Ok, i have alpine stuff. swr-1041d sub, mrd-m301 amp, cda-9815 head unit, speakers are alpine too, but they dont matter for this question. I am confused as to how to set my amp (which is wired at a 2 ohm load to the sub) for optimal output, my main goal being SQ.
First of all, I am confused by the input part of the setup. There are two categorys for input on the amp - level and gain. Level is in dB it goes 0, -6, -12, -18. I think this is just related to voume so i have it set at zero, but im not sure so i dont know if thats right. I have read so much about gain, I know that it is not a volume control, but on my amp the steps are in dB 0, +6, +9, so again i have no idea where to set it, i was expecting it to b in volts (like i thought i would set it to 4 volts since that is the preamp output voltage from the head unit).
One more thing confounding me is that the head unit has a subwoofer level control ranging from 0-15. I assume that this is simply a volume control, but where do i set it for normal listening and how does it relate to the level and gain that the amp is set for.
I hope that since it is all alpine stuff there should be some optimal settings that you could just tell me to set them at. I really have read other posts and documents, but i just cant understand how to set my gain, level, etc. correctly.
set amp level and gain to zero (flat) set head unit sub level to zero initially. listen to the system. turn up sub level at the head unit as needed to your listening preference. this is used to compensate for the subs being too loud or too quiet compared to the rest of the system since every system and car is different.