Gain Setting Tutorial

[Raisedin305 5,000+ posts]

Question. If i put my subwoofer level at 14/14 and then put my volume up to 39/52 (3/4 the volume) and set my gains at that level. If I raise my volume passed 39 lets say I max it out at 52/52 would my subwoofers have a chance to blow?

 

[Decado 10+ year member]

Question. If i put my subwoofer level at 14/14 and then put my volume up to 39/52 (3/4 the volume) and set my gains at that level. If I raise my volume passed 39 lets say I max it out at 52/52 would my subwoofers have a chance to blow?

Set it at what you normally listen to music to, if there's something that's recorded at such a low decibel level that you would need to max it out like that, it may not be a problem, but i wouldnt risk it.

 

[AzzKicker 10+ year member]

OK I feel like a n00b asking. But I read this entire thread and didnt really see someone with same situation.

I have a 4 channel AMP, 4x75 watts RMS, its 2x300w rms bridged. So its a 600w amp. anyways.

What I have is my components on 1-2 channel and my subwoofer is bridged between 3-4.

So whould I calculate sqrt(75x4) for 1-2 channel and then sqrt(300x4) for 2-4 channel ?

So for my components I should set gains to 17.3v @ 4 ohms

And for my single sub I set it at 34.6v @ 4ohms

Is that right? Or should it be the 17.3v all around ?

 

[caliece 10+ year member]

ok i have a viper 1200.1 and it is a mono amp but it looks like a 2 channel amp im running it at 1 ohm at 1200 watts, so should it read 34.6 on all of the termals or should it be half like 17.3

ex: +- =17.3 +- =17.3 or +- +- =34.6

you guys get what im saying.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

^ no its a mono amp hence one channel. it has two speaker terminals for ease of installing multiple subs. so in your case if you install one sub @1 ohm then that sub will see all 1200 watts. if you install two subs @ 1 ohm then the power will split and each sub will see 600watts. so i think you should use the 34 volt number.

anyways i have my own question. i have a four channel amp that does 75x4 @ 4 ohms. my tweets are 8 ohms so what i was wondering is for the tweeters do i use the 75 watts in the equation or 37.5 watts?

 

[Decado 10+ year member]

sqrt of 75x4=17.3 volts, sqrt of 37.5x8=17.3 volts, dur //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif .

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

sqrt of 75x4=17.3 volts, sqrt of 37.5x8=17.3 volts, dur //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif .

lol i feel stupid. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[SPL 10+ year member]

nm i am a moron //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[twister 10+ year member]

I have a Sony CDX-M7815X with 4-volt preamp outputs. Whenever I adjust the volume, it shows a status bar on the screen but there's no number. Will it be okay if I estimate where the 3/4 mark is or is there another way to tell?

I'm going to be hooking up an Audiobahn A12001DT (1200 Watts @ 1 Ohm Mono) amp to 2 Audiobahn Flame Q 1100 RMS (each) subs. Do I need to set the gain to 34.64 volts, which is 1200 watts or will I need to set it to 41.91 volts, which is 2200 watts?

Sorry if that's confusing, I'm new to all this. Thanks for any help.

Edit-

My alternator is putting out 85 amps total right now. Will I need a high output alternator? Thanks again.

 

[Decado 10+ year member]

I have a Sony CDX-M7815X with 4-volt preamp outputs. Whenever I adjust the volume, it shows a status bar on the screen but there's no number. Will it be okay if I estimate where the 3/4 mark is or is there another way to tell?
I'm going to be hooking up an Audiobahn A12001DT (1200 Watts @ 1 Ohm Mono) amp to 2 Audiobahn Flame Q 1100 RMS (each) subs. Do I need to set the gain to 34.64 volts, which is 1200 watts or will I need to set it to 41.91 volts, which is 2200 watts?

Sorry if that's confusing, I'm new to all this. Thanks for any help.

Edit-

My alternator is putting out 85 amps total right now. Will I need a high output alternator? Thanks again.

As for the volume on ur HU, estimating should be just fine, or just put it where you normally listen to it at. And you'll want to set your amp for 34.64 volts (just because your subs are rated for more doesnt mean that the amp can give them that amount of power)...although I doubt that amp will even do close to 1200 watts, and I doubt your subs would do close to 1100 watts either. And for the HO alternator, just try hooking everything up and see if your lights dim, if they do try the big 3 upgrade and upgrade your power wire back to your amp (if it needs it), and if the lights still dim, then you need a new alternator.

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

Alright, here's my question:

I'm in the process of installing my first system. I mounted the box and the amp to the back wall of my F-150. I connected the speaker wire that was coming from the box to the amp, and it took a while and was very tedious because of the lack of space and the angles I was working with. I REALLY don't feel like disconnecting the wires from the amp to set the gains, so before I wire and mount the subs, could I use the ends of the wires inside the box to do it?

I have a PG Xenon 400.1 amp. The subs are 175 watts RMS, but I'll send them 200 watts each.

I will have the subs wired in series-parallel to deliver a 4 ohm load to the amp. There are 2 sets of speaker inputs on the amp, and they are paralled inside the amp. So when I wire each sub in series and make it 8 ohms, when I connect both sets of speaker wire it parallels inside the amp to give it a 4 ohms load.

So I should get a voltage reading of 40. right? sqrt of 200 x 8.

 

[Decado 10+ year member]

Alright, here's my question:
I'm in the process of installing my first system. I mounted the box and the amp to the back wall of my F-150. I connected the speaker wire that was coming from the box to the amp, and it took a while and was very tedious because of the lack of space and the angles I was working with. I REALLY don't feel like disconnecting the wires from the amp to set the gains, so before I wire and mount the subs, could I use the ends of the wires inside the box to do it?

I have a PG Xenon 400.1 amp. The subs are 175 watts RMS, but I'll send them 200 watts each.

I will have the subs wired in series-parallel to deliver a 4 ohm load to the amp. There are 2 sets of speaker inputs on the amp, and they are paralled inside the amp. So when I wire each sub in series and make it 8 ohms, when I connect both sets of speaker wire it parallels inside the amp to give it a 4 ohms load.

So I should get a voltage reading of 40. right? sqrt of 200 x 8.

Why 200 x 8? I thought you wanted a final load of 4 ohm at the amp?

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

Yeah, but it's a monoblock amo with two pair of speaker inputs that parallel inside the amp. Therefore, each pair of speaker inputs should be getting an 8 ohm load to achieve a final load of 4 ohms.

Am I confusing you, because I'm probably not making myself very clear.

 

[chris13 10+ year member]

Can anyone please help me with my multimeter problem. I am trying to get my multimeter to read 40 volts but all i get is 4.0 on the display.

oh ya its a mastercraft dmm

thx

 

[MegaHurtz 10+ year member]

Are you in the proper range?

Call me crazy, but in this thread dedicated to setting gains, I find it a bit odd that you are trying to get your multimeter to read 40 volts. What are you trying to do?