loudness feature and dd1

[twisted1]

Hey yall I have pioneer 4300dvd an was wondering if I should set gains with all headunit flat then swap over to loudness or just set em with loud on? Some songs off usb an ipod are low so I like to use sla an loud

[knowledge]

set it were ever u like it then use the DD1. ive noticed that when i did it with all flat the set it were i wanted it will clip some what, if i redid it with the DD1. i still dont understand why would u use the DD1 with all setting flat when i dont listen to my music flat.

[Wicks]

The DD-1 can only look for distortion at 40Hz and 1kHz.

Therefore you need to set all the levels flat so that you are adjusting your entire frequency band to the point of 1% distortion (clipping).

If you boost, then that frequency range could easily start clipping while the other frequency's are OK.

If you knew that your boosted frequency was directly at 40Hz then you could use the DD-1 to monitor it.

"Loudness" is a volume dependent boosting feature. You get more boost at lower volumes. As you turn up the volume, the amount of boost decreases as its not needed anymore.

As long as you knew that at your max usable volume, the Loudness boost was no longer preset then you should be fine, but all Loudness features are probably different and I haven't really looked at a response curve for one to know for sure.

In a nutshell, you want to make sure that you are not driving your input signal past clipping.

The DD-1 is a great tool to find your clipping point but its limited to only two frequency's.

Therefore if you boost outside of those two frequency's, you run the risk of accidentally clipping.

The best tools to absolutely guarantee that you're not clipping would be a frequency generator and an O-scope.

With those, you could sweep the entire frequency band and monitor your output signal live and tell if your boosted settings are causing clipping.

BUT that is rather expensive to do.

If you're that concerned about it, you could check your local audio shop and see if they could perform such a service?

I would hope that a quality shop would contain a frequency generator, o-scope, RTA, etc...

[n8ball2013]

Loudness is directly tied too distortion leave it off and accept that some songs are loouder than others

[meade916]

sounds to me like some people still don't understand how the DD-1 or an o-scope for that matter works.

40hz and 1000hz are used as a REFERENCE. It is detecting distortion point of whatever component is in the chain.....has nothing to do with the frequency, it is just the ones we used for REFERENCE. Just like has been the industry standard for years. Just because we used 1000 and 40 does not mean you are going to go into distortion if you boost 500 a little bit. You will go into distortion when you "boost 500" TOO FAR simply because you took something that wasn't distorting, and made it distort, by boosting it. Just like using the loudness function. Boosting (too far) is bad no matter what method of setting gains you use, or what frequency you used.

when you set your gains with EVERYTHING flat, it is OK to adjust your eq settings to your taste when done. When done correctly, you shouldn't have the urge to boost ANYTHING to the point of distortion because it should already sound better. Instead of compensating what you were "missing" with the eq, now your gains are finally set right and it shouldn't be as aweful, to make you want to boost a signal. So if you take the eq sliders, boost as LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.... and focus on CUTTING instead, you can still have a distortion free setup.

but back to the original post - using boost will often add distortion so i don't use mine at all. Again, you will find no need for that once you set your gain on the bass amp PROPERLY for the first time in your life...

[meade916]

In a nutshell, you want to make sure that you are not driving your input signal past clipping.

The DD-1 is a great tool to find your clipping point but its limited to only two frequency's.

Therefore if you boost outside of those two frequency's, you run the risk of accidentally clipping.

The best tools to absolutely guarantee that you're not clipping would be a frequency generator and an O-scope.

With those, you could sweep the entire frequency band and monitor your output signal live and tell if your boosted settings are causing clipping.

BUT that is rather expensive to do.

distortion happens BEFORE clipping so ill take the DD-1 over an O-scope any day....even if my name wasn't on it.

don't confuse people here. The DD-1 "works on two frequencies" only because those are the frequencies we reference on our disc. That has absolutely NOTHING to do with the other frequencies that are played during actual use.

you make it sound like "you are good to go at 40hz and 1000hz but fucked if you play anything else"....which is totally bogus. Other people seem to think that too, i have no idea why.

[Wicks]

In a nutshell, you want to make sure that you are not driving your input signal past clipping.

The DD-1 is a great tool to find your clipping point but its limited to only two frequency's.

Therefore if you boost outside of those two frequency's, you run the risk of accidentally clipping.

The best tools to absolutely guarantee that you're not clipping would be a frequency generator and an O-scope.

With those, you could sweep the entire frequency band and monitor your output signal live and tell if your boosted settings are causing clipping.

BUT that is rather expensive to do.

distortion happens BEFORE clipping so ill take the DD-1 over an O-scope any day....even if my name wasn't on it.

don't confuse people here. The DD-1 "works on two frequencies" only because those are the frequencies we reference on our disc. That has absolutely NOTHING to do with the other frequencies that are played during actual use.

you make it sound like "you are good to go at 40hz and 1000hz but fucked if you play anything else"....which is totally bogus. Other people seem to think that too, i have no idea why.

Confusion not intended, sorry Sir.

I am in no way implying that an O-scope is better then a DD-1. I have a DD-1 and love it. I also have access to a very nice O-scope as well and I always use the DD-1.

The point I was trying to make was that it would be difficult to tell if you had distortion if your DD-1 was looking at 40Hz and you were boosting at another frequency at the same time or afterwards.

There are a lot of people who suggest to tune the system with the EQ already set. I was just trying to explain how that could be troublesome.

I absolutely agree to tune with the settings flat and go from there, cutting and not boosting.

[twisted1]

Pioneer 4300 dvd Focal k2 comps on rockerfosgate power 400.4

2 ssa gcon 10s on dc2k on 3 batteries. Shit sounds like someone talking threw a megaphone with loud off. Like no tweets an bass weak. Hit loud button then ir will sound great i check with dd1 an no distortion

[IBleedMusick]

Pioneer 4300 dvd Focal k2 comps on rockerfosgate power 400.4

2 ssa gcon 10s on dc2k on 3 batteries. Shit sounds like someone talking threw a megaphone with loud off. Like no tweets an bass weak. Hit loud button then ir will sound great i check with dd1 an no distortion

I think there may be an underlying problem man. There is no way with the list you're giving should the loudness make the system sound better. Hmmmm.

[Wicks]

Pioneer 4300 dvd Focal k2 comps on rockerfosgate power 400.4

2 ssa gcon 10s on dc2k on 3 batteries. Shit sounds like someone talking threw a megaphone with loud off. Like no tweets an bass weak. Hit loud button then ir will sound great i check with dd1 an no distortion

I think there may be an underlying problem man. There is no way with the list you're giving should the loudness make the system sound better. Hmmmm.

^^Agreed.

Your list of equipment should sound great with no Loud button or other boosting/tweaking.

Have you started at the HU only with the DD-1 and worked your way down the system?

Are the settings truly flat? Any other processing modes or features turned on?

Do you have another HU to try instead of the 4300?

Maybe even an iPod, just to utilize a clean signal.