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Underpowered?

3K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  d.girardi 
#1 ·
So I just bought a Jensen 760.4(x4, 60w rms), and I had Best-Buy hook it up to my stock hu, and all four door speakers(alpine type s 5x7 150w rms). Once it was done after about 5 hours, he told me that "he didn't want to over power my speakers so the gain is only turned up half way" And that my "stock speakers really bump". So my first thought is did he even run new wire to my speakers, and should I turn my gain up considering the fact that my amp already is to weak for my speakers? Also yes I know my amp is not the best quality so no need to go there LoL.
 
#2 ·
No don't turn your gain up you are going to destroy your amp. Your amp will be working way too hard to power your speakers. You really need to get a 2 or 4 channel amp thats rated 150w rms x 2 or x 4 if you can. You build your system around your amp, not your speakers. You may have the best speakers, but it won't mean shit if you don't have the right amp capable enough to push it. Way too powerful of an amp = speaker distortion so boosting gains for an amp that's already powerful will make it worse. Underpowered amp = amp working too hard to push speakers to play sounds. A lower rated rms speaker with a matched up amp to push it will sound 10x better than a weaker amp with your alpine speakers. I'm not trying to badger you by any means, I'm trying to give you a visualization to help you understand. Those speakers are awesome, you just need to buy an amp powerful enough

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#5 ·
There's nothing wrong with turning your gain up.. what you need to do is find a nice song or jam you like with the bass you like, play it..turn your radio volume up and then adjust the gain to where its not popping or distorting.
 
#7 ·
Right there's nothing wrong with turning up gains if he has the right amp paired with it. He would need an amp that can deliver at least 112 rms for the minimum CORRECT amount of power. Increasing gains with a weak amp to push a 150 watts rms speaker (which is a powerful speaker) will overload the amp and can even cause it to fry itself if it doesn't have a protection mode. If you want to do it correctly, find out what # your deck volume goes up to and never turn it past 75% of that volume. Then adjust your gains accordingly. If you do that, your speakers will survive. If a song or high volumes forces your amp to shut off or create distortion, turn it low immediately. Failure to do so can and will destroy your speakers. You should educate yourself on amp gains in correlation with speakers and subwoofer. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of money and headaches

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#6 ·
I am planning on upgrading my amp, I just bought that one for $20 off my friend because I figured it would be better than stockpower. My goal is to end with My current speakers powered by an infinity kappa four. As for the sub I just want a p1 with the matching rockford amp. But thank you guys for the quick reply. Now I just have to see if he actually ran my speaker wire!
 
#10 ·
Don't mean to thread jack but this is interesting. So if the amp and speakers dont match perfectly what's the better compromise: higher rated speakers with a lower rated amp or vice versa? I know nothing about sound systems but do wanna upgrade my 3 sometime soon
 
#14 ·
It really just depends on your amp and its specs. If you can tell me the make and model # of your amp I can look it up for you and tell you the ideal way to go about it. And as far as ideal brands? They're all pretty decent. Kickers are okay, they make some great speakers but overrated imo. Kenwood, Alpine, JBL, hell even Polk Audio have some great products. To put it in perspective....My headunit is Alpine, 2 front door speaker are 6x8 JBL component speakers, 2 rear are 5x7 Kenwood 3 way speakers tuned to only play mids, my amp is a 5 channel polk audio amp, and my sub is 12" polk audio dvc. So I basically have a fun bag of surprises as far as brands go hahaha some people tend to stick with certain brands, some don't. The reason why I have different brands is simple, all the specs to each unit works well with eachother. Don't get me wrong, not all brands are good nor halfway decent in quality but as long as the reviews are good about the product, you'll be fine. My fun bag of surprises sound pretty effin bad ass but only because of everything working well with eachother and tuned properly. Hope that helps put things in perspective. If i've helped any hit the thanks button!!!:thumbup 1:
 
#18 ·
the amplifier gain is not a power adjustment knob, it is to adjust the volume to match the signal coming from whatever source you may have, be it a line out converter, after headunit or what have you. the gain should only EVER be all the way up if your getting somewhere around .1-.2V of signal. it is not that you are "pushing to much power" if you turn the gain all the way up, it is that you are going to send a clipped signal to your speakers from trying to get more out of the amplifier than it can provide.



clipping causes distortion which can potentially damage speakers and the amplifier.
 
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