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I have a a Kicker zx350.2 running kicker tower speakers, and a zx300.1 running my sub. My question is, when I turn up the gain on the sub amp to get more bass, I get distortion, and when I turn the gain up on the other amp I hear a click and the green protection LED goes out. If I leave the gain all the way down on both amps everything seems fine, but not much performance. If anybody has had this problem, I would definetely appreciate some advice.
There is some troubleshooting info in the manual for the 350.2 here.
I'd check that out.
I followed a tuning guide that Tim from Wetsounds posted on Wakeworld. I ended up with all of my amps at nearly 0 gain. This is assuming you have an eq, but you can figure out what to do if not:
1) Unplug all the RCA’s from your amps. Turn all the amp gains down.
2) Turn the radio up to find the maximum volume. Set the system with the head unit volume at 85% of max. This is the loudest the radio should ever go. Radios will create distortion the higher the volume is turned up. Which will create distortion on the output signal before reaching the amps. So find a safe easy to remember volume. If the head unit is 35. Max should be 30. If the head unit is 40. Maximum should be 30 to 35 and so on.
3) Once you have found the maximum volume set point. Turn the radio back down. Use a test CD that you are familiar with for tuning. Something that has highs and lows and vocals.
4) Make sure the settings on the radio are flat. You should not tune a system with the treble or bass up.
5) On the top of the WS 420. Set the gains at the mid level. Make sure to adjust both the main gain and the aux gain. Set them both to this mid level. This is the level where most systems will be. The WS 420 has the ability to provide more voltage if there are long rca runs but most boats will be in the middle as this is a safe setting.
6) Make sure all the eq adjustments are flat. Right in the middle. Plug in all the rcas from the eq to the amps.
7) Plug in just the RCA’s for the in boat speakers amp. Set the high pass crossover at around 80HZ to 100HZ.
8) Turn the radio up to the max safe level found in step 2. Turn the eq up to about ¾ of max volume.
9) Slowly turn the gain up until you hear the speakers distort. Slowly back off the gain from that point a small amount until you hear the speakers play as loud as they can with no distortion.
10) Unplug the RCA’s from that amp and plug the RCA’s into the amp running the tower speakers. Set the high pass crossover on the amp for the tower speakers at 80HZ to 100HZ.
11) Slowly turn the gain up until you hear the speakers distort. Slowly back off the gain from that point a small amount until you hear the speakers play as loud as they can with no distortion.
12) Unplug the RCA’s from that amp and plug the RCA’s into the amp running the subwoofer. Set the low pass crossover on the amp for the subwoofer at 80HZ. On the WS 420. Turn the bass level to max. The ring is a frequency adjustment. All the way down to the left is 30 HZ. You will want to put this around 60 to 80HZ. So about ¼ of the way up.
13) Slowly turn the gain up until you hear the speakers distort. Slowly back off the gain from that point a small amount until you hear the speakers play as loud as they can with no distortion.
14) Turn the radio back down and plug in all RCA’s and do a final check with everything playing. You should now have the gains set at “unity” Meaning they are all at the same level and you are matched across the board.
15) Note that you can adjust the high pass and low pass filters to tailor the sound to each boat. As you can set the high pass higher to get more volume but at the expense of losing some low end mid bass.
16) You can then fine tune the sound on the eq as well. Using the knobs and rings. Most systems will not need much in terms of boost.
17) You can then leave the eq volume set and use the radio as the main volume. And then turn the in boats down with the towers up or vice versa depending on you goals.