# Bad to turn gains all the way up?



## Tremonic

Ok so here is my question. If you buy an amp that your subs will handle with the gain turned all the way up is it bad for your amp to leave the gain wide open? I'm thinking no as long as the electrical and signal are up to par but I wanted to get some opinions.


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## SoundChaser

Depending on the amp design it should be ok. But personally I don’t like to max out any level controls. 

Remember gains are for level matching. If your amp achieves full output at 5 volts in and your head unit is capable of outputting 8 volts out, then you would not want to max out your gains.


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## DBfan187

I max out my sub amp's gain that way I can use the sub output level on my HU to control it.


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## Tremonic

Yeah I have a line driver and everything will be matched. My amp runs up to 6V so that's what I will have being put to it. I have just usually had setups that I had headroom with so I never pushed it to the max. My amp is a Sundown so I don't think it's going to affect it but I always like to ask questions rather than burn up my equipment.


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## sqoverspl

The higher your input voltage the lower your gains should be set. You can clip any amp with the gains set wrong. You really should never have the gains all the way up unless you have the worst input signal ever.


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## SoundChaser

Tremonic said:


> Yeah I have a line driver and everything will be matched. My amp runs up to 6V so that's what I will have being put to it. I have just usually had setups that I had headroom with so I never pushed it to the max. My amp is a Sundown so I don't think it's going to affect it but I always like to ask questions rather than burn up my equipment.


You want to set up your system so that ¾ volume on your head unit will be the max level on most music. If this means amp gains are maxed I’d rather take my head unit slightly over ¾ and back off a little on the amp gains.

Are the gains on the line driver maxed also? If not turn them up a little and turned the gain on the amp down a little.


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## Tremonic

Ok so I'm buying this amp to get the max output. This is achieved by puting max allowable input and....... turning the thing up correct? I mean why do we all look at max wattage if were not going to use it all. I understand clipping and all that good junk. I am by no means new to car audio but this will be my first setup where the subs will handle everything my amp is capable of. Am I just missing something? If I want X number of watts do I have to buy an amp that is capable of 1000 more than what I want? Please elaborate.


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## sqoverspl

Tremonic said:


> Ok so I'm buying this amp to get the max output. This is achieved by puting max allowable input and....... turning the thing up correct? I mean why do we all look at max wattage if were not going to use it all. I understand clipping and all that good junk. I am by no means new to car audio but this will be my first setup where the subs will handle everything my amp is capable of. Am I just missing something? If I want X number of watts do I have to buy an amp that is capable of 1000 more than what I want? Please elaborate.


With a good input signal you can get all the power the amp has to offer (at the voltage your running) with the gains easily under half. If you have a 6v input signal I promise your going to clip your subs and amp to death with the gains all the way up. As it has been said before the gain isnt a volume knob, it is to match the input signal.


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## Oliver

The Sundown is well made crank it !

The HU will deliver at least 5 volts if it is* maxed *out.

wire the amp for higher ohmage if you can 

[ I have a 12" IDMAX wired for 2 ohms the Sundown 1500 D is set to max and I control output with the HU ]

my HU has adjustments for - 6 dB on sub out.



> YouTube - 1x Sundown SA-8 (SPL Coil) -- 151.6 dB
> 
> SA-8 D2 w/ Aluminum SPL Coil -- I had a thread about the idea here :
> SA-8 SPL Coil ? - Car Audio Classifieds
> 
> 151.6 passenger side kick measurement at 68 Hz.
> 
> We haven't re-clamped since moving stuff around but it was clamping 1670 watts yesterday at 151.0 dB -- HU volume hasn't changed, we simply moved stuff around so we are assuming power isn't a whole lot different.
> 
> We are going to get another video soon as well... we got a 152.2 in the driver side kick panel. Haven't had time to do a video just yet.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWBU1m8iKwo&feature=related

Where do you think the gains were at ? ^^^^


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## Tremonic

Ok thats more of the answer I was looking for. I will be testing for clipping. What I was looking for was if I can achieve full output without full gain. So basically what I'm going to do is input @ 6V and hook this dang thing up to an Oscope and see when I get that nice little flat spot. I was under the assumption that I could get what I wanted without full gain but theres always those little monsters out there who tell you the wrong info and make you start doubting yourself. Thank you for the input.


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## trojan fan

more input voltage...no other way around it


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## trojan fan

I have a phoenix gold line driver for sale, if you need one... the difference would be night and day with it


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## sqoverspl

Oliver said:


> Where do you think the gains were at ? ^^^^


not all the way up


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## Tremonic

Yeah like I said I'm gonna play with it. I have too much money in this stuff to mess any of it up. I'll get it right. Thank you for the offer of the line driver but I purchased the Audiocontrol Overdrive so I'm good.


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