How to tune amplifier and set amp gain by ear properly
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- This video goes into depth of how to properly set the amplifier gains on your amp to properly tune it without spending money on expensive equipment and without ruining your expensive gear. Distortion and clipping kill your speakers and subwoofers! Using just your ears, you can tune your amp properly by adjusting your gains accordingly.
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Ah the good old days in high school turning all the knobs to the right. 🍻😂
lol.....yep. just trying to get loud and nothing else matters hahaha
😂
Yep and the hpf all way left
Had 2 MTX 12” 7000 sent them in 3-4 times because the smoke kept escaping from them and after that happened they quit working some kind of special smoke or something. Then one day my MTX TH2300 must have thought it was to cold in the blazer and started a fire she got warm pretty quickly I still have that amp believe it or not but they covered that under warranty I still have it and it still works and I have one working 12” 7000 the costumer service back then was killer. Now I’m playing around with a Tezla TZ4KD and there TZ350.4 never played with this much power before have times changed from mid 90s to 2021
That’s the truth 😂
Finally someone that I consider my equal in tuning a car audio system! Like you, I've been doing my own work in car audio for well over 20 years and I developed my hearing to recognize what sounds good and what doesn't. Almost every person that hears my work says I have the best sounding vehicle they've ever heard; not the loudest, but best sounding. If people would take your advice and trust their ears, they can do amazing things with their system! My advice for anyone getting into this hobby: don't worry about what others are doing to theirs, make your sound system YOUR sound system and make it sound the way you want it to sound. With some work and patience, it can be something you're truly proud of.
Very well said! Thanks for the feedback man!
Beautiful 💯
Here is a tip:
To set mid/high gain
Play The Sun - Extended Mix by Neelix at your normal listening Level, and fast forward to around 30 sec, then turn the gain up untill you hear it distort. It has some really high "bell" sounds thats easy to detect distortion while playing. I have around 1500 songs in my library and that's one of the songs with the highest sounds so to speak. Then i know the speakers won't distort when playing any of the other songs, and every other song still sounds really loud and clear without any distortion what so ever :)
That was actually a helpful TH-cam comment. Thanks
Africa by Toto is used by a lot of sound company’s to test systems
Time-pink Floyd also easy to hear distortion with
Another good way to set amp gains by ear play a 40 hz test tone from Sheffield and raise the gains until it starts to sound 8 bit then back off to set your gains for your subwoofer amp.
Or just use a signal generator
Very well done and appreciated, man. Very simply and well put. Just the right amount of information, without the technical confusion. Thanks for taking the time for these tuning videos.
Thanks for the feedback and support. 😎
@@NextLevelCarAudio sadly this is way always done it EXACTLY like you said for 20 years. I just recently downsized the a Kicker Q Class 8 and a Kicker 1200.1 amp. Running 4 ohms at 600rms set with a multimeter for the first time. And … Blah !!!! Nothing I did works had to go back to the old Method and the sun came alive!!! Still lost on what happened and why there was no true volume?!!
That’s interesting…. Hmmm.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!! I really dont have the money to take my car to a shop to have it tuned up. I did exactly what you explained & now my bass is hitting just as hard as my highs. Thank you!!!!
Thanks for the feedback, thats awesome!
Thank you very much for the explanation! Most other videos show graphs, devices, formulas, calculations which might be fine for a professional, but not for somebody who just wants some base and has already fried one subwoofer because he didn't know what dials he was turning. You explained it very well!
Thanks, appreciate the feedback
Exactly how I have tuned my systems for decades... You just said it better than I could
Thanks. Appreciate it :)
Thats how i been doing it since the 90s
Another old school loyalist. Hell yeah
Old-ish video i know, probably the only video/tutorial that speaks in layman's terms, no BS about you HAVE to use oscilloscopes, or to use the SMD device. The biggest thing you actually cover the headunit settings, whether to leave the settings at off/0 or set prior to setting the Amps, as i'm older fella doing car audio from back in the early 90s things have changed a fair amount so dusting off the brain cells.
