Wetsounds help

[moto132]

I just installed a new syn dx-4 and a pair of rev 8's in my 2013 sport 200. I have them set up with 1 set of RCA's off ch1-2 with the switch set up to play 3-4 off the 1-2 RCA's also. I have my gains at about 60% and crossovers at 90 per wetsounds recommendation. The speakers are bridged on 1-2 and 3-4. First time out I wasn't getting much sound at all and I had found my RCA's to my deck were bad. I replaced those and it's better but it's not eat shattering like it was on my old 210 with an amp that was giving them half the power. Any ideas or suggestions? I have thought about adding splitters to run off 1-2 and 3-4 back to the deck but other then that everything is set up how it should be and I'm not getting the true performance out of them.

[a0128]

I assume you are splitting the inputs per the drawing.

[moto132]

As od right now have one set of RCA's going into input 1-2 and the selection switch is switched to give ch 3-4 signal from the 1-2 input. This week i am going to get some y's and move the input selector to 1-2 and 3-4 to see if that changes anything

[MLA]

What head unit RCAs are you using? Internal EQ setting? Loud on or off? whats your music source; BT, 3.5 head phone port, CD, tuner?

[moto132]

Im using front for the rcas. The internal eq setting is 0 across the board. I don't know if the cmd 7 has a loud or not but the in boat factory polks are plenty loud. The music source is a usb thumb drive with music on it

[MLA]

Yeah, LOUD sux SQ wise when you want loud music so make sure its off. Rest looks good

[moto132]

im gonna add the Y's this weekend and hopefully the added input voltage to the 3-4 channels will wake them up. if not i have no idea what to do next

[a0128]

I am running my REV8's off a JL 700/5. The hookup is the same as your WS SYN DX-4. Odin of Earmark CarAudio helped with the final setup. Here is what he emailed me:

"Yes, the REV8 should be set to HP, around 100Hz is where we typically set the REV8. This will protect the REV8 mid drivers from blowing.

Also, the XD700/5v2 needs to have ALL input RCA's fed by an RCA. That means that even if you have the input mode switch set to 2 or 4 channel input mode, you still need an RCA going into every input RCA if you are bridging any of the channels. You will need 2 RCA y-adapters to do this. Follow the diagram attached. This will give you the full output of the amplifier to your tower speakers."

He attached a diagram which I will post here. You can extrapolate the necessary info for your install, just plug in your SYN DX-4 into the diagram.

[moto132]

Thanks for all the help. The more i read the more i found that i need to add the Y's for the inputs. Ill do that friday and report back. It should be night and day difference

[David Analog]

When bridging that particular amplifier, versus the SD4 for example, you do need to populate all four RCA inputs. One set of bridged channels must both be Lefts while the other set of bridged channels must both be Rights. Otherwise both speakers are improperly mixed mono at the speaker voice coils....not the way to go even if you wanted to be in the mono mode. Presently having asymmetrical signals at the speaker poles is definitely losing gain....among other problems.

[moto132]

I added the Y's and it sounds a lot better! Do I want to leave the cross overs on "Hi pass" or should I change them to "full"?

[a0128]

I added the Y's and it sounds a lot better! Do I want to leave the cross overs on "Hi pass" or should I change them to "full"?

The amp should be set to HP, around 100Hz. This will protect the REV8 mid drivers from blowing.

[moto132]

Thats where i have them set. They sound awesome but I had to turn the gain up to about 3/4 to get some good volume out of them. Will that damage the speaker? Np distortion at all out of them at that level. Thats with my head unit turned up to 35 out of 40

[a0128]

Sounds like you are on the right track. (No pun intended). I did note in #2 (below) that the HU volume should be at 3/4, so if your max volume number is 40 then you should have had the HU volume set to 30 before adjusting the gain control.

Here is the section from the SYN DX-4 manual which I am sure you've already reviewed.

Here are 3 easy steps to follow.
1. Turn the gain all the way counter clockwise to the “min” point on the amp.
2. Increase the head unit/radio volume to ¾ of the maximum volume output while paying your favorite style/genre of music.
3. Gently turn the gain clockwise to increase the amplifiers output until the desired level of output is achieved.

**You will repeat these steps for both the front and rear channels independently**

You should not hear any distortion in your speakers at this level, if you do, slowly turn down the gain until distortion is no longer present. If you need further assistance please contact Wet Sounds Technical Services Department.


Another option is to adjust the gain control using a multimeter and a test tone CD (or MP3 file). I Googled some directions and posted them below:

Step 1: Disconnect the positive speaker wire(s) from the positive terminal(s) on the amplifier.

Step 2: Turn off all EQ settings or set them to zero, such as Bass, Treble, Loudness, Bass Boost, Processing and EQ functions.

Step 3: Turn the input sensitivity (gain) to zero. For most amplifiers, this is counter clockwise (CCW) to the farthest point. Make sure the input voltage selector is on “Low” if the amplifier has one.

Step 4: Set the head unit volume to 3/4th of its maximum volume. Turn your radio dial to it’s maximum volume and multiply that number by 0.75, this will get you 75% of your maximum volume.

Step 5: Now we must find the voltage that we need to set the gain to. Voltage = square root of watts x ohms. For example, a 500W RMS amplifier at 2 Ohms would configure like this: 500W RMS X 2 Ohms = 1000W. Now take the square root of 1000W and your voltage should be 31.62V if you’re running an amplifier with one gain control. Some amplifiers have 2 gain controls so treat it as two separate amplifiers. If the amplifier is 100W RMS by 4-channels for a total of 400 watts but has two gain controls, use the power output of ONE channel and use that for your voltage calculations. (EX: Square Root of 100W RMS x 2 Ohms = Voltage for each gain control per channel.)

In your case you should be setting your gains to achieve a reading of 40V on the multimeter. 400W x 4 Ohms = 1600. Square root of 1600 = 40

Step 6: Make 100% sure the positive speaker wire(s) are disconnected from the amplifier. Once double checked, insert a test CD with a sine-wave test tone at 0dB level in the frequency range of 50Hz to 60Hz for a subwoofer amplifier or 1,000Hz for a midrange amplifier. Set the head unit to repeat for continuous play of the test tone.

Step 7: Connect a digital multi meter set to AC Volts to the speaker outputs of the amplifier. The positive voltmeter lead will touch the positive speaker wire terminal and the negative lead will touch the negative speaker terminal. If everything is done correctly, a low voltage will be displayed on the voltmeter, usually 6V or below. If you get a high voltage right away, repeat steps 2 and 3. Slowly turn the input sensitivity (gain) up on the amplifier until the target voltage you calculated earlier is reached.

Step 8: Adjust every amplifier in your system using this method; each amplifier is now set to its maximum unclipped output level. Turn the volume on your head unit to zero and turn it off.

Step 9: Reconnect all the positive speaker wire(s) to their respective positive terminals. Double check all wiring and proceed to turn the headunit on. Remove the test tone CD and play a musical track that you are familiar with. Listen for any distortion in the form of buzzing, crackling, hissing, whomping, and various other noises that intrude on the instruments of your music.

[moto132]

Still having some trouble getting good volume out of my rev 8's. I added a line driver, turned the gain's on the amp down and adjusted the line driver but got no boost in sound, i just got more feedback. I am considering ordering a different head unit since my cmd 7 only has a 2v output and since i am splitting it the output voltage is cut in half. i thought the line driver would solve that problem but it did nothing. Any suggestions?