is this normal?

[BoomBoxStereo 10+ year member]

i've noticed a lot of people have the bass on their headunits set to 0, or even less. my gain is turned up about 60% on my amp and my bass on my equalizer (on headunit) is at +5 (out of +6) and i feel like that's too high because now, of course, i'm getting bass coming from my factory door speakers. is it normal for some people to have their bass levels set so high like myself?

Click to read more...

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

the only positive setting i use on my hu is the subwoofer setting, it maxed at 15 out 0f 15. nothing else is used, no bass-set at 0, or loudness, or bass boost. that is what most will tell you on here. they will also say if you need to boost those settings, you probably needs moar powah.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

If its a form if bass boost or eq i wouldnt have it on a pisitive number. But if it is just a sub level setting u can usually set it to max eith out problem. My deck goes from -16 to +6 iirc and my amps are set for 0. I did it like this so if i hace a quiet song i can turn the bass up a little more without messing with other settings.

 

[BoomBoxStereo 10+ year member]

If its a form if bass boost or eq i wouldnt have it on a pisitive number. But if it is just a sub level setting u can usually set it to max eith out problem. My deck goes from -16 to +6 iirc and my amps are set for 0. I did it like this so if i hace a quiet song i can turn the bass up a little more without messing with other settings.

it's just the EQ on my headunit, no bass boost.

skip to 0:33 in this video-



the left bar is at +5 on my headunit. but if it's lower (like 0 for example), it doesn't sound like the kind of performance i should be getting from 1100 watts

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

you risk entering distortion in your set-up when you do that. that still enhances the bass un-naturaly. what type of subwoofer settings do you have? how was your gain set? maybe upgrade you wire to 0/1 guage?

 

[BoomBoxStereo 10+ year member]

you risk entering distortion in your set-up when you do that. that still enhances the bass un-naturaly. what type of subwoofer settings do you have? how was your gain set? maybe upgrade you wire to 0/1 guage?

i'm running 4 gauge wiring on a 1100 watt amp running @ 1 ohm.

gain was set by ear. i did the "crank the gain up until you hear distortion then turn it down a bit"

i tried setting the gain with a DMM but my DMM was giving me very low readings. recommended voltage is 33.2 volts, but my DMM was only reading like, .05 volts. i have no idea why

EDIT: it does sound somewhat distorted with the bass on +5

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

You may need more power to achieve what you want.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

the only positive setting i use on my hu is the subwoofer setting, it maxed at 15 out 0f 15. nothing else is used, no bass-set at 0, or loudness, or bass boost. that is what most will tell you on here. they will also say if you need to boost those settings, you probably needs moar powah.

I bet you have an Alpine HU. That is not the same as a bass boost. That setting sets the subwoofer preout voltage coming from the HU.

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

No, i have a kenwood x396. I have sub -15 to +15, eq for bass mid then treble. Bass boost, 2 levels, then 3 levels of loudnes, i may have that part bassackwards...lol. Anyway, all i have adjusted is the sub @ +15 the rest is @ 0.

 

[Better-Action 10+ year member]

Do you have a sub control option op?

Also if your hu is 2v preouts your gain may need to be higher or you need a larger amp. I'd set the bass at 0 and figure out the problem with your dmm and go for target volts.

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

This^^^

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

my gain is turned up about 60% on my amp

Please set your gain by some repeatable method and report back. At least set it with the DMM method. http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/65167/page/1 Telling us roughly where it's set means you just set it by ear. While you can learn how to set it by ear, right now you're not understanding everything that's happening with the signal so that's not going to work for you.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

set bass flat at 0!

when a headunit has sub output it has a seperate vol control for it normally +- 10 or +-15. with it on 15 its the same as useing rear rca's it just att it...

 

[BoomBoxStereo 10+ year member]

[quote name='SPLaudio']set bass flat at 0!

when a headunit has sub output it has a seperate vol control for it normally +- 10 or +-15. with it on 15 its the same as useing rear rca's it just att it...[/QUOTE]
@Better\-Action ;

there IS a setting on the HU for bass boost only, and that is on 0 (the level ranges from 0 to +6). i just feel like i should be getting louder with 1100 watts.

i tried tuning with a DMM but it read very low voltage. something around the .05 range with the gain all the way down. as i turned the gain up it still only read about 3 volts at it's highest point. brand new DMM taken right out of the plastic before use. so i don't know how i'm supposed to achieve my recommended voltage of 33.6 if the highest voltage i receive is ~3 volts from the amp terminals.

so now i'm totally lost on what to do.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

I bet you have an Alpine HU. That is not the same as a bass boost. That setting sets the subwoofer preout voltage coming from the HU.

This, if it isn't an Alpine (or a very select few other HUs) it needs to be no higher than 0. In the vast majority of decks, anything above 0 is a boost and therefore introduces clipping into the signal. The Alpine decks, however are strictly a cut in signal output and therefore should be maxed, if you wish to get full use of your pre-out voltage.