Need help! What settings for Amp?

[MG's VH Wag]

Hi guys, I recently swapped over my amp and subs from one car to another and in the new car (VT) it sounds crap so i tried fiddling with the amp settings now i can't get it right. The amp is a kenwood KAC-8104D 1000-Watt monoblock and the subs are Kenwood KDC-W3011 12-inch 1200-watt in individual 1 cubic foot sealed boxes. The settings that you can adjust are as follows-

-ISF (Infrasonic filter) Switch = adjust betweens Off, 15hz and 25hz

-Bass Boost control= Adjusts from 0, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16 and 18db

-Low Pass Filter= Adjusts from 50, 70, 100, 150 and 200 hz

- Input Sensitivity= Adjusts from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2v

If anyone can help me out that would be much appreciated, if you need anymore info let me know!

Cheers!

[Philthy]

ISF filter I assume is like a subsonic filter, set this to 15 or 25Hz - this will stop frequencies too low to hear coming through and protect your subs if you are planning to push them hard

Bass Boost = 0

LPF = probably 100. Could get away with 70 if you have good splits and can lower the HPF on them

Input sensitivity I would say is the gain, adjust this until the bass *slightly* overpowers the music, then turn down the sub level at the headunit until it sounds good. This will give you a bit of headroom to show them off to your mates. If you don't have sub control at the headunit then just adjust this until it sounds like a good level compared to the rest of your music

[MG's VH Wag]

Ok thanks for that mate. I don't have very good speakers so i'll set the LPF to 100. With the bass boost should i adjust that once evrything else is done to my desired amount of bass? Also would these be good settings for deep good quality bass?

[acarmody]

No don't touch the bass boost, just tune the amp with the proper gain and you will be getting the maximum safe potential from your equipment.

[HCVP]

It really comes down to personal preferance, and what sounds good to the listener. Just get your manual if you have it, and familiarise yourself with the unit, and find a setting that sounds good to you. With my last setup, i ran my fronts at 100hz +, and had my sub tuned so that it didn't really play until the volume on the head unit had reached about half way..

[MG's VH Wag]

Ok well when i have the bass boost at 0 and the sensitivity at 1 (this sounds best) my subs are hardly moving and if i crank it up so the subs pump a bit the music is just way too loud and sounds crap lol. My headunit bass adjustment goes from -8 to +8 too

[Philthy]

If your subs arent loud enough at sensitivity = 1, then turn it up more...

[HCVP]

Tune your fronts and sub seperatly. Disconnect your sub, then tune your fronts. Remember the volume level at which they reached thier peak, then disconnect your fronts, run your sub, at tune it to the volume level your reached before...thats how i will normally tune, but that's more for SQ..

[Philthy]

Tune your fronts and sub seperatly. Disconnect your sub, then tune your fronts. Remember the volume level at which they reached thier peak, then disconnect your fronts, run your sub, at tune it to the volume level your reached before...thats how i will normally tune, but that's more for SQ..

I do mine a little differently. I tune my fronts to max at around 80% volume (no HPF), then turn the HPF onto 80-100Hz and tune in the sub to fit in with the music, allowing myself a bit of room to turn it up if I feel the need.
If my way is wrong I'm open to criticism

[acarmody]

What headunit are you running? If you have 5v RCAs then setting the sensitivity to 1v will do dick all. But to be fair its pretty hard to set a monoblocks gain perfectly just by listening.

[MG's VH Wag]

Tune your fronts and sub seperatly. Disconnect your sub, then tune your fronts. Remember the volume level at which they reached thier peak, then disconnect your fronts, run your sub, at tune it to the volume level your reached before...thats how i will normally tune, but that's more for SQ..

I don't have a 2nd amp yet so im just running the speakers off the headunit. I just have the 2 subs running off the amp.

What headunit are you running? If you have 5v RCAs then setting the sensitivity to 1v will do dick all. But to be fair its pretty hard to set a monoblocks gain perfectly just by listening.

Head unit is a Kenwood KDC-126 sorry don't know the specs lol. I'm gonna upgrade when i get some more cash.

[acarmody]

Hmmm if I'm reading the specsheet properly it has 2v RCAs, so set the sensitivity at 3v and just don't turn the head unit to full, this will also leave a bit of room for voltage loss fom the H/U to the amp, small as it may be. So if you headunit volums goes up to say 35 then don't go above 30.

[MG's VH Wag]

Ok thanks. I'll try it out tomoz. I think that it might not have enough bass but i'm only assuming, i'll let you know when i actually do it.

[acarmody]

Also just double check the wiring from the amp to the woofers, both positives on the sub should go to the positive on the amp and the same for the negatives. Also check that the wiring is around the right way, as in the the positives on the box go to the positives on the sub, otherwise the subs will be out of phase with each other, cancelling each other basically.

[scozz76]

I set my LPF to 80Hz, then EQ the entire system with an RTA.... Adding a slight boost in the LFE.