"Bassbosst" on mono/amp

[Supercharged DCs]

Soo, just wondering. You mention the sub doesn't hit "like it should" without bass boost. Do you have some preconceived idea of how it should sound? Maybe it isn't loud enough to you because it simply isn't. Your equipment doesn't seem to be the best (no offense at all mate) so you shouldn't be expecting earth shaking, glass shattering, eyeball popping bass. Your expectations might just be too high, and to meet them it seems you are willing to damage the equipment...

Just my thoughts

[Decaf]

it doesnt hit hard because his preout voltage is prolly less than .5v since he didnt turn sub level up on his headunit to max to get the full 2v

i feel like im talking to a brick wall... thats the issue. start there. gain has never been set correctly so OP has never heard it the right way yet. dont even worry about the bass remote til you get headunit settings correct

not that hard to figure out. every alpine ive ever used was quiet as hell until i got sublevel to + 10-15

[ISO]

it doesnt hit hard because his preout voltage is prolly less than .5v since he didnt turn sub level up on his headunit to max to get the full 2v

i feel like im talking to a brick wall... thats the issue. start there. gain has never been set correctly so OP has never heard it the right way yet. dont even worry about the bass remote til you get headunit settings correct

not that hard to figure out. every alpine ive ever used was quiet as hell until i got sublevel to + 10-15

Yep I have to agree with Decaf.

1st turn up the sub volume to max on the H/U.

2nd turn the bass boost all the way down on the amp and leave the dash knob unhooked from the amp.

3rd ONLY adjust the GAIN on the amp and the low pass crossover (to around 80ish).

4th hook up the dash knob to the amp.

5th if desired just barely and gently turn up the bass boost if you feel that you really need it.

I'm done with this thread LOL.....Sound like a plan Decaf?

[SPLHell]

What kind of amp are you using on your subs?

What brand?

1x SPL Dynamics ICE 1500.1 class D

1x 12" SPL Dynamics XTR12D2S bridged to 1Ohm 1500Wrms

Everyone thanks for the answers, I just wanted to know if bassboost hurts the amp/sub. I think I got my answer here.

Just to let you know, the amp never gets even warm, nor the sub. That's after playing LOUD.

Iam gonna set everything at stock now, turn the gain more up with +15 sub level on HU, and see if this will help, WITHOUT touching the bassboot knob on the mono.

Cheers!

[tacomabanga1986]

just a quick post from me

as with my headunit and amp setup, my headunit is 6.5v preouts and with a -18,-12,-6db octive slope

from what i can remember a octive slope changes the boost of the gain freq or something like that, i had trouble with it when i had my mids n highs wired active

my 2 10's beat real close to how my 15's did when i had that big down fire box, i know it sounds wierd but i was kinda supprized myself, means i got new plans on new box, a downfire ported box wanges like hell lol

but really, i use a little bass boost for heavy metal/rock i listen to and also country, but as no 2 songs are recorded alike its hard to gain match, as 1 song will make dash flex, rear view move all over the place, doors move, hood move a little, but one song wouldn't hit for shit

and do you set or gains as how u listen to it most ie with windows down or up? because if i set my gains with windows down its not nere as loud with windows up

ive not tried the "turn headunit to 3/4 of way and then play a 50htz tone type deal with a dmm"

i dont want to mess up shit but i go by voltage drop when i set my gains as my rear battery is not in its best of shape

if u hook a dmm set to dc voltage and measure ur voltage while setting the gains, look and see how much the voltage moves with bass boost, i think this is why people clip, hell with my setup while driving my voltage would drop to 12.9v,

i dunno wtf but i guess alt gets hot to not let it charge as high, with everything off and truck running the voltage is @ 13.8v, i know its hot but that low, with system on and volume @ 0 voltage goes to 13.2 - 13.4, is alt going bad or its just hot? i dont think my alt has a fan on the pully as its only 70amps, even with big 3

edit: headunit is a pioneer premire 860mp, and amp is a memphis pr1000.1

[ISO]

just a quick post from me

as with my headunit and amp setup, my headunit is 6.5v preouts and with a -18,-12,-6db octive slope

from what i can remember a octive slope changes the boost of the gain freq or something like that, i had trouble with it when i had my mids n highs wired active

my 2 10's beat real close to how my 15's did when i had that big down fire box, i know it sounds wierd but i was kinda supprized myself, means i got new plans on new box, a downfire ported box wanges like hell lol

but really, i use a little bass boost for heavy metal/rock i listen to and also country, but as no 2 songs are recorded alike its hard to gain match, as 1 song will make dash flex, rear view move all over the place, doors move, hood move a little, but one song wouldn't hit for shit

and do you set or gains as how u listen to it most ie with windows down or up? because if i set my gains with windows down its not nere as loud with windows up

ive not tried the "turn headunit to 3/4 of way and then play a 50htz tone type deal with a dmm"

i dont want to mess up shit but i go by voltage drop when i set my gains as my rear battery is not in its best of shape

if u hook a dmm set to dc voltage and measure ur voltage while setting the gains, look and see how much the voltage moves with bass boost, i think this is why people clip, hell with my setup while driving my voltage would drop to 12.9v,

i dunno wtf but i guess alt gets hot to not let it charge as high, with everything off and truck running the voltage is @ 13.8v, i know its hot but that low, with system on and volume @ 0 voltage goes to 13.2 - 13.4, is alt going bad or its just hot? i dont think my alt has a fan on the pully as its only 70amps, even with big 3

edit: headunit is a pioneer premire 860mp, and amp is a memphis pr1000.1

Full of fail. Sorry.

