Whats wrong with turning the gain up all the way

[silenkiller 10+ year member]

Most the people who are just bashing you don't kow the answer to this question so that just write "fail" but Its a honest question. I'm sure someone who actually knows will chime in..

Apparently you don't know it either.

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The gain setting on your amp is only there to match the amplifier with the output voltage of your headunit. Once that is set correctly, increasing the headunits volume is what will be increasing the amplifiers output to your subwoofers. If you have ur gain "maxed" (set at the lowest setting, like 1.0v) then if ur headunit is putting out more than 1v, say, 2.5v, you will clip your amp long before u max your headunits volume.

In a nuttshell.

 

[captaincheesey 10+ year member]

Turning the gain all the way up can cause clipping, which can kill your sub. There is your answer as to why you don't turn the gain all the way up

Well rethink your answer there. It's not clipping itself that kills a sub. It's the increased area under the curve because a square wave has more area than a sine wave. So it is actually the additional power that is killing the sub, because that extra power might end up over driving the sub past it's physical and thermal limits.

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

i'm going to run my Jensen amp at full tilt @ 4 ohm on my HCCA 10, it is a 200w rated amp, I have a strong feeling that it wont ever blow the sub //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

btw no if you turn your gain up 3/4 of the way you wont necessarily see 3/4 of the rated 1200w aka 900w

 

[steveBeatz]

Apparently you don't know it either.

Lol you're a quick one, I don't and never said I did, is there a problem with that?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

There's nothing wrong with it at all.

correct me if im wrong but more gain=more watts right?

No.

Where the gain is set really doesn't make that much of a difference - the whole point of having adjustable input gain is to accomodate a wide range of line level voltages.

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

Nothing is wrong with it, these guys are just messing with you

You are correct, if you turn it to say only half way, you only get half the rated watts

This is why i usually try to turn mine up all the way and then try and force it a little further,

that way you can squeeze an extra hundred or so watts out of your amp,

more bang for the buck, ya dig?

 

[silenkiller 10+ year member]

Lol you're a quick one, I don't and never said I did, is there a problem with that?

Considering its about the easiest concept in car audio to understand, aside from don't touch the + and the - together, yeah you should get on that.

 

[icpurplepplalot 5,000+ posts]

When you turn the gain all the way up, you are asking for everything that that amp can give, and when it can't give anymore it will start to send a clipped signal.

Read through this website http://www.bcae1.com/ it will have all your answers

 

[Jakeeck 10+ year member]

Nothing is wrong with it, these guys are just messing with you
You are correct, if you turn it to say only half way, you only get half the rated watts

This is why i usually try to turn mine up all the way and then try and force it a little further,

that way you can squeeze an extra hundred or so watts out of your amp,

more bang for the back //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

lol

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

When you turn the gain all the way up, you are asking for everything that that amp can give, and when it can't give anymore it will start to send a clipped signal.
Read through this website http://www.bcae1.com/ it will have all your answers

The amp is capable of "all it can give" regardless of where the potentiometer is turned to...the key factor here is the preout voltage.

 

[icpurplepplalot 5,000+ posts]

Well rethink your answer there. It's not clipping itself that kills a sub. It's the increased area under the curve because a square wave has more area than a sine wave. So it is actually the additional power that is killing the sub, because that extra power might end up over driving the sub past it's physical and thermal limits.

well yes, that's what I was getting at as the clipped power can double what it was originally putting out, and can surpass the limits of the speaker

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

When you turn the gain all the way up, you are asking for everything that that amp can give, and when it can't give anymore it will start to send a clipped signal.
Read through this website http://www.bcae1.com/ it will have all your answers

if I turn the gain all the way up and put my volume to 3 out of 60, i have a strong feeling your answer doesnt hold much water.

what if I turn the gain all the way up and turn the sub level all the way down, where is your smarty pants answer now?

 

[Mass Car Audio 10+ year member]

Well when you think about it a fully clipped swine wave is 2x the power of a un clipped wave....lol

 

[captaincheesey 10+ year member]

well yes, that's what I was getting at as the clipped power can double what it was originally putting out, and can surpass the limits of the speaker

Well you should have said that instead of simply saying, "Clipping will blow the speaker." Because that supposes that any and all clipping will destroy a speaker, even if the amp is only putting out 400 watts clipped on a sub rated at 2k RMS.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

The gain isn't a volume knob. The stronger the pre-out voltage on your head unit, the lower you can set the gains and still see full power out of your amplifier.