gain all the way up but no distortion or clipping?

[twofournineseve]

my gain is all the way up bu there's no distortion or clipping. so is it bad to keep it like this?

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[AndrewHD 10+ year member]

How are you testing for distortion?

 

[twofournineseve]

How are you testing for distortion?

by ear.

i turned my head unit 3/4 of the way up and then played this 40hz test. then i went to the back and turned my gain up slowly waiting to hear some distortion but there was none. so now i have it set at the max input level.

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

by ear.
i turned my head unit 3/4 of the way up and then played this 40hz test. then i went to the back and turned my gain up slowly waiting to hear some distortion but there was none. so now i have it set at the max input level.

I wouldn't trust your ears.

Most likely your HU isn't putting out its max signal power to the RCAs. Therefore you can turn the gain all the way up.

 

[AndrewHD 10+ year member]

You will be getting a clipped signal well before your ears can hear it. I suggest buying a DMM if you don't already have one, an o-scope or DD-1 to set your gains properly

 

[twofournineseve]

I wouldn't trust your ears.Most likely your HU isn't putting out its max signal power to the RCAs. Therefore you can turn the gain all the way up.

so should i keep my gain there or should i turn it down?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Turn the gain down. I give myself temporary partial hearing loss by setting the gain with a test tone and the sub hooked up, so your hearing is getting saturated. It's safer to set the gain with the sub disconnected and an oscilloscope to monitor the waveform, but you can settle for the DMM method and get it half-assed tuned.