How to test headunit's pre-out's max voltage point?

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

The issue is that when I turn the volume up to 17 on my Pioneer Premier P440, the sub sounds really clean and tight. Then, when I decide to turn it up any more, it starts sounding sloppy. The gain on my Kicker 500ss is at I think 60% or so. I know that you typically turn the volume of the deck up to 60-70% of its max, and with 40 being the max for this headunit, 17 seems like a low no-distortion point. The problem could be the gain on my amp, but I won't know for sure unless I find the volume of the amp to begin adjusting the gain with.

The question is, how do I figure out what the volume number is where the deck puts out it's peak voltage (pre-distortion)? I am wondering it it is similar to reading the voltage of the speaker output on the amp, where you set a dmm to ac volts and insert the leads. I don't know if that will work with rcas, and I don't want to risk anything, so I figured I would ask first. If necessary, I have some male rca ends that have been clipped off of the end of an rca cable, so I can strip them and wrap the around the dmm leads or whatever if that is what's needed.

Hope this is clear enough to understand!

-Dylan

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[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

Bump!

 

[Databyter 10+ year member]

You sort of answered your own question. As you said 17 is pretty low when you should be able to safely navigate to 30 without many issues.

And 60% seems high on the Amp anyway although my experience with Amps is very limited.

I'd say Your Amp gain is about double what it needs to be. You'll have a good range of cleaner sound past the volume of what you have at your current 17 if you lower the gain and crank up the HU volume. You're over-driving the Amp not the signal from the HU.

At least that's my take. I'm no expert, just here to learn.

 

[smgreen20 10+ year member]

That's how I see it. Set the gain w/the HU's volume at 30-33/40.

Your amp is running out of steam at the current setting, that's why it sounds worse when you keep going.