frontstage amp tuning

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

I set gains by ear but I have a good ear for distortion

HP should be on 80hz or lower depending on your tweeter crossover points and how well your mids can handle lower frequencies

your HU eq is also very important, you want to minimize the use of enhancers such as Loud and pre-set eq settings. Start with a flat eq and fix it by turning the peaking frequencies down to level them with the others(as compared to turning the depressed frequencies higher)

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

yeah, i have all my eq set perfectly for tuning. my HPF is at 80hz, i have LOUD turned off. BASS BOOOST is OFF at 0. and my EQ is on FLAT.

my tweeters are actually on my door panels perpendicalr to the door as well.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

I think the front stage is a little more important, since you spent so much on your comps.if you had bought some cheap speaker then it wouldn't matter.if i where you.

1) Deaden your doors- http://www.secondskinaudio.com/ there is also fatmat & dynamat

in time you should deaden your whole car, you dont want raddles or your car shaking like a tin can.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/33715-first-install-lots-pic.html

in this link this guy is doing a full install, but he also is installing the same HERTZ comps that you have, hope you can learn from his install.

2)after you deaden your doors you need to set up which amp your going to use for those comps, like where are you going to mount it, adjust it,

3) if where you i would the BIG THREE, yes ift will help with voltage of your amps & electrical system. your not running enough power to change out alternator & i think your battery should be enough.

4) how is your wiring???

what i'm asking are you running any fuses??? to the battery & between your amps???

not on your amp, to the amp??

make sure you are running the right wires which can play a big part with how your comps will sound.

If that shop installed basic wires that came with the speakers i would at least go up a gage or two.

5) RCA's -with your your front stage they do play a great part into distortion & that hissing sound that you are hearing. So if your running cheap rca's you'll need to replace them.

yes your front stage can & will require lots of work, but now since your becoming a car audio finatik you have plently of time to do it right.

it's all about learning.

your subs aren't going any place so you can put them on hold for now.

you'll be happy in the end.

when you do decide to built a box you can try it yourself or have someone on this forum built it for you.

Remember if you save money by doing things right, you'll be able to spend it more money on your car with how you'll like it to look & sound.

TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME!

very true ^^^

but i can't really even hear my doors vicbrate, i only hear rattling from my trunk :[ unless its just that my trunk rattling is so loud, i can't hear anything else? lol

my amps are already mounted both of them on the back of my back seats.

i'll probably do the big 3. i gotta look online on how to do it and what i'd need

wiring. i have 4 g for my arc amp and 8 g for my CV amp

RCAs are good

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

http://www.wildweasel.ca/j-body/HowTo/2200BigThree.asp

you should have the same gage of wire to both amps, yes it does make difference.

always be consistant with what your'e doing.

deaedening your door will help with your front stage, when you deaden your doors your will get a lot more midbass, you want your bass sound like it's coming from in front of you, so that where your mids come into play, they produce your vioces, midbass, upper mid range like upper snares in intruments, some baasic things for a two way set up.

if your sub sounds like they are in a tin can , then think of it like this if your mids are in a tin can then what are they going to sound like????

if you where to deaden them it sound more like a sealed box, you want to make your mids sound flat as possible. you will get less distortin fro them.

have you played your speakers without your subs yet???

if try it see what you think!

Since you like Hip -Hop you dont have to worry as much, but i listen to underground hip-hop which dosen't sound like mainstream crap.

i like my mids more punchy & with midbass, since i went back to passive i xover mine around 80hz.

yes your trunk can raddle so loud that i will make your front stage sound like crap.

you have a lot of work a head of you, so do it right & you'll be happy.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

http://www.wildweasel.ca/j-body/HowTo/2200BigThree.asp
you should have the same gage of wire to both amps, yes it does make difference.

always be consistant with what your'e doing.

deaedening your door will help with your front stage, when you deaden your doors your will get a lot more midbass, you want your bass sound like it's coming from in front of you, so that where your mids come into play, they produce your vioces, midbass, upper mid range like upper snares in intruments, some baasic things for a two way set up.

if your sub sounds like they are in a tin can , then think of it like this if your mids are in a tin can then what are they going to sound like????

if you where to deaden them it sound more like a sealed box, you want to make your mids sound flat as possible. you will get less distortin fro them.

have you played your speakers without your subs yet???

if try it see what you think!