Majority of people putting out videos on ICE nowadays have forgotten the roots how it used to be with quick and dirty installs tuning by ear, now for me that's the kicker as i suffer from Tinnitus now so how my brain interprets the audio is hit and miss, still it's was a good refresher to watch. Views and likes well deserved
Thank you so much I'm 16 years old and I bought an amplifier for my bass and mids speakers, but I didn't know how to tune it.
Thanks to you I learnt lots of things from this video.
Thanks again. 💯
Sure thing man!
I can't believe i spent two days figuring how to do this. Thank you for explaining it in a way i could understand.
You're straight to the point, understandable knowledge, giving people who don't know confidence. Great stuff
Thanks man. Much appreciated
@iMaPound420 To each his own. The benefit of TH-cam is you get multiple perspectives and teaching styles for different types of learners and needs.
This is by far the best most coherent explanation on youtube on this subject, no calculator multi formula expensive bs
Nice. I'm a professional live production audio guy thinking about doing some car audio projects. I can confirm this guy knows his trade ! Great video !
Thanks for the feedback man
Dude… Sweet!!! Thanks for your videos. I been messing with car audio for like 20 years. I would always set and it would sound alright and my buddy would always give it a few more tweaks to get it a little better. After watching a couple of your videos my truck sounds pristine!!!!
Love the way you explain things, and reference both OEM and aftermarket setups. Great info to work with along side working things with my multimeter.
Thanks for the feedback man
Just wanted to say thank you for making these videos! I’ve been researching how to set up amps and woofers and I found your videos to be the most useful. The turn up the bass edit is also hilarious 😂
Thanks man
I have a follow up question if you can help. The sub I have is single voice coil. The mono amp I have has two sets of terminals. So can I wire another sub to its separate terminal? That way the subs can be in separate boxes with the final impedance being 2ohm?
Yes, that is totally fine. As long as it is the same sub. Not 2 different types.
Great informative video, also love how it keeps cutting to that car blowing up 🤣
Thanks man. appreciate it! lol
Hi bro pls I have MTX subwoofer self amplified 8 inch. Before setting the gain do I need to also increase my LPF all the way to maximum? I have 50hz-200hz?? Waiting for your response!
That car blowing up never got old for me, couldn’t help laughing every time 😂
🤣🤣
Thanks for your help your awesome ##
Great advice. I just had a system installed today. I ran out of time and the shop didn't have time to tune the amp. I'll go back in the morning to have them finish the job, just because I want my money's worth. This information is very useful.
Thanks man, appreciate it! rock on
True man😂😂😂 you remind me of guys that install from so and so audio specialists then come to me to fine tune it
Rule one...do not turn all knobs to the right 😂
lol.....yep
that's like saying... do not be an idiot.
Knobs all the way right!!
Its not an option.....its a way of life
Lol
What happens if u do?!?
This guy knows his stuff unlike all the rest who talk junk. I been installing aftermarket since the 80’s and this is the right information.
Thanks man.
best explanation so far out of countless youtube vids and web pages. dont know why this is not included in the basic instruction manual that came with my sub amp combo. They describe things as if you know what they are talking about.
Thanks for the feedback man. Much appreciated!
maybe because the manual is not made for a clueless audio guy it is made for someone who actually know wtf. they are doing. humanity is so freaking dumb.
I have played music for years I figured its was simple to hook a sub woofer to your car the bass varies from car player to player and song to song your video saved me alot of money I was going to buy an amp I did not need (old 900 watt pioneer amp still works great for rock ) all because of the gain settings ,, well done !!!!!
This video has helped tremendously, very straight forward and informative
Thanks man
Holy crap!! 4:53 Thanks for your content. Still helping newbies like me years after the upload.
