Set gain, not a lot of output?

[trabadoor22 10+ year member]

I have an older directed audio 1100d running at 1 ohm to a single elemental designs e5.12 sub, which at 1 ohm provides 1100 watts. Not sure if I have it right, but doing the math I came out with 33 volts @ 50 hz which I set it at. There is good output on rap, but I mostly listen to rock music and it's just not as much output as I'm used to. I just replaced the older elemental designs 130v2 which blew after a new install and I see why. My new hu must have been sending a stronger signal and the amp was running at around 70 volts while doing a test tone. Before I had the gains set at close to 3/4 way, now it's at 1/4. It was insanely loud while it lasted. Anyways my question is could I turn up the gain a little bit seeing as I don't really listen to test tones and rap a lot?

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[tinmanchris217 10+ year member]

If you promise to be a good boy, you can turn up your gains. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/happydance.gif.a963168fea27d8453c3ec467ddcf9e1c.gif

If I'm setting gains for someone who doesn't listen to techno or rap, I'll set the gains using a DMM (like you're doing). Then, play the heaviest bass song the person will be listening to... and tweak the gain until the start of distortion (then bring it back down a little). If you aren't used to the sound of distortion, find someone who can identify JUST when it starts.

If you listen to anything more bass heavy, you'll smoke your setup though.... so leave in some buffer.

 

[trabadoor22 10+ year member]

Cool, thanks. I will try to be as careful as possible and listen for any distortion. I listened to my previous sub at levels much louder than this for years with no problems so I'm hopeful that with being careful I won't have any more issues.