Since you like Hip -Hop you dont have to worry as much, but i listen to underground hip-hop which dosen't sound like mainstream crap.

i like my mids more punchy & with midbass, since i went back to passive i xover mine around 80hz.

yes your trunk can raddle so loud that i will make your front stage sound like crap.

you have a lot of work a head of you, so do it right & you'll be happy.

i should have the same kind of power wires and ground wires for both subs? ****. when the guy told me he was going install it, he said that the reason the price is a little high, is because they are going to use very good wires. i was like all right cool. and when i saw, they were just 8 awg. :[ idk how long it is because its installed and mounted on the back of my seats and hidden down below the chassis so idk how to get down there. :[

yeah i agree. i'll just work on the doors and front stage cause my sub stage already has everything it needs, my front stage is the one that needs the work. since it keeps hissing and over heating. i just can't wait to finally take it to the shop on friday and show them whats up, if i'll need a new part or whatever.

i dont even know if mine are at passive or active. :\

you listen to underground?? man my friend does too! what ppl??

man theres no way i can get all that money, to buy deadener, then some rings, then a new custom box.

I MIGHT BE ABLE TO. if i sell my probox for 100.

you think i should sell my probox? i mean its a REALLY NICE BOX. and made of VERY good material, but idk if it's perfect for my subs. :[

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

i still don't know why it over heats and theres distortion when its past the 1/3% on the gain knob.

i mean the CONNECTION IS BRIDGED so it's supposed to be getting 200 watts. and the hertz have 125rms 250 max. and i know hertz are hungry for wattage too. but i can't get them so sound loud :[

 

[nineballsafety8 10+ year member]

alright, maybe I am reading this wrong, but here is my 2 cents worth... take it for what it is... i was an installer for 4 years, and am now an electronic warfare specialist in the us army, with a degree in electronics... so PLEASE take what i have to say to heart... so far it seems there has been a fair amount of good information, however, it seems you have also gotten some BAD information (in particular whoever told you that your HERTZ could take 3/4 gain, or whatever number it was... they dont know their a$$ from a hole in the ground)

let me break it down for you... the gain knob on an amplifier is NOT, I repeat NOT, a power knob for you amplifier. Your SPEAKERS dont know whether the gain on your amplifier is set at zero, or whether it is completely dimed out.

the gain knob on your amplifer sets the INPUT VOLTAGE on the amplifier to match the OUTPUT voltage on the head unit (through your RCA's) to best suit the current rails on your amplifier. the only reason that your amp even has a gain knob is because some people run lower output voltage head units, and this allows the amplifier to bump up the imput voltage on the amp, to get more out of the orginal signal coming from you head unit.

So... now that i have that out of the way... i think its time to (start over) as far as tuning goes at least. Now whether you decide to swap amps or not, this process will apply for both setups.

First off, check your grounds... a weak ground can sometimes act as a funnel for the current supplying your amplifier.

Second, turn ALL gains down on front stage amp... set high pass crossovers at 60-120 to taste (personally i set mine at about 65), bass boost ALL THE WAY DOWN.

Get a DMM and set it to impedence and check your RCA's to ensure that everything is still in good working order.

then set your head unit volume at about 80%

The sub amp setup is relatively similar when setting the gain, the only difference is setting the low pass and SSF if you have one. I usually try to keep bass boost at a minimum on my subs too... use it to get where you need, but dont over do it... bass boost is your easy ticket to distortion land.

hopefully this well help, but if you have anymore questions, hit me back and i will see what i can do.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

alright, maybe I am reading this wrong, but here is my 2 cents worth... take it for what it is... i was an installer for 4 years, and am now an electronic warfare specialist in the us army, with a degree in electronics... so PLEASE take what i have to say to heart... so far it seems there has been a fair amount of good information, however, it seems you have also gotten some BAD information (in particular whoever told you that your HERTZ could take 3/4 gain, or whatever number it was... they dont know their a$$ from a hole in the ground)
let me break it down for you... the gain knob on an amplifier is NOT, I repeat NOT, a power knob for you amplifier. Your SPEAKERS dont know whether the gain on your amplifier is set at zero, or whether it is completely dimed out.

the gain knob on your amplifer sets the INPUT VOLTAGE on the amplifier to match the OUTPUT voltage on the head unit (through your RCA's) to best suit the current rails on your amplifier. the only reason that your amp even has a gain knob is because some people run lower output voltage head units, and this allows the amplifier to bump up the imput voltage on the amp, to get more out of the orginal signal coming from you head unit.