Thank you NextlevelHummer I have a pioneer head unit with alot of bass boost settings and lound settings and my stereo system sound like crap. So I did what you said and turned all the bass boosts an loud settings off and used the amp settings Now my stereo sounds really loud crisp and clear Thank you for your help😄✌️👍
Awesome man! really appreciate the feedback! thanks for the support of my channel
Hadn't had subs and amp since I was 24 and I'm 38.lol. i appreciate it. Bought a sequoia from my brother n law and he upgraded all the speakers and everything but took the amp and sub. Just put mine in ( two 12s and 1000w amp) nothing special but sounds great. The gain is still down so definitely fine tuning everything when I wake up. Thank you!
Awesome!
I have done the same thing for 15 yrs. Tune by ear. And I'm pretty damn good at it. But I've heard you can still clip, just maybe not as drastically. I've never tested the theory. Never checked mine on a smd. But I've also never fried an amp. Or burnt a coil. So I dig ur channel man. You just got a new subscriber.
Thanks man. appreciate it! i guess it is more of an art than a science. lol. I do have a cheap O-scope and have used it to verify my gains many times... pretty darn close ;) if you live around the PNW id be more than happy to meet up with my O-scope to test your ear accuracy and swap demos :P
@@NextLevelCarAudio I live in Ohio, but that'd make for some good TH-cam content!
I pushed my set-up to the max without clipping but the reality in audio is that there'll always be 1 or 2 hiphop song's that are powerful and wanna distort but that's nothing major, I just turn my head unit 1 or 2 db lower and I'm fine, I won't ruin my amp settings in that case 😂
@@briankgopane7629 true story!
@@NextLevelCarAudio I agree that it's def more of an art than a science, tuning by ear. I bought a cheap graphical multimeter off amazon and while its def not as detailed as an o-scope, it gives me a really good idea of where I'm at. I recently installed an amp in my car, tried tuning it by ear and I was WAY off!
I appreciate this video man. I've recently just got back into having a system after a few years and I've been trying to refresh my memories on info that is needed to help out. You explained this very well.
Thank You for helping out the bass head community your teachings are very informative and have so much value to newer enthusiasts 🙏🏽
Sure thing!
I tuned my amplifier this way and then checked with a oscilloscope and it was spot on wow I was so amazed by that so this method definitely works
That’s awesome! Good stuff ;)
What do I do if I checked my amp with the o scope and it says it's clipping even when the gain is basically all they way off and barely any base? Factory head unit is still installed . Could the head unit be sending a clipping single ? And how would I remedy this ??
What kind of line output converter are you using?
SMD HIGH ASS PRICES BROUGHT ME HERE
Lol. Yep
Same
Lol
I'm telling Steve meade
@WeAreWatching Yu it was a joke
This is the best amp tuning video ever created or that will ever be created.
Thanks man. Much appreciated 💯 💪
@@NextLevelCarAudio About tuning amp and then not messing with the factory head unit after gains on the amp are set.... I tuned my amp/gains with my factory oem settings at flat for treble, mid and bass (right in the middle of -5 to +5 range, is there any harm with going lower on treble so that I can emphasize mids and bass more in the car, does that risk producing a clipped signal from oem to amp and then amp to speakers?
No you are good, only harm would be if you add db by going above starting point. Not below
hey, i just bought my first amp and sub.
this helped me understand everything better thank you so much :)
(P.S love the edits TURN UP THE BASS!)
Thanks man! Congrats
The best 🙌🏾 So simple and easy to understand. And im an audio engineer but i love plain language. 🔥🔥
Gain structure explained like a pro! Great job.
Thanks 🤩
Very simplified and understandable for a beginner like me. Thank you
Awesome!
Damn I hosed myself with the backflashes to that guying blowing his sound!! Thanks so much for this man, it has never been so carefully explained to me like that before and I really appreciate it. I have some work to do this weekend ;)
Thanks man. I appreciate the feedback!
After watching this video it has gave me more knowledge about how an amplifier works or what to do and not to do when messing with my head unit and amplifier. Thank you for this kind of video.
Installing my first system in my boat and this was the best video explaining in very simple terms how to tune amp gain. I'm subscribed! Gonna dig through your video's and see if I can find a video explaining how to set crossover HPF and LPF. Great job!
