the one i bought a long time ago was on Parts Express. It was a Velleman. Works perfectly for this scenario.

$195 on partsexpress... I sure hope I upgrade down the road so this isn't a waste of money lol.

You don't "need" one, but it is nice to have.

Honestly, I wouldn't buy one if I was you.

by half way you mean straight up and down right? if so Id personaly turn it down a hair and on the ssf Id play some low tones and if its not bottoming out and dosent seem to be stressing Id leave it off if it is turn it up till it quits

Hook any amp up and measure it on a sub in a box with a 1 ohm nominal load and you aren't likely to see the full rated power at all frequencies -- as mentioned, there is impedance rise. At your measurement frequency the amp is not seeing a 1 ohm load.

How do the sub adjustments on your HU work? Is zero the lowest or the highest?

Hook any amp up and measure it on a sub in a box with a 1 ohm nominal load and you aren't likely to see the full rated power at all frequencies -- as mentioned, there is impedance rise. At your measurement frequency the amp is not seeing a 1 ohm load.

How do the sub adjustments on your HU work? Is zero the lowest or the highest?

it goes from -6 to +6... 0 is right in the middle.

Hook any amp up and measure it on a sub in a box with a 1 ohm nominal load and you aren't likely to see the full rated power at all frequencies -- as mentioned, there is impedance rise. At your measurement frequency the amp is not seeing a 1 ohm load.

How do the sub adjustments on your HU work? Is zero the lowest or the highest?

it goes from -6 to +6... 0 is right in the middle.

In order to get decent pre-out voltage from your unit try setting it to +6 -- that is probably where the unit actually puts out 2 volts. Try that and let us know!

Should I set it to +6 first, and then set the gain with a DMM on the speaker terminals (aiming for 31 volts)?

Edited March 17, 200817 yr by themerc

what head unit do you have? make and model?

what head unit do you have? make and model?

Panasonic CQ-C7103U

ok i just got done reading over your head unit.

IF you have SQ turned on your head unit, your 3 band EQ, turn it off.

Set your bass to 0 Db.

Set your subwoofer level to +6Db.

Now, you have 2v preouts so the gain on this amp is going to be set pretty high but does not need to be set to max.

Your volume control generally should max out clean-wise around Volume 30.

ok i just got done reading over your head unit.

IF you have SQ turned on your head unit, your 3 band EQ, turn it off.

Set your bass to 0 Db.

Set your subwoofer level to +6Db.

Now, you have 2v preouts so the gain on this amp is going to be set pretty high but does not need to be set to max.

Your volume control generally should max out clean-wise around Volume 30.

Okay thanks man. Should I redo the gain with the DMM (31 volts at the speaker terminals) after I make those changes?

my personal favorite is to use an Oscope to set your gains 2nd option would be to play a 50hz tone till you hear distortion and back in down a bit to where it sounds clean

a DMM wont tell u nothing of importance on this amp.

The only way to set it up without an o-scope is to do it by ear which is hard to do with a subwoofer.

But set all that up as stated above and at volume 30, play a test tone. Start turning the gain from as low as possible to as high as possible, yes ALL THE WAY UP. Do it slow so you can attempt to hear clipping. Clipping is an increase of sudden power and sounds a little different than normal. This is what u need to know what clipping is when trying to tune by ear alone.

We know that max gain is clipped, that's why i want you to slowly turn it up til u hit max so u know what it sounds like. The gain "should be set somewhere in the 70-90% range but don't rely on that percentage alone as a give up, fallback option.

Almost forgot, if u max out the gain and you still cant hear a difference, turn gain back down, turn volume up on HU, lets say no higher than 34 then start turning gain up again slowly.

IF you still can't hear clipping then pause test tone, take a breath, close your eyes for a few seconds and try again, hehe.

Edited March 17, 200817 yr by shizzzon

ya it all depends alot of times on your enclosure the one I have in my car right now you can plainly hear clipping

My gains on the 1000D are also set very high, 85-90% range

-John

Ive found that most radios dont put out their claimed voltage until damn near max volume and max sub volume. 30/40 isn't going to get you where they are making claims. On my 5v kenwood I get clean volume to 33/35. With your radio sub volume 6 and volume 35ish MIGHT yeild 2 volts...whether or not its clipped who knows. Get the oscope.

thats true, every units different.. I get close to 2 volts out on my lower end pioneer at 51 out of 60... over 3/4..