Evaluating headunit distortion with distortion detector

I used an smd distortion detector last night. The detector shows that my headunit is distortion free up to volume level 33 out of 35, which means level 33 should be used as my max volume for setting my amp gains. does this seem correct? It just seems high to me. I've always set max volume at around 80 percent, but the detector is telling me I can go much higher with this headunit, which is an alpine cda 9886m. I tested it a bunch of times with the applicable tones and it was the same every time.

It's possible. Did you use the 0db track? I would just lower the volume one or two and tune it from there.

When I checked my HU it would show distortion at 40Hz around 25 out of 33, but at 1000Hz would not distort at all up to 33 volume. I called SMD support and they said every HU would be different, but you would see that in some of them. They said to tune to the lowest volume for either Hz signal. In my case 25 volume.

how do you guys like the results using the smd? after everything was tuned using it did you make any other adjustments? I've been wanting one of these for a while but not sure its worth the investment

Mine has been very helpful! Overall my system sounds better and usually get more play time off my batteries. My ears don't pick up distortion to well so my gains were set a little high.

Love my SMD CC-1 and DD-1. Every head unit is different, my iDA-X100M through the Imprint box doesn't show distortion even at 100% volume. The volume control is linear either...most of that output voltage is at the last 25% of the volume. I tuned my setup at full volume.

Originally Posted by Houstonshark

It's possible. Did you use the 0db track? I would just lower the volume one or two and tune it from there.

I just followed the manual and ran the 40Hz track and the 1kHz track. I measured from the headunit directly and from the amps, and it was always the same - no distortion at all with the 40Hz track, and distortion at level 34 out of 35 with the 1kHz track.

Originally Posted by bass10after

how do you guys like the results using the smd? after everything was tuned using it did you make any other adjustments? I've been wanting one of these for a while but not sure its worth the investment

Anyone with a 1999 Mastercraft is okay by me. Once I'm done with this round of adjustments (probably a week or so) I'd be happy to send you mine as long as you send it back within a reasonable time. I'll send you a PM when I'm done and we can exchange addresses and such.

Originally Posted by phillywakeboarder

Anyone with a 1999 Mastercraft is okay by me. Once I'm done with this round of adjustments (probably a week or so) I'd be happy to send you mine as long as you send it back within a reasonable time. I'll send you a PM when I'm done and we can exchange addresses and such.

awesome man that'd be great! I had my system tuned at my buddies shop after i installed everything, but it was all by ear and done in about 10 min. I think it sounds good but I always wonder if i'm leaving any meat on the bone or driving it a tad too high. Its a very fine line sometimes. I'd surely take good care of it and have it back in whatever time frame you'd want!

Even if its not showing distortion at close to full volume i'd be leery of running it that high. There's a lot more frequencies in music that it leaves out. I'd set the head unit to 27-28 and then move down the line to the eq then to the amps. I've watched the steave mead video on this and just from tuning systems in the past i think you'll still get great results and be on the safer side lowering the h/u down a tad. The advantage to tuning it to max volume is you don't have to remember the sweet spot number if it gets fouled up. also make sure youre loudness settings are off and everything in the eq is set to flat. 0 bass 0 mid 0high. sometimes if the deck loses power or gets reset that all changes.

Hey detox, I had a little mishap this weekend and fried a speaker (see my post about sending power to 650's . . .) so I'm gonna need the detector for an extra week or 2 but I'll get back in touch with you when I'm finished. Probably mid-June.