Max gain?

[ladysmanfelpz 10+ year member]

Is it bad to have max gain? I know that gain is supposed to match the signal levels to drive the speaker maximally without distortion or clipping. I'm finally setting up my system correctly as I just redid all my wiring. HU is a JVC with 4 volt preouts and 5v sub preout. My 2 channel speaker amp is set up at about .25v and sounds good. Clips if I turn the eq up too much. Can't figure out my sub gain tho. I have a kicker 10 cvx powered by an alpine mrp400 wired at 2 ohm load. My RCA's could reach so I bought a pair of female-female adapters and 3' rca extension. How much signal is lost through the coupling and extension? I know I am underpowering my cvx as its rms is 600w and im giving it 400w, so can I max gain and still not clip? I had it near max and played it on a long drive. I noticed some of the lower frequencies and or softer bass notes weren't hitting as hard, and bass dropped appreciably more when volume was turned down. On a 3 hour drive the amp wasn't even warm, where my 2 channel was quite toasty. I just upped the gain to near max and it sounds better and matches volume better too. Is this okay? I can up it a little more still. Should I? Amp still stays very cool (I love alpine amps //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

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[knotdrummer88 10+ year member]

max gain=clipping

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

i always run gains at max!

 

[kat_black181 10+ year member]

i always run gains at max!

Go troll the dome. Hes here for help…not smart as* comments....

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

Go troll the dome. Hes here for help…not smart as* comments....

fvck off newb. no one cares.

 

[DoesDad 10+ year member]

OP get a DMM and set the gains right. Otherwise at full gain you're probably clipping the shit out of your sub.

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Go troll the dome. Hes here for help…not smart as* comments....

this.....

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

he ansered his own question in his second sentence.

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Is it bad to have max gain? I know that gain is supposed to match the signal levels to drive the speaker maximally without distortion or clipping. I'm finally setting up my system correctly as I just redid all my wiring. HU is a JVC with 4 volt preouts and 5v sub preout. My 2 channel speaker amp is set up at about .25v and sounds good. Clips if I turn the eq up too much. Can't figure out my sub gain tho. I have a kicker 10 cvx powered by an alpine mrp400 wired at 2 ohm load. My RCA's could reach so I bought a pair of female-female adapters and 3' rca extension. How much signal is lost through the coupling and extension? I know I am underpowering my cvx as its rms is 600w and im giving it 400w, so can I max gain and still not clip? I had it near max and played it on a long drive. I noticed some of the lower frequencies and or softer bass notes weren't hitting as hard, and bass dropped appreciably more when volume was turned down. On a 3 hour drive the amp wasn't even warm, where my 2 channel was quite toasty. I just upped the gain to near max and it sounds better and matches volume better too. Is this okay? I can up it a little more still. Should I? Amp still stays very cool (I love alpine amps //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

iif i were you i would not max out the gain.

 

[Chriszle 10+ year member]

With 5v preouts, you likely do not need to turn up your gain very much depending on amps operating range. Just set the gain on my bros sundown 1500 today. His deck has 4v preouts and we barely turned it past 1/4 before a soft clip started.

 

[ladysmanfelpz 10+ year member]

See ya I thought the higher voltage pre out should yield lower gains. Sorry folks but I don't have a dmm. Going all by ear. Not hearing any distortion or clipping tho. Sounding best where I have it.

 

[ladysmanfelpz 10+ year member]

You guys are making it sound like max gain is bad. But if thats what the speaker needs, it should be at that position. No harm no foul right?

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

he ansered his own question in his second sentence.

^^^This. OP, if you understand that, then you understand there is a proper setting for gain, a maximum point for each head unit. Do it right.

Although if your 2 channel is at .25V, and it's set correctly, then you might be maxing out the gain on your sub amp without clipping it. Which means you have some low output from your HU. Don't mess with EQ, leave it pretty much flat, and then only cut frequencies for the most part. What volume are you setting your gains at? If it has 4V and 5V, then you should not be up at .25V.

 

[ladysmanfelpz 10+ year member]

See tahts what i thought, but I swear my sub needs a higher gain. At .25v it would no where near match the volume of my speakers. EQ is at -2 for 100hz and +1 for 500hz and +1 for 12.5 khz. HPF is 80hz constant and my speakers **** at mid bass so I had to take it out of them. I think my equipment is just weird because my sub can beat. Even the guy at my local audio shop could not believe it was a 10" and my amp never gets hot. Maybe I just got a frankenstein amp :/

 

[Fi-brations 10+ year member]

also just because your amp isnt hot, doesnt mean you arent clipping it. Your 2 channel is hotter than your monoblock because a/b power amps usually run hotter than class d, from the lack of efficiency I believe