Subwoofer is an indispensable thing for those who want to get full enjoyment from listening to music. But the trouble is that the power of the radio is not enough for its normal operation. You have to connect an amplifier. And installation is only half the battle. You need to know how to set up the amplifier correctly. We will talk about this and not only in our today's article.
How to connect?
Let's see how to connect an amplifier in a car:
- First, the subwoofer and other speakers of the speaker system are connected to the corresponding sockets on the amplifier.
- Next, the device is connected to the radio.
- Then the amplifier will distribute the signal automatically. Part will go to the subwoofer, and part will go to the tweeters and midrange speakers.
Dealing with construction
On the back side of any amplifier there is a panel with connectors. It has two separate blocks. The first block - "Front" - is intended for the frontchannels. The second - "Rear" - is used to connect rear speakers or a subwoofer. It is this block that we will configure.
Acoustic amplifier controls
The tuning process of a car amplifier is to change the parameters, each of which has a separate function. For tuning even on the simplest amplifier there are controls:
- So, the Crossover Selector is nothing but a filter switcher.
- In the LP position, the amplifier operates in LPF (low pass filter) mode.
- When the regulator is set to the NO position, the operation is in the HPF mode.
- In the AP position, the filters are disabled and do not work.
In addition, there is a switch on the rear panel that adjusts the cutoff frequency of the filters. "Level" is a knob for adjusting the power level. And with the help of "Bass Boost" you can enhance the low frequencies, but you should not be too zealous.
If this is a high power device, then before connecting the amplifier in the car, experts recommend installing a capacitor.
Starting point for acoustic tuning
At the entry level, anything beyond crossover and gain control is irrelevant. In addition, it does not matter how the amplifying part is implemented. The basic principle is always the same.
Here's how to set up the amplifier:
- First turn off any sound correction circuits.
- If this is not possible, then the correction is set to zero. It is worth remembering that this is not the same thing - in the first variant, the signal will not go through the correction circuits. This means that its path will be smaller and the level of distortion will be lower.
- In passive crossovers, the RF control is set to about the middle level, even if it is different from zero. The value should be -3 dB.
- In the case of active crossovers, the crossover frequency of the low-pass and high filters is initially made the same. The level should be around 75-80 Hertz.
The gain level on any channels is set to the lowest position. If all these conditions are met, then you can achieve optimal basic settings.
Setting gain
Setting the input sensitivity of the amplifier is an important step. Any manual for the amplifier indicates how to adjust this coefficient. But in practice, you can find that the level is set incorrectly. In the most innocuous case, these errors can only lead to inconsistent sound. At worst, there will be significant distortion (perhaps even some system components will fail).
If the tweeters are constantly on in the car, the wrong gain is to blame. Subwoofers also burn, even if they are well and correctly matched in power to the amplifier. This sometimes happens to those who do not know how to set up an amplifier in a car, and are trying to squeeze everything out of the device. But sound quality doesn't have to be loud. The main parameter is its purity.
If the goal is not to achievemaximum volume, then the main thing in adjusting the gain is not to be greedy. You do not need to squeeze everything out of the device that it can. It is intended for other purposes. Speaker, amplifier - everything should sound clean. It is better to make a little mistake and underestimate the coefficient. This will reduce the volume margin, but the sound will be better. Given the headroom that most low-end amps have, the loss at full volume does not lead to a quiet sound.
Gain adjustment is very closely related to crossover adjustment. There is a simple rule - the narrower the crossover range for a particular speaker system and the steeper the slope of the roll-off, the more power can be delivered to the speaker. Hence, the gain can be higher. This is important to know before setting up the amplifier for the speakers in the car.
The basic principles of adjusting the named coefficient are simple - in the process of listening to certain tracks, the level is smoothly increased until distortion appears. When a distortion point appears, the level is lowered.
Before you set the amplifier to a high ratio, you should decide at what volume distortion appears on the radio. Often this is about half the sound range, and sometimes even lower. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the coefficient on the amplifier within this undistorted range. So, if the radio scale has 60 units, then the range from 30 to 60 is not suitable, it is better to forget about it. These lossesreplenished with an amplifier.
First of all, set up the described coefficient for the front speakers. In the most basic case, they can work through a passive crossover. Then they move on to the subwoofer channels. But here it is necessary to monitor not possible distortions, but the tonal even balance. It is necessary that the sound is not "thin" or excessively "fat". If there is a large difference between the power of the channels, then it is very difficult to get distortion in the subwoofer channel.
Setting for subwoofer operation
Let's use a simple example to see how to set up an amplifier for a subwoofer. Let it be connected to Rear on the amplifier, and the front speakers connected respectively to Front. Experts recommend the following settings:
- The bass boost is set to zero for both channels. The level or gain is also set to zero.
- Crossover for Front channel set to HP.
- For the Rear channel, the crossover is set to the LP position.
- Next, it remains only to adjust the sensitivity, using the gain setting, so that the sound is as harmonious as possible. It is adjustable for the front and rear channels as desired.
Here's how to set up an amplifier for a subwoofer in practice. As you can see, there is nothing complicated about this. All you need is a good ear, acoustic tracks and enough free time.
Setting up without a subwoofer with your own hands
In this case, the speaker system consists of four speakers. In this option, the settings will be the mostsimple. With such a scheme, the amplifier filters are disabled. All parameters are set to zero, and the crossover selector is set to the “Flat” position. With these settings, the speaker, amplifier and all other components will generate high-quality sound without distortion.
It remains only to set the head unit. This can be done by choosing from the preset equalizer settings. The volume is brought to 90 percent and the track starts. In the process of sounding, adjust the gain until the sound is loud and clear, without distortion. So you can set up a simple amplifier for the average music lover.
Setting up household amplifiers
The principles of adjusting home amplifiers are almost the same as the above technique. But there is an exception - if this is an amplifier, and not a receiver, then often it has two channels and an equalizer.
First, everything is set to zero, and then by ear and taste, the desired frequency response is adjusted on the equalizer. Also adjust the input sensitivity so that there is no distortion at the output.
Conclusion
Here's how to set up an amplifier in your car or at home with your own hands. With high-quality audio recordings, you can adjust the sound so that everything is balanced, and the sound is clear and without distortion.
