setting gains

[buster 10+ year member]

I've heard to set the gains with the HU turned to 3/4. Why is this?

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[maylar 10+ year member]

Because that's the point where most head units start to become distorted.

 

[WarDrumz 10+ year member]

I've heard to set the gains with the HU turned to 3/4. Why is this?

That's just an approximate.

You really turn your HU to the point where you normally listen to your in-car speakers, or when they start distorting...which ever comes first. Then turn your gain up until you hear you sub distorting and/or not getting any louder, then turn it back a hair. Finished //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[EarDrummin. 10+ year member]

For those of you noobs reading this, don't use 3/4 as a prime example. Find out for yourself what your gain sounds best at. If there's distortion at high volumes, turn it down.

 

[buster 10+ year member]

Will it be okay that my HU is faded to the front a bit when setting amp gains? Why did someone suggest to put it right in the middle? I just want to fade my rears out some that are being powered by the HU.

 

[80_Cutlass_mn 10+ year member]

Will it be okay that my HU is faded to the front a bit when setting amp gains? Why did someone suggest to put it right in the middle? I just want to fade my rears out some that are being powered by the HU.

The reason why you would want to keep the fader in the middle is because if you are simply using the rear preouts on the h/u for the sub amplifier then by fading the sound forward up front you then turn down the rear rca outputs at the same time. This is really the only time you have to worry about setting the fader in the middle. But if you have your subwoofer's amp on a dedicated subwoofer output like on some h/u's then you dont have to worry about it as most h/u's with a dedicated subwoofer preout dont fade the subwoofer preout regardless.

 

[buster 10+ year member]

thanks a lot for the help. I have a sub out on the radio. I'm not using the rear outs for anything. The rear fill is coming off my radio's power. The front outs will be used for the amp powering my components. So, is it okay to have it faded quite a bit to the front as long as I set the gain on my component's amp appropriately?

 

[buster 10+ year member]

any help would be appreciated

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Fading to the front doesn't turn the front up, it turns the rear down. If you are setting the gains for the front channels, anything forward of center will be fine. For the sub, it doesn't matter as you stated that you had a sub preout that is not affected by the fader.

 

[buster 10+ year member]

I have an older Eclipse HU, so do you think 70 out of 80 is about right for max volume?

 

[forbidden 10+ year member]

Most Eclipse cd players have a very very good preamp output, they apply their voltage acroos the range of frequencies rather than at the peak of 1000hz like most others. I would imagine that you should be able to turn that cd player to almost full output before clipping occurs. I usually am able to squeeze volume level 76 - 80 out of most of mine. The level of output may also have cliiping occur due to the source material being played. Do not use a burned cd. Set your system to what the worst possible scenrio is, not the best, that meaing find the nastiest bass tracks that you might ever play and use that same song over and over again to set your gains with.

 

[buster 10+ year member]

thanks,you've been much help

 

[buster 10+ year member]

my HU is about 6 yrs. old, 5341? So, what would be the output voltage on it?