Setting gains Low

[dennisthamenace 10+ year member]

Ive never set gains before and my first time is going to be on a 1700 rms amp so im worried. Im going to be careful and put the gains half way. So i was wondering if there would be any technical problems other than it wouldnt be as loud if i were to set the gains higher?

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[GrnEydDvl 10+ year member]

Ive never set gains before and my first time is going to be on a 1700 rms amp so im worried. Im going to be careful and put the gains half way. So i was wondering if there would be any technical problems other than it wouldnt be as loud if i were to set the gains higher?

You should not just arbitrarily pick a spot on the dial when setting gains. At a minimum set them by ear.

Why not read over the gain setting tutorial in this subforum and set them that way?

To answer your question - setting them lower than you could won't hurt anything. But based on what you have said you risk setting them way too high.

 

[dennisthamenace 10+ year member]

no im saying thats the max i would put it at because i dont have a meter or anything to measure my volts so i wouldnt know what was happening.

 

[dennisthamenace 10+ year member]

and ive looked at the gain setting tutorial a few times and it helps a little bit other than i dont havea voltmeter

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

no im saying thats the max i would put it at because i dont have a meter or anything to measure my volts so i wouldnt know what was happening.

that still makes no sence dude

heres what ya do, play a song that you know really well with lots of bass (like late nite tip) put ur cd player to 75% volume, in my case it would be 35 out of 45 or 50 (i dunno i never turned it up all the way) once your headunit volume is 75% go to the amp and start crankin the gains until it sounds good and loud without distortion... just use common sence, dont try and push it to the limits, find a good gain setting then turn it down a tiny fraction just for a little headroom

 

[dennisthamenace 10+ year member]

that still makes no sence dude
heres what ya do, play a song that you know really well with lots of bass (like late nite tip) put ur cd player to 75% volume, in my case it would be 35 out of 45 or 50 (i dunno i never turned it up all the way) once your headunit volume is 75% go to the amp and start crankin the gains until it sounds good and loud without distortion... just use common sence, dont try and push it to the limits, find a good gain setting then turn it down a tiny fraction just for a little headroom

alright thx that makes more sense and cleared up what i was going to do.

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

np //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif if you have any other questions feel free to ask

 

[thch 10+ year member]

among other things, the gain knob is not exactly the same as a volume knob. most notably, half way up doesn't actually mean either half power or half volume.

many street installs will have the gains set to max, and the HU volume set to 5-10. the owners will be proud of how loud the system is. but sadly, they cannot increase the HU volume much more without distortion. if the gains were lower on the amp, they would be able to get equally loud, except they would need to turn the HU volume to 20 or 30 instead.

keep in mind that bass boost has similar issues. if you set gains low and bass boost high, you might still end up with issues!

 

[dennisthamenace 10+ year member]

im not even gonna mess with bass boost, im leaving that at 0