Thanks man! Much appreciated! If you did not find it, here it is:
th-cam.com/video/ChhbQfpV8wk/w-d-xo.html
Been doing this for 30 plus years you know your shit to be blunt ears are the greatest asset to a true car audio sound addict ! you know who you are!!! Thanks for your time and commitment to the cause! MJA
Thanks for the Feedback man!
Great info! I'm no audiophile but I love music and its safe to say I've had my gear in my car all wrong! I will give your tips a shot and see what happens. I have mid level stuff nothing to crazy but I know it can sound better... sad I waited this long to educate myself.
Thanks for the feedback man. it's all good! we are all learning and mastering our craft every single day.
@@NextLevelCarAudio Agreed but I wouldn't say electronics are my specialty lol Anyway I set my gains and already sound much better. The mids still seem off but it could be my stock head unit. I have replaced all the speakers and added an amp and powered sub. Thanks for the info you have a new follower!
Awesome man. Appreciate it :)
Thanks for explaining EVERYTHING. I have an old car with a mix of factory front and aftermarket rear. Very helpful :)
Thank you for making this simple.
You're very welcome!
This makes perfect sense and you mention and help me
Out a lot now it’s all clear
I did everything you said besides one thing. Let's just say the cops paid a visit to my laneway. Lol... and I also made a new friend. My neighbor 😁. I deserve it for not being considerate while tuning my amplifier.
Nice lol 😆
The Amp Whisperer - Guru of Gains! Love it. 😄
I always turn the volume up and the levels down. Then work my way down highs, mids, then lows. Always seems to work for me.
Thank you so much for your video because one day I got greedy and oh boy did I pay the price I did exactly what you said not to do now I know not to do it ever again thanks again your video really help me out
Hell yeah lol
This video helped me so much! Thank you!
Thanks man! Appreciate it
Thank you for the video.
How to starts at 9:00
I was always wondering about turning everything off on head unit before setting the gains, it didn't make sense to me cause once everything is set and I turn the settings back on the signal was gonna be different
yup you were absolutely correct
Bro one of the best videos ever seen. Was so confused about my setup how to setup my gains and this solved it. Thank-you so much
Thanks man! Greatly appreciate the feeedback!
Very appreciated your awesome thank you!! Turn up the bass 😂😂😭
Thank you for the support! my pleasure!
thanks!..........explained very well.......kept it simple!
Love the information you give all of us to maximize our audio experience! I recently got an 8" Solo Baric L7T preloaded in a truck box that was tuned for 45hz from Kicker. I am at 37 hrs of break in period and just about ready to set my gain. Should I set the gain using 45 Hz test tone since that is what the box is tuned for to maximize the subwoofer? Thank you for your time!!
Thanks for the feedback. You can use 45hz. For sure :)
Perfectly timed “turn up the bass” 😂 I laughed harder as the video went on
Lol
Yea my dad ended up buring my sub coil last night so im watching this video lol
Lol. Nice 😆
Yea man. I hear ya!! always set my gains by ear. and never had an issue either. Had a old timer teach me the art back in mind 90s. Ppl dont believe me till I show them then humm is what i get
Yep, lol.... that’s awesome man
Bruh that meme clip has me weak
This is great. I followed this from your lpf/subsonic video . That's the type of video to make great notes now time to piss the neighbors off lol
Hmm I got all my knobs turned to the right on my amp sounds good no issues
Dang bro... that's gangsta. Send it! lol
This was exactly what I needed. So many questions I had were answered. Rocking new double din head unit and 2 jbl door speakers 2 Harmon and kardon door speakers and a 2000 watt skar amp with a punisher 10d2
Awesome man thanks!
If I have someone install everything for me, are they leaving it up to me to figure out how much gain I need in comparison to my stock car audio and sub?
If you have a profesional (credible) shop install your amps they will dial them in for you so no need to worry. If you have brother bob do it with no training/experience id be worried lol
awesome video. you broke it down nicely. im going top the walmart parking lot. this made the biggest difference. Thank you.
LL Cool J , ROCK THE BELLS!!!!
