Where should my gains be set?

[css3 10+ year member]

Thanks for the help. I'll just be careful and try different things until i get to the highest it can go without distortion. It is my first amp and subs, and i just dont want to get them and ruin them the first week.

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG
Sorry, kcdc, I had to. This is just asking for trouble, especially if you have a Pioneer HU.

Just turn your car off, set the gains to the lowest possible, and turn the HU up to about 3/4, and if you don't have a DMM (Digital Multi-Meter) the best you can do is just listen to it, and wait 'till it sounds like your woofer's dying. Then turn it down a bit.

And turn off any bass boost.

if you do it with the head unit turned off, it should be fine. no? why is this just with pioneer head units? never owned pioneer.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

I have not got he subs yet. I was just wondering if any one had a similiar setup and how high did they set it? I want it to be as loud and hit as hard as possible, without distortion. The amp says 1600 and the subs are 1000, i was asking if it is possible to have the gain all the way up @1ohm(for maximum power) and still sound clean. Should i get a less powerful amp?
ENDOFDAYS said he had a similiar setup, maybe he can offer some advice?

I wouldn't listen to anything Endofdays has to say; he is a horrible source for car audio information and knows far less than he thinks he does.

You first need to understand what the gain is used for. The gain knob is not like a volume knob where all the way down is off and all the way up is max power. The placement of the gain will depend on the output of the headunit. If the headunit has a high pre-out voltage, then the gain won't need to be set high in order to reach full power (my amps produce max power with the gain up about 1/3). If the pre-out voltage is low, then the gain will need to be set higher to reach max power.

None of us can tell you where to set your gains, we can only tell you how. You can take the DMM approach (search for the gain setting tutorial) or you can set it by ear. Since this is your first system, you will probably fail to set it by ear though.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

set it all the way if it wasnt supposed to be set all the way it wouldnt give u that much power
the amp does its power with gain and boost up all the way so just put both up at least 3/4 and u will be happy

....

do not do this

 

[css3 10+ year member]

Thx. It seems like ported boxes are most popular for the alpine type r's. It gives it more power too. I think i read that somewhere. Once i get my subs i'll go pick out a box. Any suggestions?

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

I wouldn't listen to anything Endofdays has to say; he is a horrible source for car audio information and knows far less than he thinks he does.
You first need to understand what the gain is used for. The gain knob is not like a volume knob where all the way down is off and all the way up is max power. The placement of the gain will depend on the output of the headunit. If the headunit has a high pre-out voltage, then the gain won't need to be set high in order to reach full power (my amps produce max power with the gain up about 1/3). If the pre-out voltage is low, then the gain will need to be set higher to reach max power.

None of us can tell you where to set your gains, we can only tell you how. You can take the DMM approach (search for the gain setting tutorial) or you can set it by ear. Since this is your first system, you will probably fail to set it by ear though.

Great post here.

The purpose of the gain is to match the HU's current preout voltage to produce the amp's power as stated by immacomputer. It will vary from HU to HU. There is no "set it to this position and forget it" that is universal for everything regarding gains. Since this is your first time installing, I highly recommend picking up a digital multimeter (DMM) to set the gains correctly as Immacomputer stated.

DMM's can be had for $15-20 from walmart or home depot and the likes, and as low as $3 from Harbor Freight.

 

[css3 10+ year member]

what exactly does the DMM do and offer? I'll probably end up picking one up.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

Thx. It seems like ported boxes are most popular for the alpine type r's. It gives it more power too. I think i read that somewhere. Once i get my subs i'll go pick out a box. Any suggestions?

It doesn't give it more power, but it increases the output of the box.

Suggestions; custom built out of 3/4" MDF for starters. But if you cannot do this, you can either look into people on the forums that build, possibly someone local. Prefab boxes leave much to be desired from a setup.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

what exactly does the DMM do and offer? I'll probably end up picking one up.

A DMM is a tool, think of it as a screw driver. It is very helpful, it can be used to make sure your wiring subs correctly and to the right ohm load, it can be used to set your amplifiers gains, it can be used to determine if your wires are grounding out, and it has many many more uses. I think it's the best $20 that can be spent for car audio personally, or any electrical work.

 

[skateboardkid 10+ year member]

set it all the way if it wasnt supposed to be set all the way it wouldnt give u that much power
the amp does its power with gain and boost up all the way so just put both up at least 3/4 and u will be happy

fail at setting gains tutorial try 1.