How to set multiple volume/gain settings?

Vital

So i'm finally 2 way front + sub active :biggrin:

All the "links in the chain" have their own volume or gain knobs which turns process of tunning into a a bit of a headache for me.
How do i set them all?
And yes, i know volume and gain isn't the same thing....

Here's what i'm working with and which knob it has. Order (place in chain) is same as in my set-up top to bottom:

Kenwood DNX5140 - volume
Arc Audio XEQ (eq) - volume
Arc Audio IDX (crosover) - gain on each channel
Polk Audio PA500.4 and PA1200.1 - gain on each channel

Speakers are SR5250 and SR124 if that even matters

Arc xeq anc idx both have 8V outputs which i quess makes figuring out amp's gain easier - almost all the way down, maybe 1/4th at most.

arun1963

At my hu the gains on the sub and mid is set to level 0. The tweets are attenuated by -8db.

At the Amp the gains on the mids are about 10 o'clock and the tweets and sub are a touch less.

Set your volume knob to about 80% of max and set the gains all the way down. Now start raising the gains till you hear distortion. Then back off a bit on the gains and you're set.

Vital

Volume knob on which unit? h/u or eq?
I'm assuming h/u since that's the way i'll use in daily driving, eg is hidden and out of reach.
Then my h/u's volume is at about 80%, amp's gain is almost all the way down (since it's getting 8V signal)

That leaves me with volume on eq and gain on xo - which one do i raise/play with first?

arun1963

Typically your gains should go lower as you move through your sound chain. So hu>eq>amp. The volume control on the XEQ is basically a gain setting.

tk421

there are many guides for proper gain setting on the net.
you can do it by ear and with a test cd. simplest.. and it works.

break out the scope n stuff if you're OCD :-)

Vital

I called Arc Audio with some unrelated questions.... and my phone call tunred into a nice conversation with the guy who happened to know a lot more then i expected.

I tunned (for the most part, still tweeking it a bit) my current set-up by ear going off what Arc guy said who also happened to be Kenwood's sales rep for 20 years and used Polk PA amps himself for some time (i'm still debating if what he said is bs, i mean seriously - what are the chances?? lol)... anyways... this guy made it sound real simple and funny thing is that it really worked great and in itself trully is simple procedure:

Since Arc stuff is putting out 8V my polk amps gain set to almost minimum, 1/4 at very most.
Volume on DNX is set to 25 since 26-28 is where Kenwood's internal amp start clipping
Volume on Arc's eq is at 2/3rd as per Arc guy's recomendation (not sure why but it seems to work)
And then adjust gains on each channel on Arc crossover. Arc crossover has a few "clipping indicator leds" so i can raise gains till i see them light up and lower gains a bit.

I did that the other day and to my surprise it was a quick process and end result is better then any other settings i tried all week long.