Love the video man. First time watcher-I have a Kicker Solobaric L7S 12” in a ported 33hz OEM (Kicker) enclosure. Then I have a cheapie amp Power Acoustic 2500w class D 650rms amp (Walmart) and a 1.0 Farad Cap.
I had systems back then but was the turn right guy lol never broke anything luckily but glad I came across your video to tune properly. Thank you 🙏
lmaooo shit all i did was up my bass a tiny bit & i don't over 28 outta 42, maybe ill get it tuned
If you are only using 28 out of 42, your gains are set way too high and your amp is overworking to compensate. You should at least be able to go to 35 on most decent aftermarket receivers and some even have distortion free signal at full volume.
Took me forever to have someone explain it without getting all of these damn meters and stuff I don’t know how to use hahahaha. Thanks a lot man, can’t wait to watch for of your vids for whatever I need 💪🏼
Here’s the first step..AD! Lol
Lol
So I tried this method of yours today and it worked! Thankyou for posting this video. I really appreciate it!
Awesome!!!
Awesome simple explanation of how to adjust my amp. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Thanks!
You know after watching this video I have a better understanding of how to tune my amps and I now know what happened to my Skar 12s I have 14-8in mids and 8-3in tweeters and I clipped my 12s and killed them I still have them thinking about reconning them also a friend said that he was tuning it few days ago and he told me turn bass knob halfway smh I can't wait to go somewhere and try it myself thanks for the video and u got my sub for sure
Total noob here. But you are the only one so far that I understand. Great job
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback
Just replaced my stock speakers to complete my build with 2 rockford fosgate p10's and a rockford r2 amp spent like 1.5 hours at Walmart yesterday tuning it, that amp clip light is super helpful, I listen to metal so I have the gain pretty high around 9.5 with my volume range around 15 to 22 depending on the song, and if I wana bump louder I just turn the knob down.
Awesome. lol, yeah i tune my amps at our local home depot. I know they be like, wtf... there's that bass again. haha
04:51 😂
thank you very much for the video and the effort to explain things about GAIN knob !
you bet :)
Always good to learn a bit, been doin so much wrong for so long but now I'm getting educated by people who really know their business. Many thanks bro.
That’s for the feedback man 😎
Kickass... This helped me out alot & put some more wrinkles in my brain. I thank you sir.
Very Informative and knowledgable.
Knowledge is power! 🤘🏼
Thanks!
I'm putting 4 12 inch subs in an econoline. 2 single box sony xplodes in the center and 2 duals in a double box in the back.... gonna be wild.. I appreciate your help man I have little knowledge of these knobs. I do it by ear just how your saying. Turn it to a casual level, adjust the knobs. Turn it louder and adjust. Louder and adjust. Then when I lower the volume it sounds wonderful..
Those clips of the exploding car are hilarious..
Awesome man! Get loud! The thanks for the support
That “turn up the bass” clip don’t get old😂😂
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. This will be my first amp & sub installation and I know for a fact this video just saved me a couple hundreds.
Thanks bro, if you need any help Leave a comment and let me know 😎
I am using a line out converter because I have a stock radio (honda hacked* head unit) and when I got the car back in 2016 I had Best Buy upgrade the speakers so I was going to tap in to my rear deck but I’m not sure which one is positive or negative Best Buy use black solid and white solid I’m guessing black is ground. I will be using a posi tap.
Black should be ground, but I would not trust it if you don’t know for sure. Can you see the speaker that the white and black wire are connected to? If you can, there is an easy way to test polarity
@@NextLevelCarAudio yes, since it’s the rear deck they are exposed and if I lay in the trunk I can definitely see the tabs and the whole connection.
