How does Bass Boost compare to Bass Level?

[Xanthous 10+ year member]

Thanks.

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[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

lulz

 

[Xanthous 10+ year member]

haha. Okay, so I'm 16. some slack now bro.

or not..w/e

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

One adds to the signal the other is volume control. One will run your amp into clipping the other will not.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

lulz

Its actually a good question, Im often surprised how many 'enthusiasts' here dont know the difference, or even that there is a difference.

 

[Xanthous 10+ year member]

"One adds to the signal the other is volume control. One will run your amp into clipping the other will not."

Which one does which?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The first part in both is bass boost. Don't use bass boost. It is the devil. Bass level is nothing more than a volume control for the sub. You set the gain with the bass level all the way up and then it allows you to turn it down from there.

 

[kickerfan73]

It seemed to me like boost level on the amplifier will make it possible to by-pass the normal settings, and increase the DB level of a specific lowend frequency.

For example the amp I have will boost 40hrz up to +18db.

At the deck, it has a bass extend setting that basically boost the bass freq range, giving of a full bass sound. Its almost like it smoothes the edges. The receiver also allows adjustment for the sub output level to adjust for volume.

So depending on your listening preference the best advice from me is to set your bass to what you like. Just remember to turn your output level output down at the amplifier so you don't get a clipping problem and start burning up something.

Especially, when you get a good beat and start turning up volume you might not know while driving there is a distortion problem.

General rule of thumb, its the direct source of the power to your speaker that requires limits to be set. My prefernce is to amp all the speakers, set output level at center, turn off the LPH and LHP defaulting the amp eq settings to flat, then turn up the 40hrz boost all the way for the sub, and use the deck for EQ settings.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Do you know the difference in power that makes 18dB? How about 64x the power. The amp doesn't magically make that power. Adding bass boost doesn't allow the amp to make more power than it otherwise could. As soon as you start introducing bass boost, you start limiting the power available at all other frequencies being sent to the amp. That sound like a worthwhile trade-off?

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

 

[ArthurIhde 10+ year member]

lol,the pic is so funny!

 

[Xanthous 10+ year member]

Do you know the difference in power that makes 18dB? How about 64x the power. The amp doesn't magically make that power. Adding bass boost doesn't allow the amp to make more power than it otherwise could. As soon as you start introducing bass boost, you start limiting the power available at all other frequencies being sent to the amp. That sound like a worthwhile trade-off?

Alright, this makes sense. I don't have an actual amp yet. I was just talking about the settings on my kenwood hu. Thanks.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The HU is no different. When you boost the bass at the HU it increases the level of a center frequency in relation to other frequencies. What that means is that the amp will clip at that frequency first and will be unable to produce full power at other freqs without the boost freq clipping.

 

[mgcauctions09 10+ year member]

I guess it depends on the setup. My sub level on hu is all the way up and bass boost on amp is half way up. I have no clipping. I start to get clipping when bass boost on amp is near 3/4

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

If you were to turn the boost down you could actually increase the gain on the amp without clipping it and get more output across the amp's entire frequency range.