Audiopipe APK 5500 guts

[Sheena]

so a few questions TeamHT since you know what your talking about.

my mids and highs in my car sound good enough for me at 32/35 on my head unit.

now, assuming a clip free environment (yes i know theres a good chance of clipping with this example, but for the sake of it, no clipping)

with my head unit subwoofer out at +5 the gain knob is about half way turned up (SK1500). at 32/35 volume, it blends together nicely and is where i mark my "full tilt" at.

NOW..

with my head unit subwoofer out at +15 and the gain knob at about 1/3rd the way turned up. STILL at 32/35 volume, wouldnt this achieve the same results as stated above?

if i just turned my head unit subwoofer out to +15 and kept the gain knob at half turned up, i would be full tilt on my substage at around 15 volume, but not be able to hear mids or highs.

does it matter which route i go?

what im really asking is, does any of those options hurt any of my equipment (still assuming a clip free environment)

[TeamHT]

No, it will depend on amp, headunit, and in your case preference. Some love to keep voltage output low and compensate with the gain, usually SQ guys. And others like higher voltage to keep less strain on the amp. No right or wrong way, just your way.

But think about this...what if you're chasing SPL? It would be much more logical to have sub level up to get as much voltage which in turn means more bass at lower levels on the volume scale.

[Sheena]

so what i got from that is..

i need to have my hu sub out to its max clip free setting, and turn my gain knob down to where it wouldnt clip?

i dont have a DD1 or scope, i set by ear and so far no coil smell or heat on the cone.

but im fairly certain i would be clipping pretty hard if i had my head unit sub out to +15 and my amp at half at 32/35 volume.

this is my daily, so i dont play tones.

in doing this do i need to adjust the gain knob down to where i could hear something other than my substage?

do i get the same result in the end if i do it this way?

or is this way "louder" in a daily music application.

again, just asking questions.

[theChief]

Sheena, I have the same radio. After twsting what these guys have been saying I settled at +11. +15 clipped for me pretty quick. 11 gave me more leeway with the gain & is a nice compromise.

[Cashdollar2009]

I'll jump in and say that ALL Kenwood Excelon decks do not reach their maximum RCA output voltage until you set the subwoofer level up to +15. I am on my 5th Excelon deck (KDC-X395, X595, X795, X895, X995), our shop is a certified Kenwood Excelon dealer, and............drumroll............... That's what Kenwood told us.

I am tuned in for results though.

[n8ball2013]

Sorry my reply was short i was on a tablet and it annoys me to type too much.

Heres my take on it. you buy a headunit wtih 4 or 5 volt preouts. Why would oyu only want to use half of that or less? I mean of course unless you dont know why you bought it with high voltage preouts.

[Sheena]

For me it just had the perks I wanted. (iPod deck support with playlist management) just so happened to come with 4v pre outs

I'll dick with it tomorrow and see how it sounds.

Thanks for the insight n8

[TeamHT]

But is there a need? You seem happy with your setup, might not even want to change it. Sub not up all the way...say you're only putting out 2.4 volts, your gain would still be adjusted to compensate. If you had sub level up higher getting you 4 volts, you wouldn't need to turn the gain as high.

[TeamHT]

Another thing to consider...do you have two amps? One for your subs and one for your front stage?

[Sheena]

If your talking to me then no, still factory door speakers.

I'm not loud enough to justify replacing them.

It's pretty obvious that I lack midbass, but I really hate any bass over 55hz.

I'm sure if I spent 500 bucks or so on a comp set I might change my additiude, but right now my substage on the ear-o-meter is like a 38-40. It's not very loud to me, but my front windshield moves a good 2 or so inches from the flex. (yes I know judging how loud you are from flex is stupid) but when I give demos, people are more interested in seeing my mirror fold up, slap against the windshield and fall off than anything else