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Old     (Matt)      Join Date: Mar 2010       05-02-2010, 12:17 PM Reply   
Ok guys, I have a pair of pro 485s being pushed by a JL MHD600/4. I have a WS-420 HSE and a new alpine deck, If any of that matters... 300w to each in 4 ohm

My problem is" when I crank up the towers they distort bad. What should I have the Amp, Eq, and deck setting set at for the best sound?
Old     (chpthril)      Join Date: Oct 2007       05-02-2010, 2:19 PM Reply   
300 watts rms is a bit light for the Pro485, but try lowering the gain on the amp first. Also make sure the amp is set in hi-pass and at about 80Hz's and the EQ in the head-unit is flat, in other words, no treble, and especially no bass.
Old     (Matt)      Join Date: Mar 2010       05-02-2010, 7:29 PM Reply   
300 watts is peak for the 485. I'm trying to Build a bullet proof system. Tired of blowing subs & exc
Old     (jmuck)      Join Date: Jan 2010       05-02-2010, 8:01 PM Reply   
300 is just teasing those 485's. I've been running 600 plus on each one of mine for two years now.

If you're blowing subs, speakers etc, you need to tweak the eq's, gains etc. Too much power won't blow a speaker as quickly as too little will, as will to far out of whack eq settings. Always remember, crap in, crap out.

Set your head unit at 0 across the board.
On the 420, set it all to zero and start tweaking from there. I've found with my Digital Design amps that I barely have to bring the settings on to gain best sound, but different amps will vary.
Also make sure and set your amps to 80 hertz.

If you can't get it any better, time to put some more power on them.
Old     (jmuck)      Join Date: Jan 2010       05-02-2010, 8:04 PM Reply   
Matt, I also noticed your in Elk City, I'm over in Moore and my shop is in Norman. If you want, run it by sometime and I'll help ya get it dialed in.
Old     (wetsounds1)      Join Date: Jan 2006       05-03-2010, 9:07 AM Reply   
Matt,

300 watts is the rms rating of the 485. 600 watts peak. But the 485 can take a lot more power and loves it!!

jmuck is correct, you are always more likely to blow a speaker with too little power. Because you wind up taxing the amp and over compensating the gains so you get a clipped signal which is what blows speakers.

With more power, you do not wind up turning the gains up past their "unity" setting so you gain headroom which results in more clean power. That amp should be good power though. Enough to get good clean sound and no distortion.

You want to look at a system as a whole and start at the beginning. A speaker only reproduces what it is fed. It is at the end of the line. So distortion comes from the beginning back.

Source material. CD or MP3 player? Music highly compressed? EQ settings on the MP3 player? Volume up on the MP3 player? Make sure that the mp3 player has no eq settings on

Head unit. Make sure that is flat as well. since you have a 420, you don’t need any additional eq settings.

WS-420 FLAT for tuning. Amp bass boost off.

Here is a step by step tuning guide I wrote

http://www.wetsounds.com/media/produ...stallation.pdf

Take a look at that and follow it.

Also, since you have the HSE box and a WS-420. You have DUAL line drivers. Which is probably where you are getting your issues from. You are boosting you voltage a TON to the amps.

With this much voltage going into the amps. The amp gains will probably not even be up past 1/4. If they are. Your gains are way too high and this is why you are getting distortion. I would bet you cannot get the head unit volume much past 50%. If this is the case, gains are way too high.

Always remember that a gain does not make the amp put out more power. That amp will do 300x2 and that is it. Once that gain is at it’s unity setting and optimized, it puts out 300x2. Anything higher on the gain, does not result in more power only more distortion and less control.

Tim
Wet Sounds
Old     (david_e_m)      Join Date: Jul 2008       05-06-2010, 11:54 AM Reply   
Matt,

Here's a couple of bits of info that might help.

If you are hearing distortion with 300 watts per Pro485, its not coming from the speakers. They'll handle it and more.

The JL Audio HD600/4 is strictly regulated and will produce 300 watts per speaker even at lower voltage. When you crank your system, voltage will inevitably drop at the amplifier terminals and immediately bounce back once the draw is reduced. So this amplifier might deliver equivalent power to an unregulated amplifier rated at 20 percent more. Also, if you were to double your power you would have no more than a 3dB increase, in other words, maybe another notch and a half on your volume control. So you definitely have enough power.

Your amplifier has two input gain settings. With an older WS420 you would set this less sensitive. WIth the newer WS420 you sitll might try the more sensitive setting and reduce your amplifier input gains per the tuning instructions.

Beyond that there are countless other possible contributing factors like EQ settings (iPod, source, EQ and amplifier), bad software (downloads with questionable pedigree), crossover settings, low voltage and more.

It sounds like all of your equipment is top notch so if you have an inordinate amount of distortion with your source unit at 85 percent gain then its an execution problem.

David
Earmark Marine
Old     (Matt)      Join Date: Mar 2010       05-06-2010, 1:21 PM Reply   
Guys I'm gonna Open up the amp box & do a full tune like tim's post shows...
Here is the finished product
http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=779176

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