kennwood ddnx6019

[e36]

Had the replace my battery and all of my setting were erased what would be the best settings for these categories?

BMS Amp Bass - flat, +6db, +12db or +18db

BMS Amp Freq - Normal or Low

HPF Front ?

HPF Rear ?

LPF Sub?

Mostly listen to rap and r&b and some jazz the mids & highs are factory Bose and the sub is a jl audio 12w6v2

[slimm]

the best way is to get in, turn it on and tweek it. you know how you want your system to sound so it would be best for you to play around with it till you get it the way you want it.

[James777]

start w/ your high pass and low pass at 80 Hz. leave bass at or close to zero and adjust bass w/ your sub level control

James Stanton

[§treet_§peed]

just like the others said. you need to turn it on and tweek it. it took me about 3 months to get my old show car stereo where i wanted it. even after that i would fine myself making adjustments almost everyday.

[jakerd4892]

if you going for your subs to hit as hard as possible, thrown on a song with a lot of bass, buy a pack of fuses, and tweek it until you pop the fuse, replace it, then tweek it again until you get it where you know it wont blow at any time

[BanginJimmy]

start w/ your high pass and low pass at 80 Hz. leave bass at or close to zero and adjust bass w/ your sub level control

James Stanton

good post

[BanginJimmy]

if you going for your subs to hit as hard as possible, thrown on a song with a lot of bass, buy a pack of fuses, and tweek it until you pop the fuse, replace it, then tweek it again until you get it where you know it wont blow at any time

This has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Please dont post here unless you have a fucking clue what you are talking about.

[big99miketma]

filters are about right

Only an idiot would adjust subs using a remote gain control. Actually, only an idiot would even both hooking one up.

Set your gains correctly, then dont screw with them unless you change head units, or add some type of signal processing equipment between your head unit and amps.

I am pretty sure he meant the sub control level on the radio, and anyway it does not make someone an "idiot" for installing a remote gain control, a person that abuses it and does not know what they are doing with it would be the "idiot", and even then I would not call them an idiot they just need to be educated better on the differences of volume and clipping or distortion.

[BanginJimmy]

I am pretty sure he meant the sub control level on the radio,

You are correct and I misread the post. I edited my previous post.

and anyway it does not make someone an "idiot" for installing a remote gain control, a person that abuses it and does not know what they are doing with it would be the "idiot", and even then I would not call them an idiot they just need to be educated better on the differences of volume and clipping or distortion.

Yes it does. There is absolutely NO reason for using a remote gain control. You set your gains the right way, then you leave them alone. There is no reason to mess with them once they are set.

[green91]

You are correct and I misread the post. I edited my previous post.




Yes it does. There is absolutely NO reason for using a remote gain control. You set your gains the right way, then you leave them alone. There is no reason to mess with them once they are set.

Well im actually going to disagree with you on this, using different inputs on the ddx6019 like going from the CD to Sirius changes the volume levels quite a bit and also different styles of music have different low end response, i use my remote bass control to keep the low freq response where id like it without having to fuss with the EQ on the unit while driving. I dont always want rock music to boom but when you throw in a rap disc you may want more bass. Just a matter of opinion.

[BanginJimmy]

Well im actually going to disagree with you on this, using different inputs on the ddx6019 like going from the CD to Sirius changes the volume levels quite a bit and also different styles of music have different low end response, i use my remote bass control to keep the low freq response where id like it without having to fuss with the EQ on the unit while driving. I dont always want rock music to boom but when you throw in a rap disc you may want more bass. Just a matter of opinion.

I know where you are going with this, but this is what the sub control is for, not the gains. If you had easy access to your amps, would you adjust your gains when you changed types of music?

Changing your input may change your volume levels, but it doesnt change your input voltage. To fix this, you use your volume knob, or your EQ. I'm not familiar with that unit, but I wouldnt be suprised if you could save a few custom EQ settings. If that is the case, then you simply need to make use of that option.

[green91]

Well ill be honest my remote control isnt actually for the remote gain but actually a bass (eq) boost on the amp so its not a fair argument and i do see your point about a remote gain.

[big99miketma]

I know where you are going with this, but this is what the sub control is for, not the gains. If you had easy access to your amps, would you adjust your gains when you changed types of music?

Changing your input may change your volume levels, but it doesnt change your input voltage. To fix this, you use your volume knob, or your EQ. I'm not familiar with that unit, but I wouldnt be suprised if you could save a few custom EQ settings. If that is the case, then you simply need to make use of that option.

Really? So then do you think you will always get the same voltage output from a radio all the time? since you think that your input voltage doesnt change.

I would prefer a sub control through a radio over a remote gain control but not everyone has a radio with that capability, and again the only "idiot" is not the person installing it but the person that does not know how to control it. The gain adjustment is there to match your amplifier with the input voltage, so when you change a setting on an EQ or your sub control through your radio or for that matter even the volume what do you think you are doing to your input signal?? If you know of a radio that does not fluctuate voltage levels or a component speaker system that can only work off of an amp and not a radio then please enlighten me to your rare find.

