How to Set Gain's on my amp??

flashback

sorry, i tried searching but couldn't find a tutorial or anything, i have a basic understanding, but i want to make sure i do it right with my new polk mm12

mbdyer12

If you just bought it, you'll want to break it in. From what I've been told, the gain is usually set around 2/3. Play at medium volume for 20-40 hours till they're broken in (usually takes a week or two). Then you turn your stereo up till its as loud as you'll play it and turn the gain up til you hear some sort of distortion of the sub then turn it down till it's back in control then turn it down a little more to be safe. That should ensure you keep your sub in good working order. Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong.

neomagus00

keep the gain on the sub way way down until they're broken in. mbdyer's right, it takes about 40 hours of playing time to do it. take it easy on the subs at first - like don't show them off yet. as time goes on, you can turn them up until at the end of the week they're pounding.

gains - the way i've done it is:

1) turn gains on all amps down
2) pick just one to tune, it doesn't matter. we'll call it the sub amp. disconnect the rest, either power or speakers, doesn't matter. this is so you don't get confused.
3) turn your HU up to 80-90%; mine goes to 35 and i turned it up to 30.
4) pick either a good strong bass beat or (preferably) a bass sine wave, around 50 Hz. rap or hard techno will do too.
5) play the bass beat and turn the gains up slowly until it begins to distort; with subs this is relatively easy to hear.
6) back it down a tad.
7) repeat with all other amps, without changing the gain on the amps you've already set.
8) from here on in, never turn the gains up beyond where you've set them. if one amp is too loud, like your mids and highs overpower your subs, turn the gain on that amp down to match the rest.
9) equalize/shape if needed; attentuate rather than boost if you can. just remember that if your sub amp is at the gain you set it at (it's maximum gain in your current setup) any bass boost will necessitate you keeping the volume down below where it was during the tuning. for example, if the gain on your sub amp is set at 12 'o clock when your hu is at 30, and you then dial in +3 bass on the HU, you'll be limiting your max hu volume to 27-29. if you want to be safe. if you set the other amps properly, you shouldn't have to do this, and if you've only got the one sub amp, it should be more than enough for stock speakers.

the lower you play your normal speakers, the less power they'll be able to handle. the gain on my amp was at about 4 'o clock when the xover was at 185, and it's at like 11 'o clock now that it's xovered at 75.

i hope all this is clear.

mbdyer12

Bah. You had to say it better than I did. Thats what I get for being lazy.

neomagus00

eh, you had it right, i just spelled it out. apparently i need less free time