Ah the good old days in high school turning all the knobs to the right. 🍻😂

Here is a tip: To set mid/high gain Play The Sun - Extended Mix by Neelix at your normal listening Level, and fast forward to around 30 sec, then turn the gain up untill you hear it distort. It has some really high "bell" sounds thats easy to detect distortion while playing. I have around 1500 songs in my library and that's one of the songs with the highest sounds so to speak. Then i know the speakers won't distort when playing any of the other songs, and every other song still sounds really loud and clear without any distortion what so ever :)

Finally someone that I consider my equal in tuning a car audio system! Like you, I've been doing my own work in car audio for well over 20 years and I developed my hearing to recognize what sounds good and what doesn't. Almost every person that hears my work says I have the best sounding vehicle they've ever heard; not the loudest, but best sounding. If people would take your advice and trust their ears, they can do amazing things with their system! My advice for anyone getting into this hobby: don't worry about what others are doing to theirs, make your sound system YOUR sound system and make it sound the way you want it to sound. With some work and patience, it can be something you're truly proud of.

Old-ish video i know, probably the only video/tutorial that speaks in layman's terms, no BS about you HAVE to use oscilloscopes, or to use the SMD device. The biggest thing you actually cover the headunit settings, whether to leave the settings at off/0 or set prior to setting the Amps, as i'm older fella doing car audio from back in the early 90s things have changed a fair amount so dusting off the brain cells. Majority of people putting out videos on ICE nowadays have forgotten the roots how it used to be with quick and dirty installs tuning by ear, now for me that's the kicker as i suffer from Tinnitus now so how my brain interprets the audio is hit and miss, still it's was a good refresher to watch. Views and likes well deserved

Thank you very much for the explanation! Most other videos show graphs, devices, formulas, calculations which might be fine for a professional, but not for somebody who just wants some base and has already fried one subwoofer because he didn't know what dials he was turning. You explained it very well!

Very well done and appreciated, man. Very simply and well put. Just the right amount of information, without the technical confusion. Thanks for taking the time for these tuning videos.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!! I really dont have the money to take my car to a shop to have it tuned up. I did exactly what you explained & now my bass is hitting just as hard as my highs. Thank you!!!!

Rule one...do not turn all knobs to the right 😂

Exactly how I have tuned my systems for decades... You just said it better than I could

Love the way you explain things, and reference both OEM and aftermarket setups. Great info to work with along side working things with my multimeter.

I appreciate this video man. I've recently just got back into having a system after a few years and I've been trying to refresh my memories on info that is needed to help out. You explained this very well.

Thank you so much I'm 16 years old and I bought an amplifier for my bass and mids speakers, but I didn't know how to tune it. Thanks to you I learnt lots of things from this video. Thanks again. 💯

You're straight to the point, understandable knowledge, giving people who don't know confidence. Great stuff

Just wanted to say thank you for making these videos! I’ve been researching how to set up amps and woofers and I found your videos to be the most useful. The turn up the bass edit is also hilarious 😂

Great advice. I just had a system installed today. I ran out of time and the shop didn't have time to tune the amp. I'll go back in the morning to have them finish the job, just because I want my money's worth. This information is very useful.

I can't believe i spent two days figuring how to do this. Thank you for explaining it in a way i could understand.

Nice. I'm a professional live production audio guy thinking about doing some car audio projects. I can confirm this guy knows his trade ! Great video !

I have done the same thing for 15 yrs. Tune by ear. And I'm pretty damn good at it. But I've heard you can still clip, just maybe not as drastically. I've never tested the theory. Never checked mine on a smd. But I've also never fried an amp. Or burnt a coil. So I dig ur channel man. You just got a new subscriber.

This is by far the best most coherent explanation on youtube on this subject, no calculator multi formula expensive bs

Hadn't had subs and amp since I was 24 and I'm 38.lol. i appreciate it. Bought a sequoia from my brother n law and he upgraded all the speakers and everything but took the amp and sub. Just put mine in ( two 12s and 1000w amp) nothing special but sounds great. The gain is still down so definitely fine tuning everything when I wake up. Thank you!

best explanation so far out of countless youtube vids and web pages. dont know why this is not included in the basic instruction manual that came with my sub amp combo. They describe things as if you know what they are talking about.

Thank you NextlevelHummer I have a pioneer head unit with alot of bass boost settings and lound settings and my stereo system sound like crap. So I did what you said and turned all the bass boosts an loud settings off and used the amp settings Now my stereo sounds really loud crisp and clear Thank you for your help😄✌️👍

This guy knows his stuff unlike all the rest who talk junk. I been installing aftermarket since the 80’s and this is the right information.

