Took my scooter to a local guy who does bike audio and got some questionable advice. He was asked to fix a problem with my amp cutting out and tune my system.
System
Stock 15 head unit flashed 4 speakers no amp
Amp Arc Moto 600.4
2 BT line levelers
Front speakers JL Audio ZR650 CSI's
Rear Speakers JL M770's in the lids.

He fixed the amp cutting out issue, which had given me a headache since install, so that was worth the $120 just to eliminate the frustration.
The tune and advice I found questionable - Previous ran my head unit maxed at about 75% volume.
Gain was set close to 75%. I tuned by ear.

He tells me now with his tune gain about 40% that I can run the head unit full volume???? Bass is cranked 1 bar short of max on the headunit and treble is 3 bars past center.
My thoughts was this was bad advice as the head unit will clip and distort at max volume. The system doesn't put out the volume I'd expect - He says the amp is most likely the issue.
Do amps wear out over time?
Are my speakers power hungry?
Suggestions on amp? Was looking at the JL M400/4 but don't want to have even less volume.

He questioned several aspects of my build, flash of head unit, use of 2 BT line levelers.

Looking for opinions on his advice and my plans to tweak...Thanks

 

Where are you located?
Find an actual sled audio shop that has dealt with Rushmore bikes.

 

 

A lot of ways to skin the cat in the sled audio world. Several different tests on the Rushmore HUs showed that the HU starts to send dirty signal at 3-4 bars from max thus I would stick to ur assumption about the 3/4 max rule.

The bass and treble setting are a bit odd but to each their own.

I would have a peek at the Line Leveler gains and make sure they are set to default and if ur bored u can bump the gains on those to no more than 1 o'clock as that signal starts to get dirty beyond that point.

From that point I would invest in a $10 DMM and unhook the speakers to identify where ur ideal gains are for that amp and speakers. Mark the amp gains for that setting, turn the gains down to zero, hook the speaker up then tune by ear as u did before but respecting the max gains on all three of those devices. And make sure that after u get things dialed in a bit, fine tune with the engine running with a very keen ear for distortion.

Ur best bet is to borrow an SMD DD1 from someone as that will guarantee u a clean signal at each device.

If it clips after doing all that then simply back ur gains off a tad. Read the above stickie for all the gory details.

T.

 

Have a friend that lives in Wentzville, been to the sports bar by the movie theatre, nice spot. You might want to find a spot closer to St Louis to take your bike.

 

 

As Tailwind said I agree in I see clipping w/ 1K hz at about 2 or 3 bars away from max from the stock HU. With 500 Hz it is about 4 or 5 bars from top. So I never run my HU turned up that high. I adjusted my HU and amp looking for the right voltage output at the amp. I'm very pleased with the sound. On highway can hear all 4 speakers around me turned up a notch over halfway.

I agree with you in that I don't think his tuning is impressive.

 

Save your hard earned cash, do a little research, listen to audiheads on here and tune it yourself. It's actually easer than you think and you'll know it's done correctly.

 

Yeah, I called another place today in the STL area, they tune by ear. I can do that Need to get a volt meter or Distortion Detector and ask for a little more help on the Forum to get the most out of what I got and except the limitations of what is basically 4 -6.5" speakers or buck up and ditch my current rear lids. I expected my current set up to be louder, with the recent tune it has less. Maybe I was high with my gains close to 75% on the Arc Moto but I think he is low at 40% and I don't like turning up the stock HU up to full volume... never been a good idea, IMHO with any audio equipment and my recent tuner seemed to think it was plus.