Gains

[Army-Killa]

I have my gains about 3/5 up on my amp and it sounds pretty decent. Is it bad to put gains all the way up on the amp then do the bass and subwoofer level shit through the headunit like set it low up there so I can chhange it around at click of a button? Or should I just leave it at 3/5? And my headunit wher eit is. I am doing gains by ear no DMM.

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[thch 10+ year member]

(as you probably know, the gain isn't a true volume knob and can make things sound bad. there is no difference between low signal + high gain and high signal + low gain from a single amplifier's perspective.)

that said, the default for HU settings should be based upon the benefits of a higher vs lower setting. particularly if you have speakers still attached to the HU.

IF you have speakers attached to the HU, you should turn the HU up to a point that makes the speakers sufficiently loud and THEN set the gains on the subwoofer amp.

IF you have no speakers on the HU, then you should set the HU to some point such as 3/4th max and then set gains. The reason for this is because some music might require you to turn up the volume beyond 3/4th of max on the HU, and it will allow you to use small boosts on signal processing with less fear of clipping.