How to Tune an Amplifier by Ear [Car Audio Speakers]

How to set up your amp for speakers by ear. This will done by ear without any alternative equipment other than some basic tools. Having an amplifier properly setup with maximize your sound quality and ensure you’re not causing damage to your speakers. I have my hidden amp under the driver side knee panel of my Dodge Ram. The amp I have is a four channel amp meaning it’s powering both front and rear speakers. It has individual controls for the front and rear, this is needed when running different types of speakers. My fronts are 6x9” and my rears are 6 1/2”. #caraudio #music

Tools/Supplies Needed:
-screwdrivers
-40hz sound clip

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:23 Why it's Important
01:35 Filter Setting
02:11 Base Settings
02:53 Disabling Door Chime
03:13 Head Unit Settings
04:02 First Pair of Speakers
05:00 Second Pair of Speakers
05:45 Sound Clip of Distortion
06:03 Finishing Up

Procedure:
For adjusting the amp, you’ll most likely need small standard screwdrivers to adjust the switches. With the amp out, disconnect the RCA cables.

Adjusting the filters. We’re using mid to high range speakers, these will be set to HPF or high pass filter for both the front and rear. Off means, all frequencies will be played through the speakers which can potentially cause damage and distortion. LPF or low pass filter is used for subwoofers, when your frequency filter is set, it won’t play frequencies above that set value. When HPF is selected and your frequency is set to a certain value, it won’t play frequencies below that set value. LPF is intended for bass, if you go from off to HPF, you’ll notice a reduction in bass.

Input sensitivity, this is also known as gain adjusts the input stage. You’ll need a balance between high and low. Too high will cause distortion and too low will not allow your system to reach its max performance. Turn both the front and rear input settings to the lowest value.

For filter frequency, this goes to the highest setting so we don’t play too low of frequencies.

It doesn’t matter which you start with first, just plug in one channel to isolate the one type of speakers. Determine what 75% is of your max sound. My head unit’s maximum sound is 35, so 75% of this would be about 26. This is needed to set the input sensitivity or gain.

You can start with some music you typically listen to, then adjust your head unit’s settings. This would be everything from the equalizer, treble, bass, loudness, bass boost, etc. It’s important to do this first, if you do this after it may cause distortion or damage to the speakers.

Some people recommend using music to set up the amp, but it can be tough listening to the multiple tone ranges. The easiest way I’ve found is using a 40hz sound clip.

Make sure your volume is up to 75% and now to the amp. Using a small standard screwdriver, slowly turn up the gain. The hum will slowly increase, eventually, it’ll come to a point where the tone completely changes. This is most noticeable when your amp is set to play a higher frequency.

Adjusting the frequency, for mid-range speakers, you’ll be looking for a range from 75 to 100hz, but this can vary depending on the music you listen to along with the quality of your speakers. This is something that will get re-adjusted after when I play music and not something that I’ll show on video so I don’t get any copyright claims. You can also see as I turn the hertz range lower, it’s harder to sense the gain distortion.

Turn the head unit off. Unplug the RCA cables for one pair and then connect the other pair. Do the same for the opposite speakers.

Once those settings are done, your amp may have come with clear tape covers to close up the adjustment holes. Now I can put the amp back in place. As some tips with troubleshooting. With the fixed settings when I was testing everything out, I was experiencing a hum in the speakers without any music playing and it didn’t change when adjusting the volume knob. Turning the gain down did solve this problem for me. Other issues which can cause a hum are a poor quality amp, a bad ground, poor connection, poor quality or bad RCA wires, or running power wires parallel with audio wires.

Thank you to all those who watch my videos and support my content. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel for future tutorial videos and like my video if you found it helpful. New videos are always being uploaded every week!

© 4DIYers 2013
All Rights Reserved
No part of this video or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author.

[javierportillo]

Out of all the videos I watched so far, yours is the only one that shows an example of distortion. I’m new to car audio and I thank you for this.

[robertadrianwayne]

Is hard to believe you are still around, I watched all the E39 tutorials, they have been very helpful! Still wish you would do them but anyway, good seeing you still post!

[Mjzee]

Your video was very helpful i managed to tune my sound the way i want and your tutorial made it so much easier 🎉Thanks a stack!

[campfiredouglas]

best vid out there, i have it saved for when i need it

[Jaredius]

This amp works good with gains maxed out on a 3rd gen Tacoma. Installed it behind factory head. Hertz 6x9 front, factory rear and 12” powered Rockford sub. If you need more volume out of the front stage, bridge it and run it two channels or buy a bigger amp.

[bearcam]

Thanks a bunch, this was very helpful and I wish I watched this when I installed my system some years ago.

[Jaredius]

Thank you! Just bought that exact amp.

[ikennaihegbu]

Exactly what i have been looking for. Thanks

[cptklutch]

Why would you use a 40 hz test tone for mid drivers ? Usuaally use a 500-1K hz test tone

[mmengal]

One of the he best videos on youtube regarding car amp tuning, very well explained. Great keep it up.(From Pakistan)

[BigNasty.]

Thank foe the video. Will be referencing this video when I tune my new amp this weekend

[DIYers]

Current retailers partnered with me & coupon codes:
Coupon Code: 4DIYERS20 (20% off any order)


Coupon code: 4DIYERMR10 (10% off any order)

Coupon code: 4DIYERS (10% off any order)

Coupon code: LMD4DIYERS (Save $50 off order)

Coupon code: 4DIYERS (15% off any order)

Coupon code: 4DIYERS (Free shipping on all US orders)

[guillermomalagon]

Hi bro thanks for you video, i would like to know how is work your amplifier and it is a good quality because i am thinking to buy some one in 2023 , have you still have ?

[DoubleRDetailingNYC]

Very helpful video thank you for this information. We’ll done 🙏🏼

[joeyscleaninglady]

this amp allows you to connect power/ground to the radio harness is this what you did or did you go directly to the battery?

[ChosWeveR]

Great video! Any tips for doing this process on a subwoofer amp? I would guess it might be harder to detect the distortion in a bass signal by ear. I have a self-contained powered subwoofer so I cannot access the output side of the amp to use any kind of meter on which means I need to resort to setting the gain by ear.

[mattizmushroom]

Thanks for the help. just a heads up, u didnt mention anything about tuning full range speakers, ive a couple of 6x8’s i did the excact same as u only to discover that i basically had no bass or mid range, so i set the filter to off and it fixed it, my sound is superclean now, idk if thats what i was supposed to do or if thats only me but it helped alot.

[brianfrmovale]

Have done a video of an amp with both high and low pass crossover networks. The said amp is a Sundown Sia series?

[andrect]

Really nice video. I have a question if you could answer. I have a kenwood excelon dmx 706s with 4 infinity kappa 62IX power by Kenwood XR401-4 channel amp and doesn’t sound as clear i was expected like too much bass over clarity. How should i tune up my amp? Should I use the x’over before tuning the amp or after? I’m all confused 🫤

[johnboyc]

I have the same amp and experience a lot of high pitch hissing. Does yours do that as well?