a21cuda Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 Hello, I have a 12" Kicker L7 and Kicker zx750.1 amp that I just recently installed and I set the gains the other day with the DD-1 and test tone CD. I was able to turn the gains on the amp up all the way without the light coming on. It then occurred to me the next day that because the only music I listen to is through off of my phone through aux, so I decided to download a test tone on my phone and tune it that way. When I set the gains this time, I was only able to turn the gains up to about 1/4! I've always heard that CDs are better quality than aux, but I didn't think it would be that extreme of a difference. The sub is pretty weak now as well, not nearly to the potential I would think an L7 can handle. It sounded great when the gain was all the way up and I don't believe there was any distortion, but I got scared when the DD-1 showed it distorting with AUX so I have it turned down now. Also, I have no amp on my mids/highs, and my H/U is a Kenwood Excelon. Any ideas? I'm confused. Thanks.
Kyblack76 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 What track are you using? Did you find the HU clip point first? Or read throught the amp? Again, what track did you use each time? Are you using the pin connection or the head phone jack when using your iPod? SMD SUPER SELLER The Burban Build Blazer Build sold Acura trunk build sold
Swordlordboy1234 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 It has to do with the nagative db that the music was recorded with in conjunction with the pre out voltage of the signal. If you put in the dd1 cd it would be loud again as long as you put it on the same track you set the gains with. Say it was -5db at 40hz. Then let's say you played some decaf songs which are recorded at -5db... It would be loud. Now let's say you don't touch your gain and you play a radio station that plays a song with a -9db bass line, and you have weak signal because its a radio station, you might actually be playing bass at a -13db level, and since your gain is only adjusted for -5, now you have 8db the signal needs to rise to get the full potential of your system. But that doesn't mean adjust your gains to -13db. It means get a iPod USB cable (not a 3.5mm connection) or use CD's and control what music you play and it will sound fine. My old YouTube channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/SwordLords1234?feature=mhee My old build log : http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/161872-96-accord-b2-sundown-sky-high-dc-power-re-re-build-for-heatwave/page-37 My New Build - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/207041-2016-mazda-6-sql-build/ 2016 Mazda 6 Touring JL Fix 86 - OEM signal correction B2 prototype DSP 6to8 B2 Ref63 - 3 way active set 2 B2 Class H quattro's 1 B2 Zero.5R @.5 2 B2 HNv3 12 d2 B2 SLIP40 - Lithium in the trunk Northstar Group 35 under the hood 100ft 2/0 welding cable 30ft 4ga welding cable 20ft 8ga welding cable All stinger OFC speaker wire Soundrive custom RCA's Tons of attention to detail.... Can it be perfect?
truthsayer Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 Did you set the HU first. I've never heard of any amp with gains all the way up before distorting. Read your DD-1 manual make sure you followed the steps correctly. You can also watch one of Steve's video's. truthsayer
soundstream15 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 What tone did you use? Set with -10db and be done
a21cuda Posted October 25, 2013 Author Report Posted October 25, 2013 What track are you using? Did you find the HU clip point first? Or read throught the amp? Again, what track did you use each time? Are you using the pin connection or the head phone jack when using your iPod? I used track 1 on the cd, or the 40 hz test tone 0db, and all of my head unit eqs are flat except my sub level is +15 db. When I tried to download the test tones off of the d'amore website, I could not put them on my phone so I downloaded a 40 hz test tone off of iTunes. I did not set my head unit gains first because I wasn't able to take the deck out of the dash right then, I didn't have time to pull the dash and get the head unit out. I'm also using the head phone jack.
a21cuda Posted October 25, 2013 Author Report Posted October 25, 2013 But because I didn't set the head unit gains first, I set the head unit volume pretty conservatively, or so I thought.
Swordlordboy1234 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 ^ that... And don't use 3.5mm jacks or non hd radio stations. Get a good headunit, and play directly through 30 pin connectors / cd's My old YouTube channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/SwordLords1234?feature=mhee My old build log : http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/161872-96-accord-b2-sundown-sky-high-dc-power-re-re-build-for-heatwave/page-37 My New Build - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/207041-2016-mazda-6-sql-build/ 2016 Mazda 6 Touring JL Fix 86 - OEM signal correction B2 prototype DSP 6to8 B2 Ref63 - 3 way active set 2 B2 Class H quattro's 1 B2 Zero.5R @.5 2 B2 HNv3 12 d2 B2 SLIP40 - Lithium in the trunk Northstar Group 35 under the hood 100ft 2/0 welding cable 30ft 4ga welding cable 20ft 8ga welding cable All stinger OFC speaker wire Soundrive custom RCA's Tons of attention to detail.... Can it be perfect?
a21cuda Posted October 25, 2013 Author Report Posted October 25, 2013 ^ that... And don't use 3.5mm jacks or non hd radio stations. Get a good headunit, and play directly through 30 pin connectors / cd's So don't use the headphone jack because the quality is not as great as the other options? All of my music is on my iphone so I will have to use either the USB or headphone jack.
soundstream15 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Posted October 25, 2013 Headphone jack is terrible quality. CD and USB are the best way to go. Did you set amp gain with 0db? Sorry if I missed something
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