[e36]

thanks for the input

[Jaimecbr900]

Playing with the gains on the amp only serves to introduce or deduct noise. It's a false sense of security.

Gains should be set and left where they are, and that is why you tune it using the highest sound level you would like to use. In other words, if you crank your HU to 100% (noone does and its usually tuned at 3/4 volume), then you turn the gains all the way down...turn up the HU to 100%....then turn up the gains until the sound level is there W/O all the nasty noise/trash.....turn down HU....leave it alone and listen to it. That's it. It's not meant to be played with back and forth. It does need to be reset if your source changes, i.e. new HU, but not to be played with from song to song. That is what the HU settings are for. Turning up the gains doesn't turn up JUST the "bass". It turns up the entire frequency range of the amp, including distortion. Distortion/clipping is what tears speakers and amps apart. Gains are NOT a volume control. They are designed to match the output of the HU to the amp.

Don't take my word for it.....here you go:

Gain Controls… Level Matching Devices, Not Volume Controls

February 26, 2008




I’m sure every contributor to BestCarAudio.com would agree that one of the most common misconceptions in the car audio industry is the purpose of the gain control on an amplifier. We all see it on a weekly, if not daily basis… The custom comes in with a blown sub and complains that “my amp is only 200 watts and the sub can handle 500 watts! What’s up with that?”

Truth is, in the 15 years that I have been doing this, I would say that 90% of the blown subs that I have encountered are due to improperly set gain controls, not big bad amplifiers! The purpose of this post is to explain what a gain control is.

To put it in it’s simplest form, a gain control is a level matching device. It matches the output of your headunit’s line outs (RCAs) to the input of the amplifier. When set correctly, it allows your head unit and amplifier to work together in an efficient and powerful manner. When set incorrectly, bad things happen! (yes, i know that many times, amps are hooked up to factory radios without rcas, and much of this post applies to that scenario also)

There are a lot of good and bad head units on the market today. One of the characteristics of a well built head unit is a higher output voltage on the RCAs. Some head units today exceed 8 volts of output. This is a far cry from the cheaper, 2nd and 3rd tier units that deliver 1-2 volts.

The purpose of the amplifier is to… well amplify. It takes a low level input (from the RCA leads) and increases it proportionally and sends it along the speaker wires to create your music. Now if some head units are outputting 1 volt and other are outputting 5 volts, there needs to be an adjustment. That is where the gain control comes in.

Lets say the intended output is 20 volts AC on the speaker leads (an arbitrary number for the sake of easy explanation). In the case of the 1 volt (AC) head unit, we need to increase the signal by a factor of 20. In the case of the 5 volt head unit, it only needs to be increased by a factor of 4.

The end result is that the amplifier does not have to work as “hard” to produce a similar output. Distortion is minimized since you are not amplifying tiny imperfections or induced noises on the input by a factor of 20, only by a factor of 4. The amp runs cooler, again improving performance and sound quality. Not to mention the longevity of the amplifier. When listening to music at lower levels, you will not hear that annoying “hiss” created by improperly set gain controls.

Now all of that can be a great argument for a high voltage preout (another future post), but what about the gain control? The gain control is there to allow you to properly setup an amp with any variety of headunits. When set correctly, all is good. What happens when it is set to high?

In simple terms, when the gain is artificially set to high, you are asking the amplifier to produce an output that it is not capable of. When this happens, you end up with DC current on the speaker outputs. This is also know as clipping. CLIPPING KILLS SPEAKERS!!!

Going back to an earlier part of this post, lets imagine that “Tony” has a 200 watt amp and a sub that will handle 500 watts RMS. A lot of customers would think that there is no way that the 200 watt amplifier will blow out the 500 watt sub. Guess what? It happens every day! Here is why:

Tony’s expert friend tells him to turn up the gain all the way. “The sub handles 500 watts, the amp is 200, CRANK IT UP! That gain is just another volume control!” So tony does this and the amp gets over driven, produces clipping (DC current on the speaker lead) and the next thing he knows, the car is filled with the smoke and odor of a burned voice coil. I am sure that ever one of the contributors to www.bestcaraudio.com will agree that this is very, very common.

It is far better to have an amp that puts out equal or more power than what the sub can handle. You set your gains properly, and the sub will live happily ever after.

So how do I set the gain control? There is not “one-size-fits-all” setting. It needs to be set up by a person who knows what they are doing. Your local Mobile Electronics Specialist is a good start. At our store, we do not charge to set gain controls when th equipment is purchased from us. We charge a small fee to cover our time when setting up stuff purchased elsewhere, but this is money well spent. When set properly by a professional, your equipment will last and give you years of enjoyment.

Posted by Mitchell Schaffer Owner of Mobile Edge in Lehighton, PA Mobile Edge is a leading provide of quality aftermarket accessories and installations in Eastern Pennsylvania www.MobileEdgeOnline.com [email protected]

[yerrow]

finally someone else that gets it...