I have the 300x2, solid amp - my J&M rokkers are working flawlessly for the past 10 months - sound awesome and LOUD!

I too considered the Polk Audio's, kind of glad I went with J&M now! I'm a happy customer.....

Perhaps J&M are not as bad as some say...???

Just saying ......

 

the major factor to consider here is your adjustments as they relate to distortion.

most of us will never hear the distortion these systems are pumping out when you're hauling down the freeway at 80MPH.

Having gains set at 5-oclock position will only result in 1 thing.. blown speakers.

I haven't seen an installation yet that required gains be setup above 12-oclock position on the RF or SS amps.

 

Thanks for feedback everyone. Now Im going off memory here, but I thought the correct procedure for settings was to flatline the head unit base, treble and amp, and turn radio up as high as it will go til it distorts, then back down a hair. Then increase gains until it distorts and back that down a hair and you should be good to go. Adjust head unit bass and treble and go on down the road.
One other thing someone suggested was to wrap the speakers in a fill material that would breath but also create a denseness in fairing that would help with sound. much like that foam used to insulate the fairing for sound. Could that have caused the speakers to get too hot and contribute to blow or was it just the gain set at 5?
I must be going deaf if I had it cranked to 5 and still could have used some more volume. Just cant see how setting at 11 or 12 is gonna be any good once I get speakers back.

 

just keep in mind that the gain control settings and distortion are directly proportionate. The higher you turn that gain, the more distortion. That distortion at higher volumes coupled with AVC and then audio eq settings, cruising down the road is masked by the wind and all other road noise.

I'm in no way saying you did it wrong, that's not my intent at all so if I came off that way, my apologies sir. Just pointing out that with these bikes' audio setups.. common sense is your best friend. Because of the way MP3s are encoded, I find myself quite often having to turn volume up and down due to the varying range of music. I listen to just about anything (no rap) and you well know that audio ranges from one end of the spectrum to the other.

I'll give you a good example. This past weekend the wife and I are out riding around and pull up to an intersection where a bike was sitting at the opposing traffic light. He had his music so loud sitting still that I could hear it over my own and it sounded horrible. About 3 hours later, we run into the same guy outside of town at a little cafe. So I strike up conversation with him about his bike which led into an audio discussion about what he was running. Turns out he had it all installed 2 days prior at a local audio shop. He then proceeds to tell me that he has to bring the bike back in because somewhere along the way earlier that day he blew a left front speaker and a right lower speaker. I didn't say a word but certainly thought a few things to myself. His setup was Arc audio amp 3 pair of focal 6.5" speakers.

 

Hey UltraNutz, How ya doin? I appreciate all that you do and the great advise. Ill have to be much more careful in my settings this time around. Maybe I should be asking what NOT to do in my settings? I know to keep the gain at 12 or less, preferably around 11 o clock range, so what would the safe range for freq be? I had the avc at 2.
I guess I should also ask, while Im at it, when your testing initial volume distortion on head unit alone, whats the typical range before it starts to distort? How many bars? 3/4?
I know this is subjective and can be different from unit to unit, but being hard of hearing Id like to stay with a certain safe zone and not have to go through a third set of speakers anytime soon.
Lastly, when checking your volume setting for distortion, I had the bike off to hear the sound better. Would it be better to have the bike running for a better idea of sound going down the road?
Ok, thats all for now. My meds are kicking in and my mind is racing.
Again, greatly appreciate all the help.

 

the frequency will have no effect unless you have the crossover enabled in either HP or LP modes. You don't want LP so if you set the crossover switch to HP then with the RF amps you'll probably want to stay at 80 to 100. If you're using the SS amp, then it's set at 80 on HP.

I have mine at 2 as well and this should be fine for most but with an aftermarket head unit I'm starting to find it's more of a PITA than it's worth so when I get around to doing all my new audio setup, I'll probably disable it altogether.

13 bars is more than sufficient and below the clipping point of the stock head unit.

I think if you follow the above you'll be good to go sir.

No sir you're fine setting everything with the bike in the accessory position

anytime bud...

 

I just threw stock speakers back in until the replacement mm651's come in. When looking at the amp and the gains settings, there is no 12 o clock position. I can set to 11 o clock but that is maxed out. I thought 5 would be a safe zone but apparently not. Is this because 5 is too low an ohm ad is blowing the speakers or am i missing something?
Im attaching a pic I took to show how the amp is mounted and the settings display. The freq is up high in pic but is back around 80 at this point.
Thanks for any clarification on the gains.

 

What exhaust system are you running?

I ask because if your trying to hear music over them you may want to invest in an even better system to handle the volume needed.

When I ride down the road my volume is loud enough to be heard over the background noise without distorting the speakers with my quiet exhaust system. If you have background noise that is too loud, you can't even hear the bad sound coming through your speakers, and odds are you don't realize what is actually happening.

I'd say you are distorting the output and frying the speakers. Turning the main head to about 75% and adjusting the amp gain to achieve the volume that would be the loudest you ever want to turn it, is how I've always done this. Speaker voice coils can't handle distortion, they will overheat and burn out, sort of like an overloaded fuse.

 

Im running MGS true duals which are relatively quiet at cruising speeds. My initial setting by ear was flatline bas and treble, turn amp settings to zero, then raising volume to highest til I hear distortion, than back off a hair. Then increase gain til distortion and back off a hair and that should be it. But my clear backoff point was around gain of 5 and its already been stated that is too high and blowing speakers. Or maybe its too low? To get to the suggested 11 o clock mentioned in earlier posts the gain would be higher than 5. Is the setting of 5 too low and thats causing the speaker to blow?
Thanks again for all the help and feedback.

 

JohnnyC makes a very good and valid point and is precisely why I took that obnoxiously loud D&D 2-1 setup off my bike. Couldn't even hear myself think with that setup let-alone anything else..

Take a look at the pic below. There is an indent on both the gain and freq *****. If you're running gains set at 5 then you're maxed out and your are most certainly piping distortion into your system at a very early stage (volume level)