Yes most definitely. So many ways to have the same end result..

If u going to recommend just one to set the gains witch one you recommend??

When you adjust the gain for distortion either for the smd or multimeter, did you move the crossover frequency for the lpf all the way up. My polk audio has a freq of 50hz-500hz on the knob and on hpf it's 20hz-400hz. Need to adjust my gain this weekend and while I know how to get the target voltage I don't know what to do to the frequency before I start moving the gain knob to PROPERLY reach the targeted voltage

You the man bro,thanks

Personally I don't want to spend $1000 on a couple items that are going to sit in my toolbox most of the time. I switch cars every 3 to 5 years so...

Thanks for the tools!

@@DIYAudioGuy no prob! enjoy :)

@@meade916 I was pleasantly surprised to see the DD1 detect distortion when there was no clipping. I knew that system did not sound right.

You make awesome stuff bro! My DD1 and CC1 are well worth the money. So then I got the hard case for them. And now I've got the TMM1 for the fans. Turns heads man. Badass stuff!!

I’m an owner of the DD-1+ and the original DD-1 HV, CC-1, IM-SG (first gen), AMM-1, and the VM-1 OM-1 and the TM-1. I also have a TPi meter/scope in my kit, a polarity tester and multiple connection options for any and every install need or tuning. I use the Liumy for work. For me, it’s the perfect travel set for on the road installs, audio monitoring, or just tinkering. From NY to CA, high heat, to cold weather, no cooked equipment, and everything is clean. Thanks DIY Audio Guy, and Thanks meade916 for the videos and tools. The audio world needs all your support to DIYR! (Do it yourself right.)

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Def recommend the dd1+ it's just a little more but worth every penny

I shouldn't laugh but this comment was funny 🤣

​@@tridelv702 more 'happy' than funny.. good 4 him. 😊 🎉

I wish I had half of his knowledge and skill.

It all boils down to price versus performance no matter who you are and no matter where you are.

steve meade makes money on people that think math is scary, and now they got a little blinky light for 300bux, and steve using scare tactics to preach how everyone's system is clipping, and if they keep letting it clip their subs will explode.

Plus if the Amp ever dies you can use the scope to trouble shoot and repair it if you choose.

@@nickn7939 Sounds like a good reason to pay attention in math class.

I think it's unfair too ues ones product and mass produced these units to sell at a very expensive price for what is a simple light the smd dd1 is good for what i does but Steve should be ashamed for over pricing a piece of equipment that only has a light no screen and advised everyone that they need he's product so he can continue too live out his expensive life style. I bought one because i too fell into the track . I repair and install and modified car audio and im a electrician as my job i been installing car audio since i was 12 and since then i love car audio i remember the real and fun reason the days of car audio and electronics and it's why i made my hobbie too learn it i will simply say dont believe the hype i uesd the tool that cost me up too 200 plus shipping with a cd and a blinking light knowed as the smd dd1 and i returned it the next day reset my gains in my system and too my ears i was more pleased with my sound again i noticed that my gains were a little lower than with tool . The car audio and sales is all about making money now . And selling cheap products made and deigned with cheap parts what does matter if it says made in usa with cheap parts from China. People stop making these con artists rich they over price there gear and boasting there worth all over the internet. Car audio was never about money it was about music and joy and products that were way better than todays junk for half the cost i should know i been repairing amps and electronics since i was 17 in fact my amps are modified and are old school Components cause i know how well they outperform todays way over priced junk back in the day you did get what you payed for.

Yep, lot of ways to do it.

That would be nice.

Awesome!

Just remember how you set your gains last time and do it again. Or make a mark, you don't need a dd1

He is a good dude.

You are exactly right.

I would appreciate that, but no pressure.

If you train your ear it is a great tool. But a lot of people that set by ear have not done that. If you are ever listing to live music, and it sounds like crap, it is because the guy running the mixer in the back of the room has not trained their ear. (or the venue just sucks for audio)

@@DIYAudioGuy i don't like live music, i think it lacks quality, i like the bassdrum through the subs but not Moore than that... I've trained my ears since 87 and i put a finger in each ear and listen close to the bass... when I tune in the headunit I've always done as you also do and then i turn the gain on the amp for the woofer and set a mark aso for mid and treble.. and this is done with a original CD i use scorpions-passion rules the game for mid and treble and 80s pop/disco for the bass...sometimes hard rock.. some streaming are okay but most of it is too compressed and has no quality... (one day i will try to connect my vinyl record player and listen to that, just for fun 😊)

Cool

25hz, One test you can also do when settings gains and tuning in conjunction with your ears, what I do is use my Oscilloscope as a visual guide of what my amps are doing with my sub/bass/mid bass/midrange/mid high/brightness frequencies and what ones clip for adjustments. Whatever clips, or is wasted energy and can be filtered out, or EQ’ed.

Couldn't agree more!

I certainly don't consider myself a pro. Hence the channel name DIY audio guy. But when I think about the rat's nest of wires that I had in my car back in the day, I've definitely gotten better.

That's why the scopes are so popular, they do a lot more. I was pleasantly surprised by the DD1. It does one thing, but does it very well.

@@DIYAudioGuy and thank you for making a great video on these tools

I honestly was not expecting the DD1 to be any better than the scope, but I already had that plate amp pulled off so I gave it a try. I was shocked.

Right, no need to drag a laptop or tablet into the car.

@@DIYAudioGuy except when tuning a processor unfortunately…

Great to hear!

His stuff is very easy to use.

Steve is certainly polarizing.

I agree.

It all boils down to budget, they are great if you can afford them/justify the expense.

Right! It's easy and you don't have to think.

Thanks!

That's definitely on my wish list.

My goal for the video was to provide information for people that are sitting on the fence.

I was really shocked at how quick that plate amp distorted.

0.4 millls difference 😂😂😂😂😂😂wow

I think we will eventually get to the point where every amplifier has a clip light.

Awesome!

Glad you enjoyed it.

👍Smart

​@@DIYAudioGuy so I basically got completely ripped by Steve Meade saying I can set my gains with a tweeter just as well as his smd tool. I've seen multiple videos of people testing his smd tool against a tweeter with a capacitor to set gains on a bass amp. The red light on the smd comes on and off as the the buzz of the tweeter stops and starts. So what's your take on using a tweeter to set amp gains. Because he literally ripped into hard . Said I'm as smart as a box of nails 😂

I dropped a link to the video of him rippin into me. It's a bit rude and not very mature the way he spoke to me. I would expect a mature response from man like him. Anyways if u have time to go over the conversation that's in the link. I'd greatly appreciate it sir. Thanks and love your videos

It's a great amp.

A lot of people agree with you.

Far too many people want me just to tell them what to buy.

tldr: Use this if you are broke or do not set up amplifiers often: amzn.to/3SYtrm6 Use this if you are a pro or if you do this frequently: lddy.no/14doe

It is a great amp.

For me it is the Alpine PDX-M12, a bit more power on tap.

Glad it was helpful!

Yea, SMD stuff ain't cheap. The scope works fine if you want to save some cash.

I think the best part is you don't need to drag out a laptop, connect an app to a phone or anything like that. The devices are mostly self-contained.

Right, you have to test everything.

Yea, a lot of people destroy their gear with the gain knob.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am a big fan of clip lights on amps. Very handy for the typical DIY'er.

He gives them away to these popular YT channels because he gets free advertisement out of them. