reguarding speakers/amp gain
 

hey guys,
i installed my sound system about a month ago and its been working great, and now thats its a bit later ive been testing the boundarys of my equipment

So what i found was when i was cranking up the volume knob on my deck was that at a certain point i would get distortion/ pops from my front and rear speakers. So im like ok, the speakers arnt getting enough power for what the head unit is requesting from the amp. At this point my speaker amp gain is at half. So, i crank it up to 3/4 max. Go back and test somemore and i find that i get the distortion and popping earlier then before when turning up the volume. Well to me this didnt make much sense. I turn the gain up to max and try again and again, i cant turn the volume up as high on my hu as before.

Well from what i read, it kinda seems opposite when getting clipping. Although im not 100% that its clipping, but then if it wasnt, i dont know what it would be. My speakers/amp are closely rated. Here is the gear

head: alpine 9887
fr: kicker ks5.2 5.25" components rms wattage: 65w at 4ohm
rr: kicker 68 6x8 coaxil rms wattage: 60w at 4ohm
sub: kicker L5 8" sealed box rms wattage: 300w at 2ohm
speaker amp: alpine f-450 rms wattage 70wx4 at 4 ohm
sub amp: alpine m-450 rms wattage 400w at 2 ohm
1 farad cap hooked to both speaker and sub amp

think its the speakers or could it be my battery/alternator isnt supplying enough current/power? (65amp alternator as far as i know)

Thanks
dunx

From what i gather, you were going the wrong way with the gains, they should have been being turned down not up....you should be able to get to around 3/4 volume on the deck without distortion on one of your louder cd's, what the gains were doing in your tests is how they are supposed to work.