Please bear with me, I am just starting out in car audio and I have the following set up in my Honda CR-V.
HU: KDC-MP4032 with 4v preouts Fronts: Infinity 6012i (rms 60) Sub: 12 Kicker Comp in a sealed box (150rms) Amp: KAC-8452 (70x4 rms or 2x200 bridged)
so here are my questions with #2 being the more important one.
1: are gain and input senstivity on the amplifier the same thing? 2: is the rms rating on the amp taken when the gain is set all the way up? I don't want to blow my front speakers but I feel like I can get a little more out of them and right now my input senstivity (I dont have a gain level) is about halfway. I am reluctant to push it higher even to test the distortion but it seems like I should be pushing them a little harder. This goes for the sub as well.
the input sensitivity is the voltage range that you amp will accept. that voltage will come from the head unit. so your amp will have 4 volts comin from the head unit.
now you set the gain to the same amount of volts as the head unit. most input sensitivy ranges are from like 200 mv to like 8 volts, so you would put your gain somewhere in the middle
on your amp if it says input sensitivity next to the knob...then that is your gain
the input sensitivity is the voltage range, the gain is how you set the voltage of your amp to mathc the voltage of your head unit.
as for the second question, your input sensitivity knob shouldnt be used as a volume knob. i would turn it up a little if there is no distortion, but if you dont really know what you are doing just keep it matched to the voltage of the head unit.
thank you for the quick response. I assumed that the lone knob on my amp was the gain, that is good confirm that.
The next question puzzles me a little though. I was always advised that the way to set your gain was to turn the head unit up all the way to its cleanest output and then slowly raise the gain until you hear distortion. Is this incorrect? I have a decent ear coming from years of home audio experience so I can spot distortion fairly quickly but I am unsure whether my preout voltage and the voltage at which I set my amp must be matched to avoid damage to either component. Thanks again for your advice.
it does not have to be perfect. but yes, thats how you set your gain. if your amp goes into protection and turns off then you know your gain is set to high, so lower it.