How to tune my amp? Or set crossover on headunit?

I have no clue what in doing. I just set my headunit (kenwood) to the "rock" or "powerful" setting and it sounds ok and set all speaker crossovers setting to "through" rather than bypass and it sounds ok. The sub I can set the slope and cutoff and normal or reverse and so on. Dont know what any of it means lol.
I have no clue if I should be doing something else at the headunit or maybe down in my JL amp on the frequency filters?
I have all door speakers in the front channels and the sub bridged on the rear. Dash speakers are run off head unit speaker outs. I think this system sounds freaking amazing as is, but I'm sure some tubing could go a long way. Heres the back of my amp for reference. Shitty pic, sorry. Any advice on what to set the door speakers frequency at? Sub frequency?
How about freq slope? High or low power input? I do have the fronts set at hi pass and sub (rear) set at low pass.
Thanks

 

There's a ton of audio files dudes that i'm sure that could help. However, for your ears tune it for your music that sounds good to you.
I have the same type of settings on an old amp. I ran it like this a very simplified way to explain it)

This is just to get you started. Play with it. Seek more advice

Rear= Low pass selector , then tune the filter frequency dial down to 95 to start. Anything in a higher frequency (think mids/tweeters) will be cut out. Only lower base signal is left. If it sounds to full with resonation and muddy play with it and go down lower on the number scale. a little bit goes a long way.
Front= You can leave it full range if you want (off selector switch) it works if your speakers already have a passive crossover setup. Otherwise try the high (HP) pass and start at the same spot and work your way up the numbers on the rotary dial. If you turn up the volume and its distorting from bass go a little higher.

The INPUT SENSITIVITY is essentially your GAIN. Your trying to match the signal from the head unit. Basically the old school way to set it was to turn the head unit volume about 3/4 to full and start turning the gain clockwise until slight distortion/clipping. Not sure if that method still applies, but it's a good place to start without over amplifying the signal.

The Freq range and filter slope is a little beyond me as it's used to tune a system for the specific vehicle and speaker performance. I believe the 24db would be for smaller speakers with limited power handling capabilities. Did you change out the stock speakers? I could be wrong. But play with the settings and see how it sounds once you have the basics setup.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks so much this is a great start

 

Does anyone known if the Hertz k170 component speakers from @james@tech12volts have passive crossovers built in? Is I understand it , if they do then I can leave my amp at full pass and tune from there rather than have it set to high pass?

Yes I put in hertz k170 components in the doors the amp is running them. The headunit runs the dash speakers.

 

James description of the sub and box says "tuned to 35 htz" should I aim to have the rear channels at 35 htz on the freq filter?

 

Not necessarily. Tuned to 35hz is in relation to the subwoofer and airspace producing resonance. Tuning the amp to 35 will only allow low frequencies at 35 and under pass through. I doubt your subs will produce anything much lower than that. I beleive mine is set at about 75/80
But now that you brought up Tech12volts, give him a call. I haven't used him but from what i hear he is extremely helpful and responsive. Also his knowledge will be light years beyond mine and I'm sure he could probably dial you in, in a matter fof minutes.

 

Don’t know if this helps at all, but here’s where my stuff is set. As you know, I am completely ignorant to audio. I just did a lot of reading and messed with it until I was happy.

 

Damn Jason you've been holding out on me lol. Didn't know you had a kenwood in there. Thank you!

 

Good Point. I'm not sure how all this ties in to your systems. But, if you are using the aftermarke Kenwood HU..... pre-outs to an amp with a built in crossover, make sure you have the head unit flat or crossover is flat. Otherwise it's going to be a PITA using the amp crossver. Then you can adjust the H/U to fine tune it.

 

No idea if it answers any of your questions though. I have the crossover on the sub set at zero, and did it through the head unit.

Everything I did could be completely wrong for all I know. I think on the equalizer I chose a preset that was closest to what I wanted, and adjusted from there.

 

MMore than right and wrong it's trial and error. If you're happy with the sound, then it's perfect! I've had some installers/competition guys tune my old system back when I was young and blew rent money on speakers
I never like the way they set it up and would adjust it.

 

Sean, did you check out your amp's manual to see if it talks about the input sensitivity tuning? I think I mentioned that on your other thread, and it involves hooking up a multimeter to your speaker outputs and adjusting the input sensitivity knob until you hit a listed voltage for your speakers' ohms. I also mentioned that I don't think I did my sub amp right, as I have a ton of noise that I only noticed when sitting in my passenger seat, so I'm probably going to go back to the drawing board on mine...

 

I made a few adjustments and like it better. I will dig out my multimeter and find a pdf manual for the amp.

Heres a question @TRDFerguson @NoRcptn , since I am running a 4 channel amp, the door speakers are ok the front outputs and sub is bridged on the rear.
However when I connected the RCA wires to the back of the amp I connected one set to the "front" RCA outs and the other to the "subwoofer" output. Should I change that from "subwoofer" to "rear" RCA out? I'm thinking because I hooked it to the subwoofer output it is limiting my ability to tune the "rear" aka subwoofer in my case.

 

If I'm understanding this....you have it wired like this....
Deck > Front RCA outs to > Amp "front " input.
Do you have it ran to the front doors speakers only , Left and right? Or is it bridged like this .....Left= left Rear door and left front door speakers, Right=Right rear and right front door speakers?

