I have a kicker 450.2 amp coming for 2 RE12's in a sealed box so the amp will be pushin the subs pretty hard. Shouldn't I keep the gains really low? How low should I set them?
The most common way to set the gains is to turn up the volumn 3/4 of full volumn and turn the gain up until the woofers start to distort. Then simply back off until you have clarity again. I had mine set professionaly so im not really sure if that method works.
yes... first establish your HU perout voltage. iots easy to find in the manual or if u dont have it look up ur same HU (head unit) online and look at the specs... find perout voltage... say its 2 volts for example... if u have a gain that has a high or low switch u probably want it on low and have it as low (high in volts, which means low in power) as it can go... for example of what i did... my HU output is 8V so i put my input sensitivity switch on high and turned it o it wud push the least power...
im not good at explaining that so for ur best option... if ur scared than leave it as low as it goes... turn the bass boost up a little it more eac day... then turn ur bass boost down and turn ur gains up just a tad... keep doing so for appx 20 hours of listening... if u ever hear distortion then turn it down... but after 20 hours ur subs should be broken in and u can experiment more safely... at this time u shud turn ur volume up to 3/4 volume... then turn the gain up until it doesnt sound perfectly clean(when u hear slight distorion) and then turn it down just a tad.... this allows for slight distortion at full volume but not excessive....
i understand how u are scared, but form what ive found is keep the gains low and the bass boost u can turn up (as long as u dont hear distortion) i believe because i did that without any distortion and my sub is sounding great.
I have an idea. What about taking my amp right now (Alpine MRP-350) and hooking it up at 4 ohms mono (200X1) so 100rms per sub and setting the gains at like 2 volts (my HU preouts) and the bass boost up just a little. That way not only could I test out the subs until my bigger amp comes, but it could break them in a little so I could go right into the other amp.