HU Volume full setting...

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

The only thing that I kind of understood is that music only has transients approaching -6db to 0db? It seems like everyone understood the whole situation much better when going to this link that you posted: http://www.carsound.com/UBB/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=021713#000000 but that link no longer works. If you would care to shed more light on this I would really appreciate it. Assuming this is true, I can play even my rap music much louder than what I play it at now(which is the volume I set my gains at 0db reference?)
Please explain! I'm now very interested and it seems I won't truly get the gist of it without the knowledge coming from the broken link.

It would be much appreciated //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

http://www.audiogroupforum.com/csforum/showthread.php?t=8910&highlight=overlap

hwc----a 3:1 gain oerlap will rarely result in "hard clipping" with music material----thats why it is not audible---the facts are that if the gains are set for 1:1 with typical music material the most amount of AVERAGE POWER you can achieve is about 10% of the amps rated power----this means that the 100 watt amp would only deliver about 10 average watts to the speakers-----will that protect them?----you bet it will-----just like keeping a Ferrari in first gear----but does that seem reasonable?-------a reasonable overlap will allow use of a lot more of the amps power and takes advantage of our inability to hear the effect of short term events...........RC

Thanks guys for the contributions. And let's not forget that we don't record our music CDs at AHB (All High Bits) for every bit of the music. There are quiet passages, average passages, and places where all 16 bits are high (i.e. max loud). Likewise, we don't listen to our music at full volume all the time. (Well, most of us don't, eh?)

 

[dtavano 10+ year member]

Ok, so with a -10db reference signal you get a 3:1 overlap at the volume level you set your gain to? Is that safe with rap music as well!?!? There is a point in a song by kottonmouth kings - Hidden Destinations where it sounds like a pure test tone. Is this most likely not a sustained 0db wave and more along the lines of -10db? I never expected receive so much useful and hidden information within this post! People are being tricked into using the 0db reference level? In all the tutorials I have read they are robbing us of 10db!?!

So if I put my deck on let us say 20 volume(alpine deck) and use a reference tone at -10db and set the gain with my DMM, I can play songs safely at volume 20? Even rap music? I am sorry about repeating my questions so many times I just do not want to damage my equipment. Should I use a -6db just to be on the safe side? I cannot believe that I am losing half of my potential loudness!!!

Thank you for this information! It is much appreciated and I await your reply //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

music varies so much, that the peak in that KMK song you mentioned may very well be 0dB, or even higher. Yet it's only going to 'clip' for such a short period of time, most people would not be able to hear it. You may even enjoy the extra loudness, I know I do and I'm not going back.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[dtavano 10+ year member]

No, you should DL the song. In the bridge of it there is like a 20 second period of continuous pure bass tones. I guess for instances like that I just have to turn down the volume? Do you listen to rap music, and if so do you listen to it at the volume level you set your gain to with the -10db test tone?

Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to blow my subs. Oh wait, I have one more question. Is this safe even if I set my LP to, say, 120Hz @ 12db/oct? I "blew" my fronts awhile ago and have been using crappy alpine type s coaxs(got it for 25 bucks) so I like to give them a little help. I'm starting to suspect that I didn't "blow" them in a traditional manner because one of the coax speakers seems to be "sticky"; it won't play at periods of time and I have to turn the volume way up to get it "unstuck" and playing. It's a POS so I don't really care, but is that what could happen if a speaker was blown in a traditional way(clipped signal/too much power?) OK, now I'm going way out of the scope of this thread lol.

Haha, sorry I've hijacked the thread but this is killer info. that I imagine anyone reading it would benefit greatly from considering everything else states 0db reference level. We're talking about several hundred dollars worth of potential wasted power!