Setting up audio

[Tom]

I know a few on here are good with there audio and have amped front components so maybe i can get some help. Could someone give me a quick run down on how they should be set up? As in which nobs i should adjust first or how/what i should be doing? Or just how you set yours up?

[Kwik]

Before you do this what is rms of amp and rms of speakers which is sometimes known as nominal?

Go to a public car park lol

Turn gains to minimum on amp

Turn headunit up to 3/4 max volume

Adjust gain till you hear distortion then back it off a teeny bit.

Long story short gains are not volume knobs they are to match amp to correlate with your headunits volume. It's input sensitivity not output volume

[Tom]

Right here is what i found today, the speakers are JL Audio TR650 CWI the only thing i can find online is CSI and they are specced like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JL-Audio-TR650...1c41b7cd78

The amp is a clarion 1084ha again, specs i have found are as follows:

REGULATED MOS-FET PWM POWER SUPPLY
BRIDGE FOR ABLE 4 -, 3 -, OR 2 CHANNEL MODE OPERATION
80 HZ LOWPASS SUBWOOFER OUTPUT IN 3-CHANNEL MODE 140W CONTINUOUS
CONTINUOUS POWER OUTPUT
70W x 4 (4CH.)
70W x 2 + 140W (3CH.)
140W x 2 (2ch.

From here: http://www.nissanboard.de/artikel_nissan...erung.html

This is weird as shit, why cant i find any specs for any of the stuff in the car?

Oh and i noticed earlier that it sounds crap lol, any pointers for setting this up properly would be much appreciated. Can get pics of the amp and what i have to play with if you want.

[Kwik]

Did you see my post? Lol

[Tom]

I did and i didnt reply to it, that was silly. I havent done that yet because i wanted to give you the specs first

Also who turns there headunit 3/4's of the way up? Mine distorts at like 14

[Kwik]

That's your speakers distorting due to the amp In headunit clipping.

Jl audio are a great brand so aslong as you set up the amp with the instructions you should be cool.

Also I forgot to put in original post set all eq / tone controls at 0db totally flat then set gains on amp and then you can mess about with eq after

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If you wasn't so damn far I would've set it up for you

[Ruan]

Just making sure you are using pre-outs and if possible you've disabled the onboard amplifier in your headunit?

The reason your speakers are sounding shit is because the inputs on the amp (gain) are too sensitive and you're giving it too much signal. Your amplifier is there to amplify, you don't need an excessively high signal into the amp, as it'll be way overdriven. Naturally same applies the other direction, don't want too little signal as then your amp is amplifying background crap that it'll pick up in the process.

What Kwik has said I'd totally agree with

[Kwik]

Thanks Ruan if someone was close to him who could set it up he could watch and pick it up from that

[Tom]

Cheers boys repped both of you, will have a go in a second!

Oh and in answer to Ruans question yes, the preouts on the headunit are labelled "front" they go into the amp in the boot, then speaker wire goes back upto behind the headunit and joins upto the front speaker wires which are cut off of the "headunit loom" so the front speakers are being powered solely by the amp.

[Kwik]

Safe man. Don't forget though you will never totally eliminate background noise as it's good old analogue tech we using in our in car entertainment but the trick is to not hear it unless volume whacked up and nothing on

[Tom]

Pulled the amp out onto the backseat so i could adjust from the drivers seat, drove to the middle of nowhere, pulled the amp forward because it had slipped on the drive there, speaker wire broke out of a crimp... Middle of no where with no tools... bollocks!

Luckily i had a screwdriver with me so i just wedged the wire under the terminals and carried on, my volume goes to 40, so i turned the gain right back, turned it to 30 and i already had distortion, but i think it was from the back speakers, quick adjust ment on the headunit to take some away from the rears and i turned the gain up about a quarter turn before it got very rather loud and bit dodgy sounding, turned it back and it sounded ok. So drove home, fixed the terminals, heat shrunk them, then i noticed the power cables looked dodgy so i heat shrunk them aswell to neaten it all up.

So i put it all back in the boot turned on the ignition, front speakers dont work. Great. Turns out the amp isnt powering up, remote wire has 10volts (think my battery is a bit shit), ground is a ground has continuity to the chassis. Main power wire is only showing half a volt at best, my only guess is i caught the case of the amp when i done up the screw and blew the big fuse by the battery, but i had to call it a night. Guess we will continue tomorrow, bloody annoying when things just dont go right.

[Kwik]

Sounds like fuse to battery as that remote voltage would power the amp.

Can sort it tomorrow though and at least your learning how to set it all up yourself

[Tom]

Going to just buy a fuse and all new terminals and do a proper job of it, all the connections are shit anyway!

[Kwik]

That's a good look. Tbh I don't really use terminals twist the wire and then screw it down as one less thing to go wrong

[Tom]

And the speaker wire has got like 2 cores? As in in on piece of wire theres copper strands then inside that is a plastic insulator with silver wire inside, they're just twisted together anyway

[Kwik]

Ok sounds like you need to get some wire lol.

Wire is wire up to a point but a wire designed for a purpose will work better then one that was there.

Take a snap so can see what's going on with regards to the wiring

[WiNgNuTz]

Tom, you do realise you have the mac daddy of audio installs giving you advice here? I was fortunate enough to catch Kwik talking about his audio at Ace once, this guy really knows what hes talking about, and has already given you all the advice (and more) that i would have given, so I will let him carry on!

[Kwik]

Lol I'm blushing lol

[WiNgNuTz]

Aww, don't blush bbz, you can "thank" me next time i see you at Ace.

[Kwik]

Lol! You can't tell when I'm blushing so I have to verbalise it lmfao

[Tom]

I do realise hence taking the advice and being grateful for it? unless i've come across differently? I am a bit of a grumpy lady garden atm!

I will get a picture if the wire this afternoon

[Kwik]

Your being gracious don't worry you deffo ain't come across any other way. And lack of sounds makes anyone grumpy lol

[WiNgNuTz]

Don't get me wrong mate, you didnt come across grumpy or ungrateful, i was just making sure you were aware, thats all.

[Eeyore]

Kwik you can set mine up for me at ace next time I have never known how to tune mine so ill give it a go at the weekend.

[Tom]

So, problem...



Redone the wiring to the speakers...


And the speaker wire looks like this:/

[Kwik]

Sam i'll do that for ya no problem!

Tom glad the fuse was the issue. that's proper speaker wire so that's ok.

Hows it sounding now?

Sidenote my mate had a complete clarion set in a mk4 fiesta in the early 2000's and I have to admit it made me jealous at one point lol.

[Tom]

Sounds alot better than it did, it goes loud enough for my liking now without distorting might get some better rears and see if it will go louder...

[Kwik]

On the rears I've been meaning to put a thread up I got some bassface 5x7's in the rear of my estate and tbth they are awesome for the price.

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I do have focal vb's in the front though lol

[WiNgNuTz]

I just need some rear speakers for the estate! Only got front components atm, running off the headunit.

Can't wait to get a sub in there either...

[Tom]

I really want a sub