Amp Gain Settings?

I have a Blaupunkt Austin HU (3 Volt pre-outs) and a pair of Shivas in a sealed box run by a JBL 600.1 amp. The amp puts out 600 watts RMS (maybe a little more) at 2 ohms. I have my Shivas wired to a 2 ohm load, and I have my Amp gain down a great deal from max (maybe like 2\3) should I set it up any higher? I know that the Shivas can take all the power that amp has to take, but I dont want a distorted signal.

Thanks

Here is my way of setting up amp gains. I turn it up slowly until it sounds good to me. The lower you keep your gains the better signal you will get. the higher the gain the more distortion will pass through the speakers. I usually put in a song, turn the radio close to all the way up and tune the amp till its maxed out.

the gains are not really a volume control ........ they are for level matching. Once they are set so that the amp plays at full volume, turning them up will not help. The only thing it will do is distort on louder portions of the music.

Originally posted by PaulD
the gains are not really a volume control ........ they are for level matching. Once they are set so that the amp plays at full volume, turning them up will not help. The only thing it will do is distort on louder portions of the music.

That makes no sense what so ever. So youre telling me that an amp plays at full power no matter what the gains are set at? I dont see the logic.

The gains are a volume control that you set/adjust per the volume control from off your headunit. It's so that you don't have to crank you're headunit volume too high or too low when changing the volume of it. If the gains are too high on your amp, you'll have to keep your headunit at really low volumes and still get a loud sound, if set too low, then you'll have to kick up your headunit volume way up to even hear anything. Also if set too high, you'll get distortion much easier and quicker when craking up your headunit's volume.

PaulD is right. The gains are for level matching between your head unit and amps. I can see why some people think they are volume control because as you adjust them the volume changes, but this is not how they really work.

EFsleeper .... reread what I typed in the last post. Now let me see if I can make it a little more clear. An amp is simply a device that amplifies a signal by a fixed amount - say 20:1. It amplifies what comes into it, like from the head unit, or EQ or crossover. The gains on an amp just match the levels. Let's say you only have a head unit and an amp - if the head unit puts out 5V at max volume, then you set the amp gains so that at max volume the amp is just starting to clip. If that position on the gains is at the 1/2 way point then that is the max. If you turn up the gains anymore, it will just mean that the system will come to full power before the volume control on the head unit is at full. Continuing to turn up the volume will provide a little more power because of clipping - but not a lot (maybe 3dB) or so.