Perfectly timed “turn up the bass” 😂 I laughed harder as the video went on

Great informative video, also love how it keeps cutting to that car blowing up 🤣

SMD HIGH ASS PRICES BROUGHT ME HERE

Dude… Sweet!!! Thanks for your videos. I been messing with car audio for like 20 years. I would always set and it would sound alright and my buddy would always give it a few more tweaks to get it a little better. After watching a couple of your videos my truck sounds pristine!!!!

I tuned my amplifier this way and then checked with a oscilloscope and it was spot on wow I was so amazed by that so this method definitely works

Thank You for helping out the bass head community your teachings are very informative and have so much value to newer enthusiasts 🙏🏽

This video has helped tremendously, very straight forward and informative

Been doing this for 30 plus years you know your shit to be blunt ears are the greatest asset to a true car audio sound addict ! you know who you are!!! Thanks for your time and commitment to the cause! MJA

I have played music for years I figured its was simple to hook a sub woofer to your car the bass varies from car player to player and song to song your video saved me alot of money I was going to buy an amp I did not need (old 900 watt pioneer amp still works great for rock ) all because of the gain settings ,, well done !!!!!

Installing my first system in my boat and this was the best video explaining in very simple terms how to tune amp gain. I'm subscribed! Gonna dig through your video's and see if I can find a video explaining how to set crossover HPF and LPF. Great job!

hey, i just bought my first amp and sub. this helped me understand everything better thank you so much :) (P.S love the edits TURN UP THE BASS!)

Just replaced my stock speakers to complete my build with 2 rockford fosgate p10's and a rockford r2 amp spent like 1.5 hours at Walmart yesterday tuning it, that amp clip light is super helpful, I listen to metal so I have the gain pretty high around 9.5 with my volume range around 15 to 22 depending on the song, and if I wana bump louder I just turn the knob down.

After watching this video it has gave me more knowledge about how an amplifier works or what to do and not to do when messing with my head unit and amplifier. Thank you for this kind of video.

I did everything you said besides one thing. Let's just say the cops paid a visit to my laneway. Lol... and I also made a new friend. My neighbor 😁. I deserve it for not being considerate while tuning my amplifier.

Great info! I'm no audiophile but I love music and its safe to say I've had my gear in my car all wrong! I will give your tips a shot and see what happens. I have mid level stuff nothing to crazy but I know it can sound better... sad I waited this long to educate myself.

Yea man. I hear ya!! always set my gains by ear. and never had an issue either. Had a old timer teach me the art back in mind 90s. Ppl dont believe me till I show them then humm is what i get

Thank you for the video. How to starts at 9:00

Gain structure explained like a pro! Great job.

I always turn the volume up and the levels down. Then work my way down highs, mids, then lows. Always seems to work for me.

This makes perfect sense and you mention and help me Out a lot now it’s all clear

You can also build a very cheap and easy clip detector for your low ends with a high rang speaker and a capacitor inline. With the proper sized capacitor the small speaker won’t get your low end signals but as soon as you start to clip it allows high frequencies to go thru and you can hear them in the speaker.

I was always wondering about turning everything off on head unit before setting the gains, it didn't make sense to me cause once everything is set and I turn the settings back on the signal was gonna be different

Damn I hosed myself with the backflashes to that guying blowing his sound!! Thanks so much for this man, it has never been so carefully explained to me like that before and I really appreciate it. I have some work to do this weekend ;)

Thank you so much for your video because one day I got greedy and oh boy did I pay the price I did exactly what you said not to do now I know not to do it ever again thanks again your video really help me out

I agree. You don’t need all that gain measuring meters and stuff like that. I’ve been in car audio for 30 years and always uses my ears. I’ve never blown anything personally myself. I did have some cars come back playing the radio at full tilt causing so much distortion it blew stuff. People just can’t play stuff on 10 and expect it to sound right.

Love the information you give all of us to maximize our audio experience! I recently got an 8" Solo Baric L7T preloaded in a truck box that was tuned for 45hz from Kicker. I am at 37 hrs of break in period and just about ready to set my gain. Should I set the gain using 45 Hz test tone since that is what the box is tuned for to maximize the subwoofer? Thank you for your time!!

Bruh that meme clip has me weak

This was exactly what I needed. So many questions I had were answered. Rocking new double din head unit and 2 jbl door speakers 2 Harmon and kardon door speakers and a 2000 watt skar amp with a punisher 10d2

6:20 he is 100% right about that one. I not only clipped and blew my sub by doing that, somehow it caught fire behind my seat in my pick up truck and burned my truck down to the ground. I'm an amatuer with very minimal knowledge so I initially set up my gain level perfect then I wanted more base so I started turning up the base on the head unit the bass boost level the subwoofer gain level on head unit to max and clipped and set fire. My system played nice and safely wen I tuned it right and left everything as is. Lasted 5 days to the point wen I messed things up. Mind u I paid 400 for my head unit and my sub and amp was bought that 5 days prior. I also had all 4 new door speakers I bought a few weeks prior also. I not only lost only lost my new system but got no pay out for my car bcuz I only had liability

Yea my dad ended up buring my sub coil last night so im watching this video lol

This video helped me so much! Thank you!