Deck> Subwoofer RCA out to >AMP "Rear" input. Is this correct? Is it bridged into dual subs? or a single sub? What ohms is the sub(s)?

 

also.....http://mediacdn.jlaudio.com/media/mfg/9013/media_document/dev_1/300_4_MAN.pdf
found this manual that may help explain a little bit more.

 

Deck speaker wire outputs are wired to the dash speakers directly.

Deck RCA front outputs connected to amp front input which has all 4 doors speakers (hertz components) wired to left and right appropriately to front speaker outputs. Set at high pass.

Deck sub RCA output to amp rear input which has a single JBL 10" sub (it has a switch to run it at 2 or 4 ohm, I set it to 4 ohm) which is bridged to rear outputs. Set at low pass.

Deck rear RCA outputs are not connected to anything.

 

I don't think you will see any difference. The kenwood RCA's are all low level outputs anyway. What you will notice is the boost if you turn your subwoofer level (last picture in your thread- SW) on your deck , this is a kind of boost, or gain if you will, which provides a little digital enhancement. It's an easy way to turn the bass up or down depending on the music or podcast your listening to without having to adjust the amp or crossover level.

I imagine if you do this you'll need to change the frequency . But if you have the deck and amp at both set to 80, you should be good.

 

Wow this was tremendously helpful. Thanks so much

 

Awesome info man. You're been so helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time. I should be able to dial it in much better now.

 

The manual was very helpful (go figure lol) and I think I have it pretty well figured out and tuned in to where I like it.....but one this I don't understand is what does this mean? "Result:in this mode,the user has the ability to control the absolute level of the LF channels relative to the HF channels."
I have it connected as option "C" but I do not understand how I have any, or can control the subwoofer independently from the other speakers. When I change the input switch from 2ch to 4ch the sub all but disappears from the audio, and I can't adjust it up at the headunit. Switch back to 2ch and it comes alive but still no adjustability at all.
I'm considering switching the RCA out connection on the headunit from "sub" to "rear" and run it like option "B" and see how I like the ability to fade front to rear.
Any idea on how I can control the sub from option C or what it even means by that?
I would like to be able to adjust the gain of the sub from up front, I know swapping to a 5 channel amp would fix all my issues but I'd like to make this amp work if I can. It's a really good amp and I already own it. If I have to go to option B and use the front/rear fade as a way to increase and decrease the bass from the sub I will do that.

From the manual:
B) Fade Subwoofer Level vs.HFLevel Required:a source unit or processor with front and rear pairs of outputs.
Input Connections:the first stereo pair of source unit outputs is connected to the front inputs of the 300/4.The second stereo pair of source unit outputs is connected to the rear inputs (select “4ch” on the “Input Mode” switch in the “Front Input Section”).
Result:in this mode,the user has the ability to fade or control the level of the LF channels relative to the HF channels via the source unit’s fader control without exceeding the maximum clean output level set by each amplifier section’s “Input Sens.” controls.
C) SubwooferLevel Control Only
Required:a source unit or processor with left, right and subwoofer outputs.
Input Connections:the main stereo pair of source unit outputs is connected to the front inputs of the 300/4.The source unit’s dedicated subwoofer output is connected to the rear inputs (select “4ch” on the “Input Mode” switch in the “Front Input Section”).
Result:in this mode,the user has the ability to control the absolute level of the LF channels relative to the HF channels.
IMPORTANT !
Set the rear channel “Input Sens.” with the source unit’s subwoofer level control set at 3/4 of full output.

 

Sounds like you're good on option C - you should be able to just use the head unit sub level controls and not have to worry about the fader settings... not really sure how the amp would know the difference, unless it changes up the RCA input sensitivity accordingly...?

 

I think the amp is able to process the sensitivity internally depending on where the signal is coming from, not sure though. Anyway my headunit has a SW level in the EQ and it goes from I think -50 up to +10 (I'll go take pics). When I follow the option C settings exactly, I can not tell a difference in the bass from the sub whether I set the SW level on the EQ at -30 or +10. Its like it's not doing a thing. I will take a look at the head unit manual and see what it says. And for option C I have to set the input mode to "4ch" input, which all but seems to cut the subwoofer out for some reason. When I set it back to "2ch" the sub comes alive, that's where I'm thinking I can go with option B and get the bass I want , when i want, but fade it forward to tone it down.

I'll try a few things and see what happens. I really can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me.

 

Did you do the input sensitivity tuning with the amp set to option C? I'll have to check what my voltage looks like on mine and let you know where to get to for the sub level.

 

I just redid the tuning on mine and still have the noise, so I might just have a bad ground or dirty power... Or the amp is garbage, lol.

Here's what my setup looked like for tuning




26.2 is the target voltage for a 4 ohm speaker on my amp.

 

Bridged may be only in a 2 channel mode! I didn't see this specifically in the manual. But it would make sense .

 

tuning my system right now and it ain't sounding how I would like it to..grrrr

would bluetooth audio source not sound as good as usb wired or cd ?

 

USB wired
Will sound waaaaay better than Bluetooth. Especially if you’re playing Pandora/Spotify.
Also check these settings in your phone ...if you’re running IPhone.

 

Definitely tune via a wired connection or a CD. If using phone turn off all EQs, bass boost, etc

 

yeah I feel like the bluetooth sound is just not as good as wired or CD or maybe It's just me..lol