Gain settings experience

[TheeyaN 10+ year member]

I was setting gains for my mids by ear.. To be honest i dont know why people are afraid of this method,its very accurate and easy to spot..

I just made everything flat,turn the volume to 52,inserted 1000hz test tone,put on ear protectors,and started to lift the gain up.. Waited for the clip tone and than pulled id down a bit and thats it.. The thing is the test tone is 0db,but after that when i inserted music CD,i could go to 52 with no distortion,but i could easily increase it even more..

Up to 56-57 with no problem what so ever,truthfully the tweets got a bit harsh,but thats just how i like them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I even increaseed all the high notes by 1,and 5khz by 2 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

For those who are asking them selfes why t f i am saying this-its becouse i kind of wanna help the other newbies out there..

Forget about DMM's equations and God knows what else.. Set your speaker gains by ears,and dont be foled by the theory THAT U MAY NEVER INCREASE MORE THAN THE LEVEL GAINS ARE SET..

That just isnt true! Some songs are recorded at 0DB whilst others are recorded at -3db or -5db or -6db.. And offcourse u can push it up a lil bit..

The thing is always use your ears,listen to the music,if u hear noise distorting turn the volume down.. If u r not sure if its distorting or not,open up the windows,get out of the car,move a ''couple'' of feet and listen..

Use your volume knob as a gain,if its too loud dont take it to 52 if it has room left take it until the music is not clear..

P.S.DMM method sucks balls ^^

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[drpeeb 10+ year member]

... u can push it up a lil bit..

This is true. While using an oscilloscope I discovered that with a 0 dB 50 Hz tone, & with my iPod's EQ set to "Rock" (increases bass & highs), the waveform showing on the o-scope was clearly clipping (had flat tops & bottoms*) ... yet I could not actually hear it, regardless of how high I turned the volume up.

With a -3 dB 50 Hz tone: Still clipped but less ("Rock" EQ still on).

With a -6 dB 50 Hz tone: No clipping ("Rock" EQ still on).

It seems obvious that if you set your gains with an o-scope & a test-tone & your worst-case EQ setting (if you ever use EQ at all), that is the safest way to never clip ... Of course you will also be missing some of the your system's capability on songs that are recorded quieter.

I dunno if there is one, but it'd be nice to see this thread: Gain Setting Methods with Pro's & Cons for each. Here's a start:

O-scope: Most accurate/ Most conservative

DMM: Very accurate/ Requires some calculations you might get wrong

By ear: Easiest/ Biggest chance for error or meltdown

* Flat bottoms = Yuck

 

[TheeyaN 10+ year member]

DMM has much more cons than pros.

O Scope is the best way,but its the most expensive.

Setting by ears.. U cant really blow up a speaker if it reaches small levels of clipping,in small durations of time.. If it does blow up it means its pure crap..

Another story is to drive them with clear distorsion for hours..

My vote is definetly

O Scope

Ears

DMM

Sub is another story though.