Gain Setting Tutorial

[sanmarcosZfreak 10+ year member]

ok so i just got my MD2 and my SX is on the way

im seeing alot of different advice, should i turn off all my crossovers or jsut the ones i have for the sub? also the SX is 1000rms should i tune for that or maybe a lil more like 1200

also wat freq. test tone should i play

 

[lil azn 06 10+ year member]

Okay, before I post the links, there's just one problem that I have with the following guide. It says to use 75% of max volume. I don't agree with this at all because, with some head units, you can crank it up to full without distortion and with others, it may only be 60% ... To set your gains, use the MAX settings you'd NORMALLY use ... If the loudest you listen to your music at on a regular basis is 22/35 with bass @ +3 and treble @ 0 with MX on, by all means use those settings. Also remember to have the car on //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif It should also be noted that if you want to use bass boost, set it prior to the gains and use the center frequency of the bass boost (45 Hz for most amps) as your test tone ... Please remember that if you have a subwoofer volume control, set it to full before you set the gains on the sub amp ...

So i should leave Loudness, bass 5+, treble 5+ etc on instead of listening to the JL guide (which says to turn all EQ functions off)?

 

[Ingleside 10+ year member]

The JL link is down from the first poster

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=143

you need to have flash installed on your browser, which you proabbly already have.

 

[lil azn 06 10+ year member]

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=143
you need to have flash installed on your browser, which you proabbly already have.

nah, i got the link working now, but the link states u should turn off all EQ stuff, but Jmac says just leave it on, so i dunno what //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

yea just set to your normal settings because if you do any boosting (ie adding +5 on treble, bass, etc.) then it can change the point of clipping. you don't want it to clip so just use your normal settings. or at least thats what i do.

 

[harborCityCrips 10+ year member]

hey guys lookin for a lil help, im goin to be installing my sub and amp tomorrow and need to set the gain on my hifonic 1500watt amp i need to set it to around 1000 watts or lil less, wat should i be lookin to set for dmm?

 

[Bosaliniee 10+ year member]

ok a friend of mine helped me do this, i have 2 12kicker compvrs dual 2 ohm each wired as 1 ohm subs in series for a 2 ohm load. and i have a kicker 1200.1 for this amp at 2 ohms the amp puts out about 600rms. speakers are rated as 400rms a piece so i am going to be getting either 2 12 kicker compvrs dual 4 ohms to make a 1 ohm load or 1 L7 dual 2 ohm. any way, we did the math and it said i needed 34.6 volts and we unhooked the speakers, hooked up the meter and it said i have 34.6volts and the amp is only turned up about 1/5 of the way, i can barely hear it. it worked fine in my friends car though so i know we did it right. so i guess my questions are, is my amp screwed up, and should i get 2 12compvrs or 1 L7

 

[OldOneEye 10+ year member]

ttt, great post.

Juan

 

[thch 10+ year member]

did you just ttt a sticky?

 

[goose5741 10+ year member]

The jl link is down ...

 

[vetkilr 10+ year member]

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=143

Works for me.

Great info thankx.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

The jl link is down ...

I fixed the first post, so it's correct now //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[thai_creeper 10+ year member]

if I get a new box for my l5 should I reset the gains? also someone asked earlier about their sub going up in volume to about 13 then not going up much anymore, my sub right now goes up in volume wen i get to about 10 and after that it increases slightly (most i use is about 22), its noticably different at 22 but a lot less of an increase from 0-10 then 10-20, think mine is set too sensetive too?

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

ok well my cd player doesn't play cds so i can't use a test tone. and i went out to tune my amp and i disconnected the speaker wires, and i cranked the gains and the dmm only read up to 4 volts i believe. i need it up to around 37.4 volts. anyone kno what could be wrong?

 

[Silver 10+ year member]

ok a friend of mine helped me do this, i have 2 12kicker compvrs dual 2 ohm each wired as 1 ohm subs in series for a 2 ohm load. and i have a kicker 1200.1 for this amp at 2 ohms the amp puts out about 600rms. speakers are rated as 400rms a piece so i am going to be getting either 2 12 kicker compvrs dual 4 ohms to make a 1 ohm load or 1 L7 dual 2 ohm. any way, we did the math and it said i needed 34.6 volts and we unhooked the speakers, hooked up the meter and it said i have 34.6volts and the amp is only turned up about 1/5 of the way, i can barely hear it. it worked fine in my friends car though so i know we did it right. so i guess my questions are, is my amp screwed up, and should i get 2 12compvrs or 1 L7

Ok here is what I did to set my 15" L7 to 1500rms.

First I turned everything down on the amps. I set everything on my HU first. To what I like, ect. Bass +4, Treble +8, Loud on, ect. Sub-LPF 80hz.

Then, I turned it to the volume I like. The loudest I go to. Which is 23/33. Then I slowly turned the gain untill I could hear distortion (kinda scratching noise) which was about 1/3 of the way. Then, I slowly turned it down to when the distortion stopped, which is about 1/4 of the way. Then I set my Low pass to about 80hz (what my hu is set at) and I turned the subsonic filter about 24-30hz. Left the bass boost at -12db or whatever it is.

Sat in the car and listend to it. Here is kinda a part to where you know you set the gain right. When you turn the volume down the sub should be in sync with the volume. Which it was so I shut the trunk and went for a drive. Played a bunch of crap going from highs to lows. I drove for about an hour, lifted the trunk back up and made sure everthing was fine. Sounds awesome. No distorion whatsoever.

Sence I've done this, I gotta disagree with using voltmeters, math equations, ect. Its all by ear. When you can hear the sub play like shit, turn the gains down untill it sounds safe. That's all there is to it.

A Kicker rep told me this, no I'm not envyin him or bowin down to him. He's just done this for a LONG time. And no, it wasn't Polecat.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif