My audio consists of:

Sony CDX-GT660UP HU 2V
SS 4.520 Amp
7.1's in the fairing 4ohm
6.5's Titan II's in my lowers 4ohm

Im setting my gains and tuning the speakers with my digital muti-meter I was informed that my proper Voltage with my set-up from the amp/speaker outputs should be 25.0 Volts and this is running UN's test tone CD and my HU volume at 37 with that being said I notice my gains front/rear are at about 3/4 the dial now between 2/3 O'clock position...............Is this way to much? I dont want to fry anything IE: speakers..............I will say though that I cant go much past 20 on the volume now and it sounds Incredible!!!

 

crank your gains down a bit. I haven't run into a setup that required gains to be above 1 -oclock position.

 

I think I may even set them back to the 10/11 O'clock position and leave them alone. I obviously wont be anywhere near the clipping/25 Volts as recommended but I know it sounded good at those gain settings and I could turn my volume up to say about 30 or so. Also with the gains backed down and the volume up on the HU it seems like I get more of a low end sound Versus with the gains at the 3/4 setting and my volume at 20 on the HU It sounds more high pitched less low end.......................

 

I tried to set my gains with a volt meter but I could only get 11v Im going to borrow one from work tomorrow & try again

 

What amp do you have?

 

SS PN2.350D

yeah you should be getting a lot more than 11v out of that.

1.) make sure you're on AC voltage
2.) if you're running a stock head unit, 13 bars is where your volume should be when setting gains
3.) make sure all bass and treble are flat
4.) make sure gains are at their lowest setting (all the way counterclockwise)

 

Why do we have to set volume at 2/3-3/4 when setting gains ? Is that's where they start distorting?

 

usually the distortion kicks in a tad bit higher than that so to be safe (without the use of an oscilloscope to actually see the clipping) it's best to back it down a bit.

On the aftermarket head units a decent amp (gains all the way down), and good speakers, it's not uncommon at all to be able to crank up the volume to 100% and not hear distortion but rest assured the clipping is there.

 

UN ? for ya when I was tuning in the speakers/amp gains with my DMM and test tone disc should I have the bike running or not?

 

some say yes some say no. I don't do it because the voltage increase is NOT going to create a noticeable difference in sound level. If you're talking about 18" subs with 1200w amp and you're trying to squeeze every little bit of volume you can possibly get out of an amp, then yes..