k so im new at the whole competing and whatever my first show was just a week or so ago and i was playing with the amps gain and turned it up a bit but it seemed to hurt me more than anything... i was told when it comes to gains sometimes less is more... anyways ive got eq d10s and i found this one their site i hope the link works but can someone kinda explain how that works? thanks..
http://earthquakesound.com/IMAGEJP/CAR/pdf/phd10000W06_xovergain.pdf

 

i forgot to add... from what i understand the gains can only go up so far before clipping right? well how do i know what that point is without going beyond?

 

what you are supposed to do is match the gain level on the amp to the output from your RCA's put a volt meter on the rca's from the deck and play something, then set the gain on the amp to match that... you start turning it up from there and you risk doing what i did to my amp hahahaha

 

hmm i see... well ya i didnt really like the way your amp looked or sounded... (or the way it didnt sound) so ya ill try to avoid that for sure haha... my deck says triple 5v preouts... so thats probably a 5v max i would think eh? (its a kenwood)

 

You are on the right track, however the ONLY way to know for sure if you are not cliping the amp is to use a oscilloscope, first you measure the voltage from your deck and find the point at which the wave form starts to clip, then leave your deck just below this point and raise the gain on your amp untill the same things happens and back down a little bit, just make sure your speakers can handle the power. Or just bring your car to a shop and have them set it.

 

yeah do that... or just keep turning everything up till it starts to smell funny then turn it all down a bit hahahaha

 

ahah well hopefully that technique works as good for me as it did for you.... jk man....

 

hahaha yeah well my amp was a 200 dollor one from ebay.... and it was a/b and spent most of its time to hot to touch so i knew it was only a matter of time.... hahaha