This is a first for me, In car audio I've used a different method more along the lines of isolating each channel and tuning gains flat at 3/4 volume by ear for loud but clear audio and then tying them all together after each channel is set and using an EQ to get the sound I want.

With the limited area in a motorcycle as well as the wind noise vs a car, I read through a thousand threads in here and saw how you guys recommend and went to town. I'm happy with the stereo I have for now while I research and try to figure out what I want to add next BUT I had a question about using the voltmeter for gain setting. Do you tune the gain for the RMS rating of the speaker or the peak rating or somewhere in between? I set mine up at RMS and parked it's freakin ear splitting but running down the road it truly doesn't sound much louder than what I had before (head unit and a few kickers), just a more full sound. Going off of the chart with Kappa's being 2.5 ohm and the RF's being 4 ohm, I set the output voltage to 14v and the RF's to 20v to achieve what would be RMS rating of both (75w to the kappas. 100 to the punch). The sound it clear and full but not as loud as I would think. Just curious, if this is all there is, that's fine as well because it is a nice sounding stereo for now but just trying to learn something new.

 

What year bike is this system on??
Stock or aftermarket headunit??

 

 

150% of RMS is usually pretty safe, tweak by ear from there.

 

Forget the meter and tune it by ear!!!! You've left quite a bit on the table with both speakers. The Kappas will take 150 watts if tuned correctly.

 

 

Unable to access signature vis moble app as alot of us on here use

 

 

I would like to note that some of us are using the Mobile app and some of the desktop features like post number, signature picture, signature details are omitted.

Just a friendly FYI

 

As long as you are sure you are not getting distortion from your head unit.... you can roll that PN4.1000D up to around 23v without getting any clipping out of it if you are playing a 1000Hz test tone at 0dB. I tuned mine with a 1000Hz test tone at -5dB to get a little gain overlap and have mine set at just a touch over 25v and my system is LOUD AS *****!!! I have mine installed on a '09 Road King, running a set of PRV 6MR500's up front in lowers and Cadence XPRO69CX's in saddlebag lids feeding the full 140w to each speaker(they are all 4ohms). I can ride down the road without my windshield on around 60mph and have the volume at 2/3rds and hear loud and clear. Miss some low end, but that's to be expected in an open air environment.