So... now that i have that out of the way... i think its time to (start over) as far as tuning goes at least. Now whether you decide to swap amps or not, this process will apply for both setups.

First off, check your grounds... a weak ground can sometimes act as a funnel for the current supplying your amplifier.

Second, turn ALL gains down on front stage amp... set high pass crossovers at 60-120 to taste (personally i set mine at about 65), bass boost ALL THE WAY DOWN.

Get a DMM and set it to impedence and check your RCA's to ensure that everything is still in good working order.

then set your head unit volume at about 80%

The sub amp setup is relatively similar when setting the gain, the only difference is setting the low pass and SSF if you have one. I usually try to keep bass boost at a minimum on my subs too... use it to get where you need, but dont over do it... bass boost is your easy ticket to distortion land.

hopefully this well help, but if you have anymore questions, hit me back and i will see what i can do.

really?? :[ how come my hertz can't ever seem to get the amt of power that it can push. it doesn't sound loud at all. when the gains are set to where there is no distortion, which is at 1/4 it sounds just like my old factory speakers, the loudness is barely noticeable. but its rated at 125 rms. so it's supposed to be much louder than that. so i think the problem is that either the hertz are just a fake. or the amp isn't good enough. the components are bridged and the amp claims to have 200 rms bridged but it sounds nothing like it. maybe i should get a DMM? and i make sure all the voltage is correct for all the wires cause i remember on my other amp, my remote wire wasn't getting good voltage. and we thought that couldve been the problem. but then i got a new amp, so the remote wire should be okay, im not having any problems with it. but since they used a disp block, something could be wrong with the connection. they connected tthe ground to the chassis beneath/behind the seats. i'll try tuning it again. but i doubt it'll get high as i want it to before distortion. the HISSING through the tweets is considered distortion am i correct? and my hp xovers are at 80-100 more or less. and the hpf on my HU is at 80 and my bass boost on BOTH AMPS ARE AT 0 OR AT least the minimum. i don't ever touch it. even on my substage. i'll try tuning it at 80. thats at 40 because i think myu HU maxxes out at 50 i supposed.

the sub amp, i think its okay. i mean my BASS BOOST is off. and my gain is at 50-75% and again, the bass boost is off. i always hear that it's not good for the amp/sub

but on my HU i just have my SW sub level at like +4 notch or whatever. and sometimes i have the EQ on the HU to have a little bit of punch on the bass. but i usually have it on flat for when i tune it.

what should i do if the tuning still doesnt get the speakers to work like they are supposed to??

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

yes sir.

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

1-fatlip & tre hardson)


check out these videos

are you useing your amp & deck xovers together???

if so you might try to see if you can turn off your HPF on your amp.

that may help some with distortion.

i tried to hook up my eclpise amp through my jl pr out onthe amp & when i try i got so much distortion from it

my amp is a full range amp, it doesn't have any HPF xovers on it, which i like.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

all right. i'll see if i have hpf OFF i think i do. i rmr theres a switch that says HPF - LPF and somethin else i forgot. but i'll try that! thanks alot!

thats the underground?? those tracks sound nice!!! ****nnnnnn

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

1-fatlip & tre hardson)

all right. i'll see if i have hpf OFF i think i do. i rmr theres a switch that says HPF - LPF and somethin else i forgot. but i'll try that! thanks alot!

thats the underground?? those tracks sound nice!!! ****nnnnnn

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

underground music is really big,

there is a difference bewteen rap & hip-hop music.

Rap is bling, loud noise, with a lot of boom

hip-hop is a culture, it's more on breakin, tagging, saying some or doing something possitive in life.

 

[dafobbishon3 10+ year member]

yeahhh. for sure. i dont like the rap now a days. the OLD rap with tupac, biggie, that was rap.

this now. is all just garbage. all it is is pu$$y fcukin bullshietz. lol

hip hop / R&B on the other hand is NICEE

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

yeah i like R & b, like rihanna, beyonce, yeah i like anything smooth.

hey i have to go, let me know how it goes @ the shop tomorrow.