I've read about how distortion and clipping can kill speakers/subs.. Does that mean if i get my front components on an amp and subs on another amp.. Then can i turn the volume knob up all the way? Im sure im missing some other factors in there but can someone explain it in detail? Thanks.
NO NO NO! You can't turn the volume up all the way lol. The HU will send clipping to the amp! Match your amp voltages to your HU's. Then, for me the good ol' listening test works best! Turn your HU up until you hear audible distortion, then turn it down a couple of notches. That should be about where your RMS value of watts for your HU is. Therefore, don't push it past that unless you have a volume displacement function that turns down the volume, just so you can crank the total HU volume. It's a pretty stupid feature, but I guess it's good for SOMETHING!
ok.. i've got an Alpine HU CDA-9831 and there's an option to disable it's internal powersupply.. What if i use dat? Will the HU still send clipping signal to my amps?
That just turns off the internal amplifier so the unit will run cooler. Alternatively, all sound must be processed through the RCA outputs.
markos
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Let me see if i got that right.Turning off the internal amplifier only affects its temperature but not the sound it produces? ok im confused now..i thought disabling the internal amp stops the HU from processing the signal so that it can be passed 'clean' into the amps.. Please someone correct me if im wrong on that.
factors to consider: quality of the head unit. most head units produce audible distortion in the pre-out signal at about 3/4 full volume. A few high end units are distortionless, but most are not.. so if for example your head unit volume goes from 0 to 35, you'd want to keep the volume below about 25 to keep a clean signal.
can the speakers accept all of the power your amps can supply without reaching full excursion? If not, stop efore they bottom out.
are you using the proper crossover settings so the speakers don't produce frequemcies they can't handle?
are the amplifier gains set properly so the amps don't clip with the signals being sent to them?
stuff to factor in
markos
Unregistered guest
Posted on
So it could be possible for the knob to be all the way up..provided all XO/LP/HP, gains, speaker RMS to amp RMS values & settings are correct and the HU is producing a clean signal. What quality do i look for in a HU for it to be distortion free at high vol.? is there a spec i should be looking at?
Turn it up, all the way. It's best man. And when you smell smoke, turn it up a little more :P.
(BTW: I'm JUST KIDDING!!!)
And just get a high-end deck (Alpine, Eclipse, Clarion, etc) if you don't want distortion. But a lot of it is how you have the deck setup. Any of those decks (the "higher-up" models) are a pain to get used too, but they'll do alot.