Holy crap!! 4:53 Thanks for your content. Still helping newbies like me years after the upload.

I have a kenwood excelon 5v preouts. I'm running door speakers off the deck for now. I turn volume to 27 without hearing distortion. Then I use a 50htz test tone till I hear distortion then back off a tad. My lpf is around 80htz and subsonic is around d 30. My gain after this is a tad before halfway. Great video man

Thank you for making this simple.

Very appreciated your awesome thank you!! Turn up the bass 😂😂😭

If you’re buying a taramps amp it has a meter that tells you when it’s clipping or protection mode that you can put in the dash and just turn it down when the clip light sounds.

Love the video man. First time watcher-I have a Kicker Solobaric L7S 12” in a ported 33hz OEM (Kicker) enclosure. Then I have a cheapie amp Power Acoustic 2500w class D 650rms amp (Walmart) and a 1.0 Farad Cap. I had systems back then but was the turn right guy lol never broke anything luckily but glad I came across your video to tune properly. Thank you 🙏

If I have someone install everything for me, are they leaving it up to me to figure out how much gain I need in comparison to my stock car audio and sub?

Hmm I got all my knobs turned to the right on my amp sounds good no issues

That “turn up the bass” clip don’t get old😂😂

lmaooo shit all i did was up my bass a tiny bit & i don't over 28 outta 42, maybe ill get it tuned

LL Cool J , ROCK THE BELLS!!!!

I'm going to unhook the sub and start over. I wasbso depressed about my music. I had to take the subwoofer out to get my car worked on. So I played with the settings and when I put the sub in last night it was pure garbage. So thanks for your help. I'll try again music gives makes me happy 😊

Awesome simple explanation of how to adjust my amp. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

Here’s the first step..AD! Lol

This is the best amp tuning video ever created or that will ever be created.

I'm putting 4 12 inch subs in an econoline. 2 single box sony xplodes in the center and 2 duals in a double box in the back.... gonna be wild.. I appreciate your help man I have little knowledge of these knobs. I do it by ear just how your saying. Turn it to a casual level, adjust the knobs. Turn it louder and adjust. Louder and adjust. Then when I lower the volume it sounds wonderful.. Those clips of the exploding car are hilarious..

I am about to do mine soon, I am at the stage of sound deadening the floor and the rest of the car. Waiting for my JL Audio XD400 to arrive. Will do front installation only with Focal PS 165 component speakers. Oh I forgot to mention this is going to a smart 451 ;-) I will have fun adjusting the gains I think, but I will use the vault meter after I will calculate correct voltage. Thanks for tips!

Bro one of the best videos ever seen. Was so confused about my setup how to setup my gains and this solved it. Thank-you so much

sometimes lower recording or softer music will require louder volumes regardless of the "max loudness" so I always listen to see if there is a bit of headroom based on the track playing

So I tried this method of yours today and it worked! Thankyou for posting this video. I really appreciate it!

Very simplified and understandable for a beginner like me. Thank you

Thank you for the information. I just got a Sony XM GS4 to amplify the front/rear speakers in my truck and I'm trying to figure out how to tune it. I think I have heard the clipping you spoke of but don't know much about the settings. Low Boost(40Hz), Level, subsonic filter, Filter(don't plan to use LP/HP, so it'll be off). But I want good clear sound with some good bass.

You know after watching this video I have a better understanding of how to tune my amps and I now know what happened to my Skar 12s I have 14-8in mids and 8-3in tweeters and I clipped my 12s and killed them I still have them thinking about reconning them also a friend said that he was tuning it few days ago and he told me turn bass knob halfway smh I can't wait to go somewhere and try it myself thanks for the video and u got my sub for sure

The best 🙌🏾 So simple and easy to understand. And im an audio engineer but i love plain language. 🔥🔥

Old school bass head.. My son got into car audio a couple years ago and bought the expensive audio meters.. When we talked about how I tuned a system, I told him that i used the most sensitive equipment there was, my ears. He completely disagreed. After he spent many hours trying to tune his truck to sound how he wanted with the expensive meters., he came in the house defeated. He said, he didnt think he had the right equipment or something. I offered to tune it for him, he declined stating that the meters are showing his equipment is an issue. After sending his head unit back in for a refund and purchasing a new one, he had the same outcome. Again, I offered to tune it for him..Instead of admitting defeat, he said "technology has changed dad, you cant just tune by ear anymore". To which I said, son, yes, tech has changed but sound wave have and always be sound waves and the human ear still works the same way it has since the first human was born... About 15 minutes with his system.. tuning by ear.. he fought the ear to ear grin when he heard what my ears did for his system. You can totally hear distortion if you know what you are listening for. Clipped sound waves have a crude top or bottom end to them. You can totally practice listening for clipped sound and you should if your going to try to get the best out of your system.. Another piece of advice.. Spend the money on the system you will listen to the most, for most it is the home audio and not the car. If you can afford both, do it, your ears will thank you.

