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oh ok, that makes sense.

i have been reading around the internet about setting gains. one method people say to do is to turn all your gains off, turn your music up as loud as it can go, and then set your sub gains right before they start to distort.

when i talked to the guy at best buy, he told me to set it at 55-75 Hz but did not mention anything about which certain gain that applies to. on my amp i have different knobs including:
-level
-subsonic
-bass equalizer
-hpf
-lpf
-x over

so which of these are considered the "gains"? and also how should i know exactly where to set all of these settings?

"gain" refers to the actual gain of the amplifier over 0dB.

The rest of that stuff is enhancements or filters.

The old school ear method is to set the volume to 75% and adjust the gain up until you hear distortions and back it off a little.

The problem with that is people arent smart enough to hear/recognize the distortion or think "oh thats not to bad" and leave it as is.

The DMM method is the widest used and most accepted. Its better than tuning it by ear.

So to recap:

Set your filters accordingly:
LPF, set it to approximately 80Hz

Subsonic filter at F3 of tuned frequency (if proted- otherwise leave alone/off)

Then set your gain with the DMM.

Ryan from Ohio wrote:"gain" refers to the actual gain of the amplifier over 0dB.
The rest of that stuff is enhancements or filters.
The old school ear method is to set the volume to 75% and adjust the gain up until you hear distortions and back it off a little.
The problem with that is people arent smart enough to hear/recognize the distortion or think "oh thats not to bad" and leave it as is.
The DMM method is the widest used and most accepted. Its better than tuning it by ear.
So to recap:
Set your filters accordingly:
LPF, set it to approximately 80Hz
Subsonic filter at F3 of tuned frequency (if proted- otherwise leave alone/off)
Then set your gain with the DMM.

i get what your saying with the gain, but how do you adjust the gain?? for some reason i cant seem to figure out which knob actually changes the gain.

is it the level??

and about the subsonic at F3, i dont really understand that.

and where do i set the bass equalizer?

i am planning on picking up a DMM but i don't really understand how to adjust the gain, there has to be something obvious that i'm missing.

by the way, thanks for all the help, i am really noobish at this and am having a really hard time understanding it.

http://www.caraudiocentral.net/forums/s ... php?t=7686

The "level" setting is the gain.

Is your enclosure ported? If so we will need information on it. If its sealed then dont worry about the subsonic filter or F3 comment.

Bass equalizer = 0. Use no bass boost or VERY minimal if you dont have enough power to properly power your sub.

Ryan from Ohio wrote:http://www.caraudiocentral.net/forums/s ... php?t=7686
The "level" setting is the gain.
Is your enclosure ported? If so we will need information on it. If its sealed then dont worry about the subsonic filter or F3 comment.
Bass equalizer = 0. Use no bass boost or VERY minimal if you dont have enough power to properly power your sub.

ok so i understand now pretty much where to set everything, but could you help me out on where to set it with the DMM?

amp is power acoustik lt980/2. it says that rms power (4 ohms) 220 watts x 2 channels and rms power (2 ohms) 280 watts x 2 channels

subs are alpine type s 1223D. rms power is 300 watts, and they will be wired at 4 ohms.

when all is said and done i will have two alpine s 2 ohm subwoofers on this amp. it will be wired like this http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/learningcenter/car/subwoofer_wiring/2DVC_2-ohm_2ch.jpg

so could you help me out on where to set the gain? i cant figure out the math when there are two woofers involved instead of one, lol.

also, will this work?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104114&tab=custRatings#

also, at what level should i adjust the cross over?

sorry for pounding on the questions, but i saw on the "how to set gains with a dmm" it says to set all equalization features to 0.

on alpine head units there is a subwoofer level of 0 to 15. where should i set this when doing the tuning?

atlbravesfalcs7 wrote:sorry for pounding on the questions, but i saw on the "how to set gains with a dmm" it says to set all equalization features to 0.

on alpine head units there is a subwoofer level of 0 to 15. where should i set this when doing the tuning?

you answered your own question there jr.

alright so..

level-dmm
subsonic-0
bass equalizer-0
lpf-80 Hz
crossover- 80

does this seem right?

ok so i adjusted it at the settings above, i did not use the ddm yet but put the level on the amplifier up past halfway, and it still seems like the bass isn't hitting nearly as hard as it should. also, the front right speaker is making a bit of a scratchy noise at times during the music.