Setting my HU and amp

[18abVFL]

Okay i need a someone who really knows what thier talking about.

Just like the rest of you, i enjoy my music as loud as it can get without clipping and damaging my equipment

I have heard people say "its best to run your subs with the subwoofer level on the HU at 0 to avoid clipping", but then again i have heard others say "its best to run the sub level as high as possible to get the full pre-out voltage from the HU and will not add distortion".

I just need to know this, its bothering me. All my friends think its a competition to see who can be the "loudest with the subwoofer level at 0" but i feel like i'm depriving my amp of a strong signal.

[nCOMP1337]

well im a noob, but ill say what i do

best way is using an o-scope but i do not own one so i use a DMM and some general math, not the best but better than ear-o-meter

Set h/u top flat (eq settings to 0) although my h/u doesnt have a sub setting

on the amp, unhook the sub from the channel you are testing or from both if more than one hooked up (i think it works either way just fine)

set dmm top vac (that what it says on my dmm, could be acv maybe on others)

the equation to figure out the voltage to set the gain to is V = (square root)[RMS x ohm load] so you find the RMS you want to run and multiply that by the ohm load the subwoofers would be wired to then take the square root of that to get your V so here is an example: V = sqrt(200 (rms) x 2 (ohms)) that equals V=sqrt400 which then equals V=20 so to get the 200 rms at 2 ohms from the amp, set the gain until the DMM reads 20V, i normally set mine a tad lower

Be sure bass boost and gain are down

get a test tone cd, the one ive used is from PWK but i know there are others out there, for subwoofers i believe you use a 50hz tone, at least that is what i have seen recommended

so with that setup, play your tone, and slowly adjust gain so that it slowly moves up until it is at the voltage you desire (depends on how many rms at what ohm you are doing)

now if you have a subwoofer setting, i dont know what changes, i think if you have it up all the way and set the gain that way then it may be fine, but dont take my word for it im a noob

please anyone fill in or fix anything i may have messed up in trying to explain that, thats how i do it with a dmm, and so far never had an issue, i know its not the best but it seems to have worked fine for me

[18abVFL]

Anybody else have any ideas?!?

[byers319]

the only way to do properly is an o-scope..