The Amp Whisperer - Guru of Gains! Love it. 😄

Always good to learn a bit, been doin so much wrong for so long but now I'm getting educated by people who really know their business. Many thanks bro.

Normally I set the bass know half way when I set my gain because I'm keeping in mind all that older hip hop and RnB from back in the day they may not hit as hard ..I'm leaving a little room to use that space when need...but I do understand his.point...I may set the knob at 3/4 on this next set up

great video. The acoustics of each car and each box will also influence the overall quality with the exact "determination of ruining" as the potential clipping electronic wave

awesome video. you broke it down nicely. im going top the walmart parking lot. this made the biggest difference. Thank you.

When I was younger I may or may not have blown a couple subs because I loved cranking up that gain knob

in the past i would follow the crank it up till distortion, then back off the gain.. now i use a multimeter. unplug speaker wires from the amp, turn radio up to 75% of max volume possible.. multiply the speaker's rated RMS watts by the resistance (ohm load) then square root that number. example is my door speaker components are rated to 150 watts, at 4 ohms. 150x4 is 600.. the square of 600 is 24.5 with my volume at 75% and listening to clean music (not the radio stations) you can test the speaker output terminal with a multimeter, using A/C voltage setting turn that gain knob up until the multimeter reads 24.5 volts. it is best to use somewhere near a 700-1000Hz test tone for door speakers so you can have a single, long note in that frequency. same thing for the sub. test tone to the head unit around 70-80Hz and check voltage at the speaker terminal. my sub is rated for 300RMS at 2ohm coils. so 300x2 squared is (in this case) also 24.5 volts. it's also good to know the voltage output on your head unit outputs, or RCA cables, so you can match that input on your amps. most amps have a dial for just that, the input voltage for the amp needs to be real close to the output of the radio. however, testing this with a multimeter is kinda a PITA. prolly better in the case that you dont have as much bass as you'd like to add more subs or an amp capable of producing more watts without going over your RMS than to turn up the bass and blow a sub. i just happen to have one little 8" sub that puts out plenty for the music i like. so i dont need to add 3 more HAHA

I can not get all the base out of my door speakers without my sub basically being off

Took me forever to have someone explain it without getting all of these damn meters and stuff I don’t know how to use hahahaha. Thanks a lot man, can’t wait to watch for of your vids for whatever I need 💪🏼

For me no boost sounds abit hollow with no impact. Ive got my boost up 1/4 on the amp at about 38hz, sounds mint and shakes the dash

Just installed a new sub today and have the knob all the way down and the gain maxxed😂 gonna fix that tomorrow lmfao

I really appreciate your time to explain and share very important and valuable information, I will definitely put it to practice this week with my RF t2500 bdcp and RF T2S113 SUB stock bimmer sound system. . Thanks you .the trunk exploiting car it’s a nice touch to the vid tho .

Very well explained video!!! As well as the previous one I watched about all the knobs on the amp. Props!! No wonder you’re one of the best

This is great. I followed this from your lpf/subsonic video . That's the type of video to make great notes now time to piss the neighbors off lol

You do a good job educating on car audio. Appreciate what you are doing. Plan on hooking up my Kenwood Class D Mono Amp to my Kicker Comp r12. Just need to purchase a couple of things but I'm doing some research.

Not gone lie I subbed cause I’m new and I Radio was hella adjusting my settings in my STOCK bass mid and treble and my speakers went to sleep. To be detailed it’s almost like I can hear a switch to more sound in the cabin then more bass from the subs so I keep my volume like 15-25 out of 35 I have 10 in mag sub

Luckily, I always knew that the gain is not volume 🤣. Ive seen a lot of guys spend big money back in the day to try and keep up. Some thought they got ripped off by the audio store because their gain was only half way, and the same people didnt listen until they smelled it, then guys like me say " I told you, but you didn't listen". Great Video!

For anyone who may be wondering, distortion can sound like speaking into a fan.

thanks!..........explained very well.......kept it simple!

I appreciate the knowledge ive been watching videos for weeks n u finally put them all together 4 me. Only thing i cant figure out is there any way to counter act the bass rolloff on my OEM HU without getting an aftermarket HU.

That's turn up the bass meme had me dying 🤣🤣 solid video brother