There is only one gain setting per different head unit.

If you have a 6 volt pre out on your H/U and your amp like quite a lot of them are made will accept up to a 6 volt signal your gain should be turned almost all the way down if you used an O-scope to optimise your all of your signals.

There is a lot more to this but I'm not going to type all the details of gain matching for optimal sound quality and output.

EDIT after your gains have been set to a clean signal all across the board, there shouldn't be a presence of distortion of any kind until a load has been connected so your only option is to turn the gain down more to clean that up.

[SPLHell]

it doesnt hit hard because his preout voltage is prolly less than .5v since he didnt turn sub level up on his headunit to max to get the full 2v

i feel like im talking to a brick wall... thats the issue. start there. gain has never been set correctly so OP has never heard it the right way yet. dont even worry about the bass remote til you get headunit settings correct

not that hard to figure out. every alpine ive ever used was quiet as hell until i got sublevel to + 10-15

Yep I have to agree with Decaf.

1st turn up the sub volume to max on the H/U.

2nd turn the bass boost all the way down on the amp and leave the dash knob unhooked from the amp.

3rd ONLY adjust the GAIN on the amp and the low pass crossover (to around 80ish).

4th hook up the dash knob to the amp.

5th if desired just barely and gently turn up the bass boost if you feel that you really need it.

I'm done with this thread LOL.....Sound like a plan Decaf?

I followed this steps and it now works like it should, I've turned up the gain on the monoblock more this time with +15 "sub level" on my HU. Now the sub hits, the doors are flexing

I still have the bass remotecontrol hooked up in my dash, but I don't need to use it this time, I'll let it be there just for the looks

Thanks for being very helpful all of you!

[JZeFF]

When you tuned your amp, what amplitude wave did you use? if you used a 0dB tone, that is why your bass is lackluster. If you listen to boosted music, such as Decaf's stuff, set your gains with a -4dB to -5dB tone. if you listen to non boosted music, you may be safe with as much as a -10dB tone, though I personally don't recommend using anything less than a -8dB tone.

Edit: And by 'The gain knob is set up properly' do you mean that you set your amp using a scope? Cuz if not, and it wasn't with the DD-1, then (being that it doesn't have a clipping light) it's not set properly.

Can some1 better explain his reasoning behind using a -8th tone when setting gains on your sub amp?

I always use a 0db tone

This thread is great btw!

[Autruche]

Can some1 better explain his reasoning behind using a -8th tone when setting gains on your sub amp?

I always use a 0db tone

This thread is great btw!

No problem, dude. Let's see if I can explain this properly...

Music is dynamic. It is not made up of 0dB tones, it is made up of many smaller frequencies and notes layered together, waves on top of waves.

In an audio file the highest point that a wave can be without clipping off (it's maximum clean size) is referred to as 0dB, and anything less than that is referred to as -x.xdB (however many dB under a full wave.)

Now in music you have frequencies your tweeters pick up on top of frequencies your midrages/midbasses pick up on top of frequencies your subwoofers pick up. When you start using your amps filter (in this case your subs low pass filter) you are removing the frequencies you don't want that driver to reproduce, and are left with the frequencies you do want. when you start removing the notes that are layered on top of the bass notes, the notes shrink back down to their natural sizes.

Let's use the song 'Man I' by Gorilla Zoe for reference.

Even though the song fills up the audacity display window from peak to peak at points, when you use the low pass filter on it set to 80Hz@12dB/octave you are actually receiving about -13dB of music (bass) instead of 0dB. This means that there is room to increase the output of the bass safely. Almost every song is like this, and that is why it is safe to use a negative amplitude tone to tune your amp.

[ISO]

it doesnt hit hard because his preout voltage is prolly less than .5v since he didnt turn sub level up on his headunit to max to get the full 2v

i feel like im talking to a brick wall... thats the issue. start there. gain has never been set correctly so OP has never heard it the right way yet. dont even worry about the bass remote til you get headunit settings correct

not that hard to figure out. every alpine ive ever used was quiet as hell until i got sublevel to + 10-15

Yep I have to agree with Decaf.

1st turn up the sub volume to max on the H/U.

2nd turn the bass boost all the way down on the amp and leave the dash knob unhooked from the amp.

3rd ONLY adjust the GAIN on the amp and the low pass crossover (to around 80ish).

4th hook up the dash knob to the amp.

5th if desired just barely and gently turn up the bass boost if you feel that you really need it.

I'm done with this thread LOL.....Sound like a plan Decaf?

I followed this steps and it now works like it should, I've turned up the gain on the monoblock more this time with +15 "sub level" on my HU. Now the sub hits, the doors are flexing

I still have the bass remotecontrol hooked up in my dash, but I don't need to use it this time, I'll let it be there just for the looks

Thanks for being very helpful all of you!

I'm glad you were able to get things worked out and if you stick around I promise that there is plenty more to learn.