question on gain setting?

[thch 10+ year member]

liftedcj7on44s, keep in mind that the gain knob is not a "percentage of volume" knob like the ones you may be used to. if you want to turn the amp gains up higher, you will need to reduce the HU volume. In fact there is no reason you can't crank the amp gain up to max. The only thing is that you will be limited to a low volume setting on the HU.

when discussing gains, it is best to talk about amp gains set up in "per-unit" amounts, eg +0dB (equal to 1x) is a gain set to give rated output for the given input. a gain of +3dB (equal to 2x) is set to give double rated output for the given input. a gain of +6dB (equal to 4x) would be set for 4x rated output for the given input. clearly the amp cannot give much in excess of rated output, and gain settings for +3dB over rated can cause clipping.

The goal should be to determine what is causing the distortion. It may be the amplifier, it may be the speakers/woofer, or it may be the HU.

If the HU puts out a distorted signal, the amp will play back a distorted signal.

If the speaker is overstressed it will distort a clean signal from the amplifier.

If the amplifier gain is excessive, it will output a distorted siganl.

 

[stratusrt01 10+ year member]

The problem was the amp. He came over today, and we put a Sundown SAZ-1500 on it, and I put in a single 12 ported box, 2.5 cubes, tuned to 35hz in it, and it slams hard now, very impressive. Almost makes me want to buy an IDMax to try out.

 

[liftedcj7on44s 10+ year member]

I want to thank Rich for all his help today on getting this sub to wang! And wang it does! I would highly recommend any one in the wilmington nc vicinity to check rich out. hes a great guy and can build a hell of a box. I am now happy, this IDmax is now doing what its supposed to do. im getting window,door,trunk, and bumper flex, its loud!

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

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