I was wondering about the gain control. I kno u are supposed to try and match the gain w/ the input voltage from ur head unit so my question is what does this do to help. does the car voltage and HU voltage add on to each other for more voltage or what. Most amps RMS are rated up around 12-14 volts and HU's dont put out that much so what does the preamp voltage on an HU do for the amp?
Hey Rds11, I think you're getting mixed up with the amp's battery power voltage with gain setting. The amps gain setting is to match it's sensitivity to HU's output voltage (rca not power). By setting it correctly, the amp will produce stated power without overloading or clipping, well in theory. Basically it's like saying 4v on the input side will produce x watts on the output side. But if the HU can only send 2v, then the gain control will allow 2v input to product x watts also. Your goal is to match amp's invput voltage with HU's output voltage.