What levels to use for frequency, boost and gain?

King Mustard said:

I have an Edge EDB12A subwoofer with integrated ED7200-E1 amplifier (Amazon UK B009VFWD1Y, £100).

What levels do you recommend for frequency, boost and gain?

I currently have them all set to 75% but I don't know if that's the best configuration.

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boost should be at 0% (never use bass boost) frequency is all dependent on the car its in, so youll have to fiddle with it a bit to make it sound the best to you, and gain is depending on the input signal its seeing from your deck. what head unit do you have?

King Mustard said:

A Dicola CHS7047X.

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either im blind, or that link doesnt show the pre-out voltage

King Mustard said:

Unfortunately, I have no idea.

I only know it contains the STMicroelectronics TDA7388 audio power amplifier from 2013.

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do you have a digital multimeter?

Frequency -- generally 80-100hz, but it's really just personal preference.  At 100hz your front speakers should start to come to life, and generally, subs trying to operate at higher frequencies tend to get "muddy".  The dial adjusts from 50-250 so around 25% should be ~100hz.

Boost -- A band pass enclosure like that is already going to have peak output in the 50-60hz range.  Adding boost at 45hz will only produce worse sound quality.  Zero is the best setting for that.

Gain -- this is set according to the signal strength of your head unit.  There is no specification for the level adjustment on that amp, but typically they run from ~5v up to 1/4v.

So if you have a head unit with high voltage preamp outputs -- like 4v, your gain will be set relatively low, probably <25%.

Mid-level HU's typically have 2v pre-amps, but even then the gain usually doesn't need to be much over 1/2.  75% is probably too high.

The most straightforward way to set a gain is to start with the dial at its minimum setting.  Play music at 75-80% volume and slowly increase the gain setting until the sub starts to distort.  Then back it off slightly. 

King Mustard said:

My dad does ?

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good

n2audio said:

Gain -- this is set according to the signal strength of your head unit.  There is no specification for the level adjustment on that amp, but typically they run from ~5v up to 1/4v.

So if you have a head unit with high voltage preamp outputs -- like 4v, your gain will be set relatively low, probably <25%.

Mid-level HU's typically have 2v pre-amps, but even then the gain usually doesn't need to be much over 1/2.  75% is probably too high.

The most straightforward way to set a gain is to start with the dial at its minimum setting.  Play music at 75-80% volume and slowly increase the gain setting until the sub starts to distort.  Then back it off slightly. 

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this is why i asked if you have access to a DMM. Those units from alibaba can be feature packed, but vary wildly on the hardware specs. if you can crank the volume up on the deck and measure what the RCAs are seeing for voltage, then you can at least have an idea of what range the amps gains should be at. Some of those decks only put out 0.25 of a single volt, and if that is the case, then you can turn the gain up significantly higher than half way

youdoofus said:

good

this is why i asked if you have access to a DMM. Those units from alibaba can be feature packed, but vary wildly on the hardware specs. if you can crank the volume up on the deck and measure what the RCAs are seeing for voltage, then you can at least have an idea of what range the amps gains should be at. Some of those decks only put out 0.25 of a single volt, and if that is the case, then you can turn the gain up significantly higher than half way

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I dont think the headunit has preouts. Does not list them anywhere in the specs.

ckeeler11 said:

I dont think the headunit has preouts. Does not list them anywhere in the specs.

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these android unit mfgs are horrible about specs like those. scroll down to near the bottom of the link and youll see pigtails for rca outs

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4GB-RAM-Octa-Core-Android-8-0-Multimedia-Car-DVD-Navigation-For-peugeot-408-308-308SW/32857187574.html?dp=e8e18f004c4591884c09d02d6e717f42&af=240682&cv=47843&afref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.caraudio.com%2Ftopic%2F599888-what-levels-to-use-for-frequency-boost-and-gain%2F%3Ftab%3Dcomments&mall_affr=pr3&dp=e8e18f004c4591884c09d02d6e717f42&af=240682&cv=47843&afref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.caraudio.com%2Ftopic%2F599888-what-levels-to-use-for-frequency-boost-and-gain%2F%3Ftab%3Dcomments&mall_affr=pr3&aff_platform=aaf&cpt=1535397420596&sk=VnYZvQVf&aff_trace_key=1ee79bd365974bb49ca5990a3eafe063-1535397420596-06790-VnYZvQVf&terminal_id=71cd393e9cc24d5cb2f17b661475e460

ckeeler11 said:

I dont think the headunit has preouts. Does not list them anywhere in the specs.

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I doubt that.

One of the rca clusters in the photos looks like it has pre-out lables.

n2audio said:

I doubt that.

One of the rca clusters in the photos looks like it has pre-out lables.

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I di dnot see a photo with rca's my bad.