New system sounds fantastic.... but... ???

[Fish Chris]

So I recently put together a new daily driver system for my 2022 Prius XLE (the king of rideshare and car camping  LOVE my Prius

Anyway, the system is fairly basic... Kicker components for the stock door and dash spots... Kicker coax for the rear doors, and a super compact little ported and tuned box for a  Sundown Audio 8" in the hatch area. I'm powering it all with an Infinity Reference 7005 5ch amp, which is rated at 50 x 4, and 500 x 1.

Anyway, out of like 15 systems in 8 or 10 vehicles, along with maybe 30 different sub enclosures I've built in the last 40 years, this is probably the nicest sounding system I've ever had.

 

Their are only two problems....

1) I kept having to turn my gain up, to the point that it is now completely maxed out ! Yes, I know, this is never recommended right ? AND, even with it maxed out, I have my individual bass channel volume set to +8 (which goes from -25 to +10)  < and with these ridiculous adjustments, it seems like "just barely enough signal"... if not quite enough for an all out demo, pushing it to right before the clipping point ?!?! Again, I want to stress, it sounds freaking awesome ! But I don't think I've managed to hit any distortion yet ? Obviously, I'm not "trying to distort my system. It's just that I think I have a pretty good ear for distortion, and every other system I've ever had, could reach distortion if I pushed it too hard, at which point I'd just back off a bit. That is NOT the case with this setup. Oh btw, I also have ZERO hiss, crackle, or white noise between songs, as I would expect with my gains set too high ???

 

2) And the bigger problem.... My remote bass knob is not linear at all ! Its like nothing from 7 to 8. ALL the control between 8 and 9. And no more change between 9 and 5 ! In other words, super freaking touchy, and very hard to control.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions ???

 

PS, My HU only has 2 volt outputs, but I still didn't think I'd need anymore that 80 to 90% of my subwoofer gains ? My stereo outputs are at about 80%... but could maybe be bumped up to about 90%. The sub channel gain is definitely the bigger problem...

[Cory2G]

I would try a DSP, that amp would be more alive at 5v

[Fish Chris]

Hmmmm. Funny you should say this. In my last "Prius system" all I had was a DSP, with the factory HU, and it did sound really great too > AND, I certainly made plenty of output voltage for my 5ch Kicker amp, as in, I think I ran my gains at about 70%. I had actually wanted to go with "only" a DSP and the factory HU again, but my vehicle was too new, and their are no plug and play options for it yet  So, figuring if I had to splice wires anyway, I might as well go with an aftermarket HU. 

 

Anyway, I just can't help but believe that "even with the equipment that I have right now" things could be better. In other words, it seems to me, we have a problem, with either the HU, or the amp ?

 

BTW, does anyone know the easiest way to test for output voltage from the HU ? I mean, if I found out it was only like .3 or .6 volts, that would explain everything, right ?

[MrSkippyJ]

What headunit are you using? What kind of bass knob are you using? 

 

Use a spare RCA cable with one end stripped and a DMM set to AC volts to check output from the headunit. Just be sure not to short that wire out. Use some test tones at 0db to check output. Make sure you aren't filtering anything out or boosting anything. IE don't test your sub output with a 1k hz test tone, etc...

 

My guess is you are leaving output on the table from your headunit. How did you set your headunit up?  You can use a DSP if you want too, but unless you are in the gutter with output voltage from your headunit you won't need it for a voltage boost. Personally I like a minimum of 2V output, but anything about 1V or so and you will be fine. 

 

[Fish Chris]

Mr Skippy, TY. I'm using a Pioneer DMH 1770 NEX. The amp is an Infinity 7005 5 ch, and the remote bass control is the one that came with it.

That sounds like a really easy way to check the voltage output, and something I really need to do !

When the new remote bass control comes in, we can check that in about 2 minutes... 

But if that doesn't fix it, which I don't believe it will, we will need to check that voltage output very next thing...

 

[audiofanaticz]

Unplug the bass knob from the amp and see if output changes.
With the knob unplugged from the amp it should be as loud as it is while plugged in turned all the way up.
If it gets louder than what it is when plugged in and turned all the way up then the knob the cable or both have went bad.
But you got to unplug it from the amp itself, and don't just unplug the knob from the cable leaving the cable still attached to the amp.

[Fish Chris]

Tried that already. In fact, I had it unplugged from the amp for a few days, then decided it was still easier to fiddle with it, even only have the adjustment in such a narrow range, than having to dig into the HU menus all the time.

[Fish Chris]

Mr. Skippy, so I stripped an old spare RCA plug, so I could try that....

What kind of voltage should I expect to see, just playing music ??? I mean, I know its supposed to be a 2v output, but I'm assuming its much lower, and variable, during real world music listening....

[MrSkippyJ]

I wouldn't even bother with it on music. It's going to be all over the place. 

[Fish Chris]

Yea, I downloaded some 50hz test tones, plus white noise...