garytenison Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 My first time posting here. FYI I am an engineer so am fairly technical. But I am a novice stereo guy so I have a lot to learn here. I just installed some equipment in my Malibu ski boat. I went with an Alpine HU, Alpine 5 channel Class D amp (75W/ch @ 4 ohms, 500W for sub at 2 ohms), a JLAudio Twk88 dig sig processor, Alpine 6.5 components up front and Alpine 6.5 coaxials in rear, and an Alpine dual VC 12" in a sealed box under my helm. I first tried to do this with just the amp, but it didn't sound good enough. So I tried with Twk88, my first time ever using a signal processor although I have put a few stereos in over the years. And as you might expect it sounds pretty good now, certainly better than it did. I used AudioControl RTA mobile app on my iphone connected to a BLUE condensor microphone for real time adjustment using my Twk88. My question - I Used the DD1 on my amp, prior to adding the twk to the system, and my base channel gain setting was about 2 o'clock position. I had good strong bass with no distortion as measured by the tool. Now, I added the twk88 upstream of the amp, so I thought I probably needed to reset the gain on the amp as I am running the signal through the twk. SO I go to set gains again and the front and rear channels set at about the same setting (as signal direct from HU to amp and no twk in line) , but then the sub channel sets at about 10 oclock (7 oclock position is min and 5 oclock is max gains)...so now my bass is much less powerful...I found this website because I dont have any knowledgeable friends to ask. I have mostly used forums for boat and motorcycle questions and have learned tons there...so I look forward to upping my game in stereos. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike4068 Posted January 6, 2020 Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 You want to start at the beginning of the chain and use the dd-1 first to find max hu volume then use it at the dsp to set it's output clean and lastly at the amps to set your overlaps. Use 0db tracks for the hu and the dsp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garytenison Posted January 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2020 Not completely sure I follow you. Prior to adding the DSP I had checked the HU and its clean till about 31 of 35 (max). Do I set the DSP by using "input sensitivity" settings within the DSP? Then when I get input sensitivity setting voltages correct I can do the amp? If thats what you mean that would make sense to me because I was wondering how to select the correct IS on DSP. If I am not understanding this correctly please clarify? Thanks - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike4068 Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Yes, you'll use your max clean hu volume to set your dsp. Set the output from the dsp to your amps input sensitivity and make sure it is clean. Then you can set the amp gain. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronT Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Once it's all said and done and you tweak the settings, recheck max clean volume on dd1. And adjust gains again A lot of people disagree with this but think about this... You just set your games with your deck flat Max head unit volume. what do you think's going to happen to the maximum flat setting as far as gain is concerned when you add a bit of EQ in tweaking to it it's going to overdrive the signal of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike4068 Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 1 hour ago, AaronT said: Once it's all said and done and you tweak the settings, recheck max clean volume on dd1. And adjust gains again A lot of people disagree with this but think about this... You just set your games with your deck flat Max head unit volume. what do you think's going to happen to the maximum flat setting as far as gain is concerned when you add a bit of EQ in tweaking to it it's going to overdrive the signal of course You should be cutting frequencies to tweak not boosting them. This keeps clipping from happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronT Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 5 hours ago, Mike4068 said: You should be cutting frequencies to tweak not boosting them. This keeps clipping from happening. I personally run everything flat I really see no need for anything if you got a good set of speakers good quality amps I might play with the punch EQ not a little bit or maybe at 3 to 6 decibel boost on certain songs that just aren't doing it but I keep my shit flat and yes when I do EQ things I reduce instead of adding the most people that are new to this 0 will set gain then go to the EQ and start putting fucking 13 decibel boost on everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garytenison Posted April 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 (edited) Edited April 28, 2020 by garytenison I moved post because it was in wrong place for my new question...thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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