speaker, gain, and distortion

[TDot 10+ year member]

i was with some people and playing my system. the speakers were distorting a little. i know why they were distorting...at least i think i do...i was sending the processor high input at the time. however, i mentioned to one of them that i have my gain set at 0 and he said that's why it was distorting. is this true? can my speakers distort if my amp is set at 0 gain and i turn the system up real loud?

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[Beatin' 10+ year member]

I believe if the gain is at its minimum, and you turn the volume up very high, theoretically, your head unit could send a clipped signal through the RCA cable and into your amp.

I'm not 100% sure about this. I could be wildly wrong.

 

[Kingstroker 10+ year member]

there's no doubt it will, almost all HUs will clip at high volume. At 0 gain your system won't get loud unless you have it wired wrong. If that so them you have bigger problems than you think.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

Rule of thumb is to stay below about 80 percent of full volume on the HU at all times.

 

[butterMilk 10+ year member]

True. I checked my HU with a dd1, and it put out clean signal up to 39/40 volume. Even with that, I never go past 30.

op, why are you keeping your gain set at 0?

 

[TDot 10+ year member]

i didnt know this about the hu. theres no particular reason why im keeping the gain at 0 beyond the thing is loud enough with me turning the volume to 90%, and i didnt think it neccessary unless i wanted to bump the system to its absolute max without distortion (yes i know gain is not volume). However, with this info, i guess ill set it properly as soon as i get a chance. thanks.

also note this is the second amp in my line --stock amp to 360.3 to new amp. so with that also i cant see a reason to raise the gain, but im going to try anyway.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

You kids realize that wherever you set the gain, you don't have to turn your volume knob up all the way right?

 

[Kingstroker 10+ year member]

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[maylar 10+ year member]

Clipping can happen at any point in the chain - the HU, proccessor or amp. Gain knob position doesn't matter if the signal is already distorted comming in.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

If you're still using the stock amp that came with your car, you really need to look at removing that. I'm assuming you mean your head unit, but jus in case I'm wrong, you're amplifying your signal three times over, technically: once at the HU, once at the stock amp, and again at your aftermarket amp. No wonder you'd be clipping.

 

[TDot 10+ year member]

booty warrior, i do get that, but for me its preferable to keep the gain as low as possible so i dont have to monitor the vilume level as i or anyone in the car is messing with it for distortion. the worst is when someone touches your **** when youre not in the car...call it a fail safe. however, i didnt know the fact that the hu itself would distort at high volume.

removing the hu/amp/everything is not an option...even though i fully understand what youre saying...because too much is tied into it in this **** car, and for now im not willing to do a revamp the phone, navigation, video, etc, etc.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

The problem is you're amplifying an already amplified signal. This is a perfect recipe for distortion aka clipping. If you want a better failsafe, take a metallic sharpie and mark where you set your gains on your aftermarket amp. Keep the thumbrule of 80 percent on the HU and you should be OK. I'd also look into renting a DD-1 from someone here on the forum to make sure you know the max volume your HU can sent out without distorting to the amp.

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

The problem is you're amplifying an already amplified signal. This is a perfect recipe for distortion aka clipping. If you want a better failsafe, take a metallic sharpie and mark where you set your gains on your aftermarket amp. Keep the thumbrule of 80 percent on the HU and you should be OK. I'd also look into renting a DD-1 from someone here on the forum to make sure you know the max volume your HU can sent out without distorting to the amp.

What volume does the avhp8400bh clip at. Tuning my system is becoming a nightmare and im further down the rabbit hole than i planned on being.

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

The problem is you're amplifying an already amplified signal. This is a perfect recipe for distortion aka clipping. If you want a better failsafe, take a metallic sharpie and mark where you set your gains on your aftermarket amp. Keep the thumbrule of 80 percent on the HU and you should be. I'd also look into renting a DD-1 from someone here on the forum to make sure you know the max volume your HU can sent out without distorting to the amp.

What volume does the avhp8400bh clip at. Tuning my system is becoming a nightmare and im further down the rabbit hole than i planned on being.

Pretty sure he answered your question before you asked it.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

Haven't tried taking it to max, but I set my gains at 32/40 and can take my system with music up to 36 with no detectable distortion.

 

---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 PM ----------

 

Keep in mind, that was because my friend was demoing the car and didn't know of the 80 percent rule.