Gain on amp/Bass adjustment on HU question

[kottke 10+ year member]

Hi guys,

Ok, so I've been spending a lot of time trying to get things set on my new setup. I'm also pretty new to most things relating to car audio. Please forgive me if this is a dumb question.

I have a 2006 Honda Civc sedan. I've got an ID10 in a sealed .75 box, with a 480 x 1 RMS amp powering it. I've still got the factory HU. I've used a digital multimeter to set it all up using the method recommended by JL audio. I've been running it set at about 34 volts (300 watts because its at 4 ohms). When set at this level, the gain is up a bit over 3/4 of the way. Set at that level, however, I have to turn the bass adjustment on my HU up to a +3 out of 6 to get the desired output (and I'm not a big bass guy, more sq, so it's still not deafening loud). I'm not using the bass boost on the amp as I've learned it's not a good idea.

So my questions: is it bad to have it set up like this, using the HU adjustments to increase the bass? Should I go ahead and set the gain all the way up, so the amp is pushing at full capacity? Then I could possibly turn the HU bass down? . The ID10 is rated from 50 RMS to 400 RMS on the website (though the spec sheet recommends 250 RMS) so I would be overpowering it a tad with the gain turned at full. More importantly though (because from what I've read the ID10 should easily handle 480 RMS), is it really hard on the amp to turn the gain all the way up and leave it that way?

It doesn't sound to my noobie ears that any clipping is occurring with the way it is currently set, but I know clipping isn't always easy to hear.

Please let me know what you all think. I really appreciate all of the help you all have given me with all the questions I keep throwing out!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Click to read more...

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

Turning the gain all the way up does not mean it will put out full power.

I would set the bass to 0 on the headunit and set your gain by ear. Up the gain until there is noticeable distortion while playing a 60-90hz tone with all crossovers off and everything set to flat.

 

[kottke 10+ year member]

Turning the gain all the way up does not mean it will put out full power.
I would set the bass to 0 on the headunit and set your gain by ear. Up the gain until there is noticeable distortion while playing a 60-90hz tone with all crossovers off and everything set to flat.

Hmmm...I may try this, but I'm a bit concerned about my judgement of distortion on lower frequencies. I think I know what low end distortion sounds like, but I afraid I'll screw something if I don't. As far as I could tell before, when I was playing around with the settings, I wasn't really able to distort the sub with the gain turned up pretty high and the HU turned up 3/4. I don't know if it is just because the ID10 can easily handle that much power or what. That, or quite possibly, I'm an idiot.

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

Hmmm...I may try this, but I'm a bit concerned about my judgement of distortion on lower frequencies. I think I know what low end distortion sounds like, but I afraid I'll screw something if I don't. As far as I could tell before, when I was playing around with the settings, I wasn't really able to distort the sub with the gain turned up pretty high and the HU turned up 3/4. I don't know if it is just because the ID10 can easily handle that much power or what. That, or quite possibly, I'm an idiot.

well some hu's don't distort till 80-95%, urs might not distort till then

 

[kottke 10+ year member]

well some hu's don't distort till 80-95%, urs might not distort till then

This actually sort of leads me to another question. The max. my head unit goes up to is 40, therefore 30 is 3/4. However, I rarely, if ever, listen to the volume higher than 20. Most of the time, when I'm playing something loudly, I have it somewhere between 15 - 18. So do I still need to adjust until distortion up around 32 or higher out of 40, even though the amp will never be putting out the wattage I set it to at that level? And, if so, is it ok to go ahead and use the bass adjustment on the HU somewhat to give a little more low end when I'm listening to something at around 15-18 out of the 40? Sorry this is so confusing.

 

[js09 10+ year member]

volume up 50% you will be fine

I have a 12" 400W RMS kicker with a 310W amp (it's wired wrong so i'm only gettin 310W now) and with the amp gain at 5/7, HU volume up 100% sounds fine.. no distortion and it hits pretty good. but the sub isn't getting much power so I don't think it possible to distort it.