I have a deh-4600mp and all the amps I have hooked up to it's RCA's have not distorted at all, even with the amp gains turned all the way up. The volume goes from 1-60 and I have to literally crank it into the 50's even with high gain settings to get full performance. The head unit claims to put out a 2V preout but I am setting my amps in the 5V range on the gains and struggling to make them distort in any way.
setup:
Old RF punch 200x2 run at 2ohm stereo on 4 coaxs-100 rms x 4. This used to run my sub and I had to use lots of boost and high gains to get the sub movin.
RF power 800.2 run at 4ohm mono (800rmsx1) on a 15" sub that is supposed to take only 500rms...you would think I would be bottoming this thing out at high volumes or hearing some audible distortion...it gets real loud but not till I have the h/u volume up 3/4 or more.
I even had a cheapo jvc 4 channel that I could crank the gains all the way up on too.

Has anybody else had this issue with a pioneer deck? Is something maybe wrong with it or what?

 

bump.....On the way to work I could turn the volume nearly all the way up without distortion . The gains on the amps are both set at 60-70%. At a volume of 20/60 I can barely hear the music. I guess Im going to crank the gains nearly all the way up.....I don't want to but for some reason my preout signal from the h/u must be really weak. Anyone else had this issue or have any suggestions???

 

bump.....You know something else I noticed...both amps are rated for 60amp fuses but both are sharing a 60amp fuse at the battery and each has a 30amp fuse at the distribution block, but fuses don't blow. One is rated at 800wrmsx1 and the other is 200wrmsx2. Doesn't it sound strange that neither one will blow a 30amp fuse??? One is running at 4ohm mono and the other is running in 2ohm stereo so you would think that they would draw alot of power. Anybody??

 

Well, Im gonna continue talking to myself :attention
I was checking out an eclipse 5435 h/u. Think that would solve my problems? It would be like $400 installed to get the warranty. Thats quite a bit of change for a h/u .

Edit:a pic of the install so far. Im not sure what direction to fire the sub yet...

 

HAHA nobody wants to reply to your thread

Thats a very weird problem that I dont think Ive ever dealt with. Needless to say the Eclipse will be a big improvement, but Im not 100% sure thats your problem

But free bump so you can hopefully figure it out.

Kevin

 

is the HU getting enough power?

 

I would guess so...It doesn't have a direct line to the battery or anything. It is just installed through the factory harness. Tonight I just set the gains really high (80% or so) and am going to live with it until I can try a h/u with stronger preamp outputs I guess. The amps are performing now but Im sure that the gains are set 4/5 up.
Im still baffled why neither of the amps are blowing the 30amp fuses at the distro block though. Aren't these old RF amps supposed to put a hurt on your electical system?

 

Your alternator only puts out about 110-115 amps, and even if theyre drawing a little more than 30 amps each, it wont blow until either you draw a little more than 30 amps for a long period of time, or until you draw alot more than 30 amps in a shorter time. Nonetheless you shouldnt be having the problems you are having.

 

i'm not trying to be an ***, cause i know the following will make me seem like one. does the H/U have an attenuation button that's been engaged the whole time? probably not, but what about your sound output when switching between the radio and playing a CD? if there's a difference in volume(the CD's volume will be lower) then you need to adjust the SLA function on the deck. sorry, just thought maybe this may help you.
EDIT
reading the specs in the owners' manual, i see the output on the RCAs to be 2.2V max at a 1K ohm impedance. i think the RMS for this output is about 1.5V? also, the amps' gains have an input impedance spec. i think the larger the difference between it and the H/U's output impedance, makes it harder to drive the amps' inputs. however, i'm not sure if that last statement is a valid one. i'm not an E.E. or anything.

 

You are right. It is 2.2V max with a real high impedence which I think just means that I have to turn the gains up real high. I have been playing with it for a couple hours and Im pretty impressed with how it sounds now. That RF power amp is a bad boy I was knocking stuff off my garage walls once I turned the gains up high enough .
I learned a little about rca preouts too. The 2.2V preout voltage rating doesn't mean jack and having your gains real high on amplifiers is sometimes necessary.

Hey kpr10is do you think that those fuses are restricting the voltage that the amps can pull? maybe I should get larger ones?

 

KCMaxima98, what are your amps' model #'s, anyhow? this may not be the logical solution, although a viable one-buy a line-driver. see cardomain.com

slicey

 

The one on the mids is a RF punch 200x2. It is running 2ohm stereo and gives 200x2 (12.6V). (100x4 on 4 coaxes)
On the sub is a RF power 800.2 (800 wrms at 4ohm mono 13.8V)
Im actually happy with how it sounds now. I just needed to crank up the gains because my preout signal is weak until you crank the volume up real high. I just need to get my components for up front and possibly get a h/u with stronger preouts for SQ purposes. Or get a line driver. Im going to look into that. Thanks for the tip.
You know my mysterious alternator whine problem disappeared when I replaced a cheap JVC 4 channel on my mids with my 8 year old punch......imagine that. I tried everything to get rid of that whine....except hooking up a different amplifier

 

like me, if SQ is your thing, your focus should be on more important issues-i.e. speaker placement, sound deadening, H/U's with quality DAC's, a solid electrical system, and paramount-a processor offering time-alignment for each amp channel that you run, a flexible x-over network because while passive networks of high-quality do exist on high-end components sets, they lack the adjustability to compensate for their freq. response interactions w/ a vehicle's crappy acoustics. and a high multi-band EQ. let us not forget the music produced by high-quality recording labels. Sheffield labs, as one example. i've got a pioneer premier DEH-P9 fiber-optic-coupled to a DEQ-P9 of the same make. sweet combo! i dig the old H.S. stylings(10+ yrs. old) from quality amp builders, like my orion and fosgate stuff. would love to have some old PPI amps of the late 80's.

 

I definitely need an eq. My old punch has what is called an "x" card that is set at 100hz. You can either have lp/hp at 100hz or full range, thats it. Im really lacking midbass with it crossed over at 100hz. Sitting in the garage it sounds fine at low volumes but when you get out on the highway the road noise drowns out the sub at low volumes and there is essentially no bass. I hate using loudness too but right now it is necessary....unless I say screw it and run the mids at full range but I know that would screw up the soundstage even more than it is now with front and rear coaxes each receiving the same amount of power. I've got a ways to go with this but my wife is starting to get annoyed

 

sorry to be rude, but unless you're prepared to become a single male again, i'd give up the car audio thing cause you got a long long way to go. your wife will have definately divorced you before you ever finish your system. she will probably take the stereo equipment that's in your car at the time in the settlement.