how to test voltage at headunit?

[2002XLT 5,000+ posts]

after 18 my stock speakers distort. Max setting on hu is 35.

 

[2002XLT 5,000+ posts]

oh, and anything above 21 and the voltage on my amp (gain) starts going down, not up.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

after 18 my stock speakers distort. Max setting on hu is 35.

Do you have a highpass crossover on the stocks? If not, that's one reason for the distortion. Another could be too much power, if driven by an amp.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

You should turn your gain down. A line driver will definitely not be of use in this case. In fact, with most modern decks, they will be of no use for typical setups.

 

[fratch69 10+ year member]

I have an Alpine 9857 and my system didint come alive until i added an Audio Control 3.1. Stupid 2v preouts. Get the 3.1 it worked wonders for me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[wvufootball 10+ year member]

make sure media xpander is off. at least for me the media xpander really cut off the midbass. And i run a 9853 and i dont have a problem with the 2volts.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

Before you start buying new things, I would diagnose the problem properly first. I re-read your original post, you seem to be having problems with output from your sub? Could be several things. One, you might be expecting too much out of it. Two, there may be setting on your HU that might be misadjusted. Doublecheck all signal processing on the HU. Also, you said the stock speakers distort. Are you saying that you can't turn the volume up any higher than 18 or 21 because of this? If so, you need to high pass your mids. Better yet, get an amp that has a built-in crossover for them. 1kw to a 15" sub with stock speakers and HU power is a bit much. High passing the mids will limit bass frequencies from overdriving the small mids, therefore, allowing you to turn up the volume higher without distortion. Whatever is the case, a line driver isn't your solution.