i know about the link to properly set up the gains on JL's site, but i was wondering if 2/3 way up is too high? my alpine headunit preout is 2v i think... right now my gains are not even 1/3 up... more like 15%, was wondering if i raise it up halfway or a lil more than halfway would it be too high?

i have a multimeter i bought used from someone, has no instructions, so i really dont know how to operate the damn thing. On JL's site it says to use one, but not sure how, if anyone knows how to use this please let me know.

 

I'm far from an audio guru, but correct if I'm wrong, but there's no "set gain standards" to any system. It will vary from system to system, and IMO it all depends on what other equipment (speakers) you're pushing, and the amount of power you want to push. General rule of thumb, and this will apply to most amps on the market, the higher the gains, the more distortion and or "noise" you'll get. So if you can get the power you want (db level) by only going half way on the gain, that's not a bad thing.

Personally, whenever I have setup a sound system, I like to set everything low, pop in a good mix CD with a wide range of music, crank the stereo to levels I normally listen to, and then go ahead and play with the gains of the amp. You'll hear the point to which your equipment is "stable" to and not. You can then make the final adjustments and tailer it to your listening pleasure. You also want to be considerate to your equipments load handling specs, and keep within those limits. If you're pumping 200watts into a speaker that can only handle 100watts, you may not want to go above 50% gain on that channel.

Once again, I only state what I know from first hand experience, I'm no expert in this field, but If you apply a little bit of common sense to a little bit of automotive electronic knowledge, that's what I can come up with in terms of an aswer for you..