How to Tune a Car Amp (Beginners Guide)

Set gains, crossover points, and bass boost correctly for clean sound and speaker safety.

Step-by-Step: Tune Your Amp (Beginner)

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Prep: EQ flat, loudness OFF, amp gains fully down.
Crossovers: HPF (front/rear) 80 Hz; LPF (sub) 80 Hz. Subsonic: sealed 20 Hz / ported ~3–5 Hz below tuning.
Set gains: Play 1 kHz (speakers) / 40 Hz (sub) tone; set head unit ~80% max; raise gain to just before distortion, then back off.
Fine-tune: Bass-boost 0–3 dB max; adjust HPF/LPF overlap.
Balance: Center vocals; trim sub so it doesn’t mask vocals.
Quick starts: HPF 80 Hz • LPF 80 Hz • 12 dB/oct • Vol 75–85%.

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