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Ok...got it all! Cannot believe just how small these 400.4's are...little monsters!
Back in my car audio days, we'd hook everything up, set the deck to roughly 3/4 volume, and bring up the gains till distortion and then turn back a touch - that was the MAX volume with vehicle running.
I read another thread somewhere about not hooking up speaker wires but setting the deck to 3/4's and bringing the gains up till you achieve 24volts on the channels???
Can the adjustment/tuning gurus chime in with some solid advise?
Play your 1khz test tone with speaker wires not connected. Volume 3 to 4 notches from thee top on a stock HU, and with a MM connected to speaker outs turn up gains until you reach your volts.
Read the sticky about setting gains for more detail. Also I use an app to calculate volts, ohms and watts. Ohm's law calculator is the one I use.
Play your 1khz test tone with speaker wires not connected. Volume 3 to 4 notches from thee top on a stock HU, and with a MM connected to speaker outs turn up gains until you reach your volts.
Read the sticky about setting gains for more detail. Also I use an app to calculate volts, ohms and watts. Ohm's law calculator is the one I use.
I'm running an AM Kenwood Marine deck with 5v pre outs.
What target for volts am I trying to hit for each speaker?
not saying the sticky on setting gains is wrong but I think it should be updated with an option on using an oscilloscope added. They are almost as cheap as a DMM now and much easier and intuitive to use IMO. Teedoff, I think you've used one of those, what do you think?
not saying the sticky on setting gains is wrong but I think it should be updated with an option on using an oscilloscope added. They are almost as cheap as a DMM now and much easier and intuitive to use IMO. Teedoff, I think you've used one of those, what do you think?
Eh, like I said before....maybe its just me and or the cheap scope I bought, but I couldn't confidently tell if my sine wave was showing clipping or not because the display was more pixelated than I hoped. So I just used the MM feature on it to set my gains. I've since bought an SMD DD1 but haven't taken the fairing back off to try it out yet.
Also I guess adding setting gains with an o-scope could be added to the sticky, but im sure when it was written, o-scopes were not in the budget for most bike audio DIYer's. Many guys here still set gains by ear. I could never do that reliably.
Fast.....as far as how many watts....are you using a DSP?
I think the GZ's can sound good at anywhere from 150 to 250 watts. The more watts though, the higher your HPF needs to be.
Not sure on the hertz. I've seen some here say they need around 300 to sound good and keep up with the front stage. I'll let others comment on that to be sure.
Last edited by teedoff65; Nov 2, 2021 at 09:06 AM.
Eh, like I said before....maybe its just me and or the cheap scope I bought, but I couldn't confidently tell if my sine wave was showing clipping or not because the display was more pixelated than I hoped. So I just used the MM feature on it to set my gains. I've since bought an SMD DD1 but haven't taken the fairing back off to try it out yet.
Also I guess adding setting gains with an o-scope could be added to the sticky, but im sure when it was written, o-scopes were not in the budget for most bike audio DIYer's. Many guys here still set gains by ear. I could never do that reliably.
Fast.....as far as how many watts....are you using a DSP?
I think the GZ's can sound good at anywhere from 150 to 250 watts. The more watts though, the higher your HPF needs to be.
Not sure on the hertz. I've seen some here say they need around 300 to sound good and keep up with the front stage. I'll let others comment on that to be sure.
I unfortunately don't have all that gear...I do however have a MM and a wife with an ear that can hear an ant crawl by her bedside.
No DSP. Kenwood Marine deck with 1 male to 2 male RCA...400.4 bridged to each set of speakers.
I found the below reply in the Road Glide forums based on the mmats looking for 24v. Anyone know what the GZ & Neo's optimal voltage would be?
"Please make sure you are setting gains on your SD amp correctly and accurately. Use a 1000Hz test tone, bike running, speakers disconnected, digital multimeter. For those MMats your target viltagw shouldnt exceed 24v when at 3/4 volume on your HU. SD amps have extremely sensitive gain adjustments. Take your time. Set the high pass crossover for 100Hz with 24V output and youll be blown away"
With the 1K standard with my gains set to min. I was at 28V AC with the -5db I was able to get to start @ zero. They have been a few others, that have had to do the same. I think it is the flash and Harley HU.
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