YACAudioT: Amplifier gains

[davestar]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: davestar

Originally posted by: Aharami
my mono sub amp has gain settings from 0.2V to 4V. goes .2, .3, .4, .5, .6, .8, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 4.0
my 4 channel amp has 2 separate gain settings - one for channel 1&2 (fronts) and one for channel 3&4 (rears). those go in the same increments as mentioned above.

Should I set all 3 gain settings to 4V?

I don't have any first-hand experience with your amp, but from my interpretation from the owner's manual is that 0.2V doesn't mean low gain and 4.0V doesn't mean high gain. Assumably, it's the opposite. why don't you just set it in the middle and increase/decrease the "gain" to see what effect it has on volume? then, just to be safe, set it on the low volume end of things.

vol is loudest with it set at 0.2V and gets quieter as you increase the voltage setting.

there you go. no one else in this thread seems to be reading close enough to address this issue. set your amps to 4V inputs.

so you know the max volume setting on your head unit? when your amps were set at 0.2V, was your system incredibly loud when the head unit was ~1/4 of max? 1/2? if your ears are bleeding before your volume can be adjusted to 3/4, it's a sure sign that your amp gains are too high... or in your case, set for input levels that are too low.

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: davestar

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: davestar

Originally posted by: Aharami
I have created a detailed thread over in the vwvortex car audio forums. Please take a look there to get a full understanding of whats going on

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2570014

Basically I spent a lot of money and time to redo my car's audio and while Im happy with it, I think the SQ from my gf's Scion tC is better (all she has is an alpine HU feeding stock speakers).

So while having a discussion about this over in that forum, I mentioned that my amp gains are set to 0.2V and my HU's preouts are 4V. To that someone said

you have so fried your tweeters. if not all your speakers. you need to set the gain on your amp to match the output voltage on your HU. going from 1 to 2 to 4 is actually turning down your gain, not up. the number gets bigger, but its the other way around. yeah its louder but its all distortion. a square wave is three times more powerful than a sine wave, and youve been running a square wave the whole time. i think you fried your voice coils.

is the bolded part really true?? If so, I need to go out there and change it asap.

Also for those who read thru the other thread, if you have any input/thoughts on what others are saying in that thread...id appreciate it. thanks

the bolded part isn't exactly accurate, but the advice is correct. your headunit's preouts are 4V, so your amp should be set to accept inputs of that level.

my mono sub amp has gain settings from 0.2V to 4V. goes .2, .3, .4, .5, .6, .8, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 4.0
my 4 channel amp has 2 separate gain settings - one for channel 1&2 (fronts) and one for channel 3&4 (rears). those go in the same increments as mentioned above.

Should I set all 3 gain settings to 4V?

I don't have any first-hand experience with your amp, but from my interpretation from the owner's manual is that 0.2V doesn't mean low gain and 4.0V doesn't mean high gain. Assumably, it's the opposite. why don't you just set it in the middle and increase/decrease the "gain" to see what effect it has on volume? then, just to be safe, set it on the low volume end of things.

vol is loudest with it set at 0.2V and gets quieter as you increase the voltage setting.

Yeah, you're overdriving your amp and sending a clipped signal. The way you have it set now, the amp thinks it's getting a .2v signal, amplifying it and sending it to your speakers. Whereas in reality, it's getting a MUCH higher signal, probably not quite 4v, but probably close to it, amplifying it WAY too much and sending a clipped/distorted signal to your speakers.

Depending on how long and how loud you've had it like this, you may have done damage to your speakers.

 

[spidey07]

I agree that you may have damameged your speakers or your amplifier running it like that.

