clear up a gain

ok, so i dont remember where i read this but this is pretty much what it said.

when setting the gain on your amplifier, lets say subwoofer amp for instance, you merely want to match the gain level with the output voltage of the head unit. so if the head unit says it has a 5v preout then you want to set the gain at 5v. this person also said that increasing the gain will not increase the amplifiers power output, so how i read that was that if my amp goes from 6v-.5v and my head unit has a 5v preout and my amp is wired to 1ohm and has an rms value of 1000w then whether i have the amp all the way down in the 6v or all the way clockwise in the .5v position the amp will produce the same amount of power.

like i said, i dont remember exactly where i read that, but the basics of what i read are there. can anyone clarify that a bit for me?

35 Hertz custom car audio and automotive fabrication

The amp can produce only X amount of power. Gain all the way up or down, that is all it can produce.  You may think that it is putting out more power with the gain all the way up, but all that is going on is that it is reaching max power with the radio's volume control at a lower position.

ok. so basically what i read was correct to a certain extent then. moral of the story being that you want to set the gain to match the voltage output of the preamp.35 Hertz custom car audio and automotive fabrication

dukesrebelyell wrote: ok. so basically what i read was correct to a certain extent then. moral of the story being that you want to set the gain to match the voltage output of the preamp.

Correct.  And as described in our Hot Topics forum, you cannot go by the markings on the amp or the specs for your head unit. You have to set it using a test signal.    https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp~TID~85479~PN~1

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That's a nice guide I followed that since I use a line level converter I set me deck to 75% and I set the converter gain to Max and then the amp up until I like the amount of bass (sub amp in my case) even all the way way Max on the amp (.2v) it doesn't clip so I just go about 3/4 gain which give me plenty of loudness. So van you guys agree I'm setting my gain staging correctly?

I used a multimeter to set mine. Followed techniques on this site... setting amp gains with dmm

I just looked at this and it seems pretty good. However I would like to here from someone with experience if this is a good way to set up the gains. jomin1016 no disrespect to you but, with 1 post to a link that is very interesting I would like someone I trust to back that article or to say no way.

I understand completely, I was kind of hoping someone could verify this method as well. I have set up many gains with the method you described as well, and have had success. This, I came across recently, and have only used it on one amp. Although it has worked for me, I too, would like someone to verify this method, as I do not own an oscilliscope, which is the actual correct way to do it.

I also found this link... How to set your amplifier's gain

So can anyone verify any of these methods?