How many of you out there really know exactly what the gain control on an amplifier does? I know I spent a fair amount of time installing professionally without really knowing what I was doing when it came to level setting, relying on the old 3/4 volume trick to accomplish the task. While this can yield okay results, why stop there? I mean, did you really spend all that money on product to get okay results? Or do you want to get the most for your money and long, reliable operation? Before we get into the benefits of proper level setting, think about some of the following scenarios, that I am sure most of you have faced and are generally caused by improper level setting.

1. You installed that dream subwoofer system and after you twisted a bunch of knobs, it sure was loud wasn't it. Something inside you said, it doesn't sound quite right, but you're sure as he'll not going to turn anything down right? Before long, you let the magic smoke out of the sub and there goes your dream sub system and there you go trying to get it warrantied.

2. You just got done hooking up a new four channel amp running your brand new interior speakers and they sound okay, as long as you don't turn the radios volume past 14. You find it hard to get the exact volume you want. 11 is not quite loud enough and 12 is a bit too loud. You also notice that there is an annoying whine as you drive down the road and when no music is playing you hear this weird hissing noise.

What are some of your experiences with these types of situations and how did you handle them? What other problems have you run into that you feel may be related to improper level setting?

In part 2, we will get into the nuts and bolts of exactly what gain is and what effect it really has on the amplifier.