But if you want to adjust listen to others. Turn your pre-amp to around 70% and then turn up the gain on the amp until it starts to sound distored (or if you have numeric values then just match the amp and pre-amp). At that point your amp is over its maximum output and your gain is set. You shouldn't listen at this volume and can damage your speakers.

rule of thumb - if it sounds distorted/compressed/loss of dynamics TURN IT DOWN.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: davestar

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: davestar

Originally posted by: Aharami
my mono sub amp has gain settings from 0.2V to 4V. goes .2, .3, .4, .5, .6, .8, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 4.0
my 4 channel amp has 2 separate gain settings - one for channel 1&2 (fronts) and one for channel 3&4 (rears). those go in the same increments as mentioned above.

Should I set all 3 gain settings to 4V?

I don't have any first-hand experience with your amp, but from my interpretation from the owner's manual is that 0.2V doesn't mean low gain and 4.0V doesn't mean high gain. Assumably, it's the opposite. why don't you just set it in the middle and increase/decrease the "gain" to see what effect it has on volume? then, just to be safe, set it on the low volume end of things.

vol is loudest with it set at 0.2V and gets quieter as you increase the voltage setting.

there you go. no one else in this thread seems to be reading close enough to address this issue. set your amps to 4V inputs.

so you know the max volume setting on your head unit? when your amps were set at 0.2V, was your system incredibly loud when the head unit was ~1/4 of max? 1/2? if your ears are bleeding before your volume can be adjusted to 3/4, it's a sure sign that your amp gains are too high... or in your case, set for input levels that are too low.

i think the max vol setting on my HU is like 40. With the speakers and sub amp input level settings set to 0.2 V, volume setting of 15 would be louder than I could handle

 

[spidey07]

And there you go.

You are overdriving the inputs on your amp. I'm sure it does sound like crap.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: spidey07
I agree that you may have damameged your speakers or your amplifier running it like that.

But if you want to adjust listen to others. Turn your pre-amp to around 70% and then turn up the gain on the amp until it starts to sound distored (or if you have numeric values then just match the amp and pre-amp). At that point your amp is over its maximum output and your gain is set. You shouldn't listen at this volume and can damage your speakers.

rule of thumb - if it sounds distorted/compressed/loss of dynamics TURN IT DOWN.

hope i didnt damage my speakers. I never turned it up too loud. what are some signs that i blew my speakers?

 

[spidey07]

signs of damaged speakers are as follows..

It sounds like crap or no sound from a particular driver (tweeter, woofer)



you're probably fine. Bostons are pretty tough. one other thing to look for is discoloration/melting on the tweeter.

But do have a pro check everything out - could have damaged the inputs on the amp as well. They can test that.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: spidey07
signs of damaged speakers are as follows..

It sounds like crap or no sound from a particular driver (tweeter, woofer)



you're probably fine. Bostons are pretty tough. one other thing to look for is discoloration/melting on the tweeter.

But do have a pro check everything out - could have damaged the inputs on the amp as well. They can test that.

thanks. but FYI, i have Diamond speakers. It's Golgatha who has bostons.

 

[spidey07]

oh, gotcha.

eitherway I think you should have somebody look at it and make sure nothing is damaged.

generally if a "good" stereo sounds crappy it is because something is very wrong. most times it is the setup, wiring, power. but sometimes it can be a bad component.

 

[mrchan]

Listen to each speaker individually, use the fader and balance to get to front right, front left, back right, back left. Listen closely. If it sounds busted, it probably is.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: spidey07
signs of damaged speakers are as follows..

It sounds like crap or no sound from a particular driver (tweeter, woofer)



you're probably fine. Bostons are pretty tough. one other thing to look for is discoloration/melting on the tweeter.

But do have a pro check everything out - could have damaged the inputs on the amp as well. They can test that.

thanks. but FYI, i have Diamond speakers. It's Golgatha who has bostons.

The Boston 6.4 Pros can really take a licking and keep on ticking. First midrange speakers I've owned that can produce treble loud and clear enough at a SPL which will vibrate all mirrors in the car. They aren't cheap, but you'll never buy another midrange again.

 

[spidey07]

Boston Pros. My best speker ever.

top notch.