Understanding gain setting. Tell me if I am correct

[oldsoundguy]

I have been doing a lot of research on gain settings and how they work.

So from what I understand the reason for the gain is to match the voltage or match the signal from the head unit to the amplifier not produce a clipped signal to the speakers at what ever volume the head unit sends a clean unclipped signal at.

It doesn't matter what speaker you are running, what ohm the speaker is, what the handling power of the speakers is the gain will always be the same matched to the head unit period.

So lets say I have a sub hooked up right now and the gain is set and matched to the HU. If I hook up a more powerful speaker that runs off of 1 ohm and not 2 like the sub I replaced it with, Then I would not have to reset the gains at all as they are set to the HU and not the speaker.

Also lets say your HU puts out a clean signal at 60 out of 62 but I don't listen to it at that high of volume. Can I set the gain with the HU say at 45 instead knowing that I don't want to go over that number. Or will I be loosing out on power? How does that work? thanks again

Thanks for your time.

[bcbrassard]

You got the idea of gain setting right. But set your amp gains at max HU volume without clipping regardless if you turn it up that loud. Its just how you set your gains IMO. Once a mono amp gains are set you can swap out sub without resetting gains unless you use a different track from DD-1 cd.

[oldsoundguy]

The reason I ask about the volume is that if I set it to max unclipped at the deck then the mids and highs are over doing the lows. I have to turn it up too much to get the bass to hit hard. If I set it at a lower volume then I get more bass at a lower mids and highs level.

Does that make sense?

Maybe it wont be a problem when I hook up the front stage to an amp and will have control over that gain also.

[jk13]

Now you found another function for the gains. Matching levels of separate parts of your system. My rear speaker gains are always lower than my fronts, even though the way you explain it they should theoretically be the same. When you do that be sure to lower your front and rear gains from the max setting you found rather than raising the sub to try and match and causing problems in your sub stage.

As far as your 45 vs. 60 unclipped signal--I'd set it with the higher number in case you come across some material that's recorded at a lower level so you can still listen to it at your desired sound level, not your desired number on the volume control.