levels. Really the only thing you can do about it is just turn the volume down on the songs that are louder. There isn't really like a magic fix for it unless you edit all of the songs that are overly loud

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

Did you even read what he said?
OP some songs are going to be louder than others. It ***** that they aren't all the same volume levels. Really the only thing you can do about it is just turn the volume down on the songs that are louder. There isn't really like a magic fix for it unless you edit all of the songs that are overly loud

Alright. Guess I'll just have to work with it. Thanks for reading the whole post haha

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

my bad sorry

 

[fivepoints 10+ year member]

Did you even read what he said?
OP some songs are going to be louder than others. It ***** that they aren't all the same volume levels. Really the only thing you can do about it is just turn the volume down on the songs that are louder. There isn't really like a magic fix for it unless you edit all of the songs that are overly loud

that is a good point and a major reason why it is doing it. are they to bright too buy the way? you may want to consider a new tweeter style like silk. if they are or dimming the top end of the eq, like i think it was 20K +hz. aluminum tweet are well know to be way to bright and over powering. but of corse it will not help with a +3 db track versus a bunch of -1 db tracks.

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

what you can do if its in your cards is up your substage a notch and keep a gain knob for the bass and turn it up on songs that require it.

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

what you can do if its in your cards is up your substage a notch and keep a gain knob for the bass and turn it up on songs that require it.

That is a good idea. I do have a bass knob. But I think I would be too tempted to turn it up more than I should on songs that don't need it. Haha. I plan to add another sub and amp when funds permit. The wiring is already big enough. So until then, I will just live with it.

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

are they to bright too buy the way?

Are you talking about the song "By the Way" the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

That is a good idea. I do have a bass knob. But I think I would be too tempted to turn it up more than I should on songs that don't need it. Haha. I plan to add another sub and amp when funds permit. The wiring is already big enough. So until then, I will just live with it.

well it should sound good to you.. if you are blasting the bass where it isn't needed you will hear it.. if you like how it sounds then its on you..

 

[fivepoints 10+ year member]

Are you talking about the song "By the Way" the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

bright meaning to harsh of sound or shrap on the ears like high piched. metal tweet cones are know to be on the sharp side. cause there stiff permenatly. were textiles and silk or soft stuff will break in over time. another plus is they are a mellower sound i.e not as sharp on the hearing. i used it as a question are they to bright by the way? by bright i meant sound of the tweets the by the way filled in the gaps. lol'z

 

[zako 10+ year member]

I just installed a 4 channel amp, bridged to only my front stage. So each side of the front has 150wrms at it's disposal, and I set the gains safely according to my speakers wrms rating. Anyways, my front stage is now overpowering my 500wrms substage, and on some songs I cant turn up the volume to the point that my sub bangs like it should because the highs are just ear piercingly loud. I would just dial down the gain on the 4 channel, but the thing is that on other songs the balance is perfect. So I'm stuck and not quite sure what to do.

"Setting gains by DMM" should really be called "finding the safest maximum gain position before you level match speakers". Setting the actual gain position of speakers by what DMM tells you is not a good idea as you still need to blend them with subwoofer and other speakers. Most speakers will make your ears bleed if you send to them rated power. Did you set subwoofer gain using 0dB test tone or something else? I think using 0dB tones is not a good idea as it will indicate your gain setting should be lower than what's really safe. Normal music peaks at -5dB to -10dB. Also, amplifiers are capable of sending out instantaneous power that's something like 2x of the continuous RMS power rating. That's why I think setting gain with -5dB test tone (or using 0dB test tone, with subwoofer level reduced by 5dB) is better, unless you listen test tones on daily basis.

 

[sjv13 10+ year member]

"Setting gains by DMM" should really be called "finding the safest maximum gain position before you level match speakers". Setting the actual gain position of speakers by what DMM tells you is not a good idea as you still need to blend them with subwoofer and other speakers. Most speakers will make your ears bleed if you send to them rated power. Did you set subwoofer gain using 0dB test tone or something else? I think using 0dB tones is not a good idea as it will indicate your gain setting should be lower than what's really safe. Normal music peaks at -5dB to -10dB. Also, amplifiers are capable of sending out instantaneous power that's something like 2x of the continuous RMS power rating. That's why I think setting gain with -5dB test tone (or using 0dB test tone, with subwoofer level reduced by 5dB) is better, unless you listen test tones on daily basis.

So what you're saying is that I can probably turn the gain up higher? I had the shop set my sub amp gain. So I'm not sure which dB tone they used. There is a setting in the subwoofer menu on my HU that can go from +6 to -25. I know +6 is the highest, but I'm not sure about the lowest. After he set the gain on the amp, he had the setting at +3 and said I could go up one or two more if I needed. Would that setting be the compensation for songs set at different dB levels? He also said not to use bass boost, etc. because that's when people start to blow things.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

With 500W on a single sub you shouldn't have any trouble getting a balance of bass to the rest. Have you tried lowering any frequencies on the equalizer on your head unit? Try to tame the midrange and treble frequencies. Too much presence from the midrange can mask lower frequencies.