Amp gain question

I've got a "new to me" 2013 LSV, and started tuning the system this morning... First thing I noticed was with the amp gains set to the absolute minimum, and the HU volume turned to about 4/5 max volume, it's already pretty loud (not great, but loud)....

My understanding was that amp gains at a minimum = no sound. Am I incorrect, or is the sound possibly coming from just the HU, and not the amps?

I haven't done any wiring in this boat, so not familiar with what was done.

For reference, here is my equipment:
Exile xi800.4 - pushing 2 XM9s
Exile xi800.4 - pushing 4 stock Kicker cabins
Exile xi1500.1 - pushing Exile xi12d sub
Exile ZLD

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Originally Posted by csm

I've got a "new to me" 2013 LSV, and started tuning the system this morning... First thing I noticed was with the amp gains set to the absolute minimum, and the HU volume turned to about 4/5 max volume, it's already pretty loud (not great, but loud)....

My understanding was that amp gains at a minimum = no sound. Am I incorrect, or is the sound possibly coming from just the HU, and not the amps?

I haven't done any wiring in this boat, so not familiar with what was done.

For reference, here is my equipment:
Exile xi800.4 - pushing 2 XM9s
Exile xi800.4 - pushing 4 stock Kicker cabins
Exile xi1500.1 - pushing Exile xi12d sub
Exile ZLD

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Your ZLD has its own Gains, most of the time when a ZLD is involved the amps gain will be set very low, 10-20% max.

If you want to reset the gains then first, figure out the Max on your head unit.
Lets say 50.
set that volume to 40 now. < this is because you don't want the head unit sending out distortion >
On the ZLD you want to do the same thing, set the volume of that sound field to 80% and tune your gains from there.
Now you can adjust the cabins amp gain. Play several different tracks, this need to be high definition tracks.
You will want to make sure your cabins are not extending fully, also make sure it sounds musical, not like the speaker is over working its self.
You will need to do this for the tower as well.
Also on the sub, you will want to play several tracks and listen and feel the woofer extension.
To me subs make a pop, or strange boom when they over extend.

This is a down and dirty way to tune a stereo, it will get you sounding pretty good but its by no means what a professional or a shop can do for tuning.

Cool, thanks... That's pretty much what I did, and it sounds pretty good... just wasn't sure why there was sound, but didn't think about the ZLD's gains.... I didn't touch those from where the previous owner had them, so I'm guessing those are set pretty high.

Great setup.

There is some great tune and tips on YouTube by exile if you want more detail, mike is correct, set each zone individually to your ear.