Perfect! Disconnect the wires from where they connect to the actual speaker noting which color wire is on which terminal. Then take a 9v battery and and briefly touch the positive to one side and the negative to the other. If the speaker pushes out you have polarity correct + to + and - to - If the speaker sucks in, the polarity is reversed. There are plenty of videos on TH-cam to show this. Here is one...
th-cam.com/video/w49Cxgz0LH4/w-d-xo.html
Thanks bro you seem like a really nice guy and you actually care about helping people we appreciate it
Thanks. Much appreciated :)
great video. The acoustics of each car and each box will also influence the overall quality with the exact "determination of ruining" as the potential clipping electronic wave
6:20 he is 100% right about that one. I not only clipped and blew my sub by doing that, somehow it caught fire behind my seat in my pick up truck and burned my truck down to the ground. I'm an amatuer with very minimal knowledge so I initially set up my gain level perfect then I wanted more base so I started turning up the base on the head unit the bass boost level the subwoofer gain level on head unit to max and clipped and set fire. My system played nice and safely wen I tuned it right and left everything as is. Lasted 5 days to the point wen I messed things up. Mind u I paid 400 for my head unit and my sub and amp was bought that 5 days prior. I also had all 4 new door speakers I bought a few weeks prior also.
I not only lost only lost my new system but got no pay out for my car bcuz I only had liability
Dang man... that sucks! It happens tho. Hope you were able to Get back into the game since then 💯 💪 😎
Probably the best video I’ve seen of tuning an amp by ear, good shit cheers👍
Thanks man. I appreciate that
NextLevelHummer hey when I tune my sub gain I do it with a 40 hertz test tone I find it easier to pick up clipping cause it sounds all the same, what’s your opinion on this?
Honestly, that's great. whatever will allow you to detect distortion the best. for "novice" tuners.... i think they can hear distortion better by listening to a bass heavy song they are familiar with to detect distortion. because a test tone pumping out solid note can still sound pretty "good" with a slightly distorted signal as it is just burping a tone vice being musical.
Thanks for this video, Always had bass but barely learning all the technicals and what not to do it up correct, thanks for your time and knowledge bass 😉
You bet. Thanks
When I was younger I may or may not have blown a couple subs because I loved cranking up that gain knob
😆
I like the Rockford fosgate punch amplifiers! Clean technology! Easy set up 🤘🏾💯nice hummer
CARLITO’S WAY thanks!
NextLevelHummer fo sho bru🤘🏾💯
Thanks man learned alot from this and my system sounds perfect now
Thanks for the feedback!
Nice video man. I appreciate the easy explanation without the b.s.
Matt N thanks man. Appreciate it
Very well explained video!!! As well as the previous one I watched about all the knobs on the amp. Props!! No wonder you’re one of the best
Thanks man. I really appreciate that ;)
@@NextLevelCarAudio could you also use a test tone for setting the gain by ear?
You can... for me it’s harder to detect distortion with a tone than music. But some can no problem ;)
Finally a video that makes sense.
This video is dope man thank you for the help with my new setup
Thanks
Buddy loves that trunk video lol, appreciate the info
I'm going to unhook the sub and start over. I wasbso depressed about my music. I had to take the subwoofer out to get my car worked on. So I played with the settings and when I put the sub in last night it was pure garbage. So thanks for your help. I'll try again music gives makes me happy 😊
Awesome man. Glad it helped
You can also build a very cheap and easy clip detector for your low ends with a high rang speaker and a capacitor inline. With the proper sized capacitor the small speaker won’t get your low end signals but as soon as you start to clip it allows high frequencies to go thru and you can hear them in the speaker.
Thanks for the upload. The video is easy to follow and understand.
This worked great!!! You are a very good teacher as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks man!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome!
Thanks for your help on how to mess with the gain on amp
Righteous. Great content, and it is greatly appreciated. I have 4 sound systems I have put together. My 2500 HD, my 300 S, my lady's lexus and of course my rig. I'm a truck driver so you can imagine the amount of hours/miles I have for thumping it. I'm not a newb to the car audio world, but I am no expert. Having said that, with the handful of vids I've seen on this channel so far ... ALL of my vehicles sound systems sound much closer to righteous. 🤙
Thanks man. Much appreciated! 💯 😎
Thank you for the knowledge it definitely taughtme something but this easily could have been a 5 minute video.
Yeah, it could have…..