Took a quick video of the voltage drop on this setup.

[germanyt 10+ year member]

Sorry the video is muted. The Hills started playing at the 2 min mark and I guess that violates copyright laws or something.

This is the 4 HDS312 setup I recently installed. It has a DB electrical alt up front with a yellow top under the hood and a Kinetic aux under the amp rack. We took the RF cap that was used in the previous install and hooked it up to see if it helped any. If not at least we have some extra 1/0 and a voltmeter. The volume isn't there but at the 2 min mark is when the vol was turned from 6 to 7. Listening/demo volume is about 15 but we didn't check it this time because were in the parking lot at work. I don't know what voltage would drop to at that volume. Gain on the Audiopipe is set to about 1/3 and a big 3 is done.


Normal imbed tags wont' work. Sorry.

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

What did you do to determine the proper gain setting? Telling us its set to "1/3" doesn't tell us anything, as it may be hooked to a H/U or sound processor whose output demands the gain be set even lower than that.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

What did you do to determine the proper gain setting? Telling us its set to "1/3" doesn't tell us anything, as it may be hooked to a H/U or sound processor whose output demands the gain be set even lower than that.

Nothing. I don't have the proper tools to set gains so keeping it low was just to play it safe. Years ago I had a fluke scope meter but it's long been dead. There is no signal processor and the head unit is a double din JVC I think. Not sure of the model. I did some testing with a voltmeter and with the music off there is a solid 14.4 at every power point in the vehicle. There is minimal drop at very low volume but once it's up to a good and loud listening volume I'm seeing dips down to just over 12 volts. The volt meter reads about .4 over the cap readout.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

The H/U should have a signal voltage spec (max). The amp should have a rated input voltage range spec. Knowing both these specs will at least allow you to get your gain setting in the ballpark. And amps often have a few voltage numbers printed around the gain knob to give you an idea where you are at. Just keep in mind, the H/U only outputs its maximum signal voltage at the maximum volume setting, so how you manage your volume knob can also affect your proper gain position.