Maxing out with only 800 watts?

[85ss 10+ year member]

My brahma was hooked up to a 81000d at 4 ohms and when I messed with the gain the thing would pop out all of the sudden then I backed it down and was wondering if that was normal. I got half the rms running to it. In a 1ft cube box sealed.

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[Savant 10+ year member]

gains are not volume control... They are used to match the input voltage, when the amp's 'gain' value matches the input signal, you get max output at max input (if you have a 4 volt preamp out and the gain is at 4 volt, when your stereo is pushing all 4 volts on the RCAs, you have max RMS from the amp).. Turning the gains up 'magnifies' the input voltage (kinda, not really but work with me).. you are putting more than if the system was running 'nominally'.. I'd immagine that you had the gains up so high that the amp overheated and shut down..

There should be a volt reading on the gains some place (or in your manual?), set it to what ever the preamp voltage for your HU is listed at, no higher.. (well, maybe a little higher so you don't have to have the HU all the way up and into distortion.. but not much higher)

Gains can also be used to make sure your amps don't put out anywhere near full power.. if I set the gains to think I have a 10 volt input but only run 4 volts in, I can never match what the amp is thinking is full power and the output will be much less than 'nominal'.. This is how I'll have amps that drive a LOT more than whats needed to match the rest of my system..

Hope that helps (and is mostly right, I just learned some about the details of gains from Jmac and hope I didn't get this wrong.. I also didn't want to get to technical in case you don't care the whats, just the fixes and whys..)

 

[BonusBobo 10+ year member]

what size brahma?

 

[85ss 10+ year member]

it is a brahma 12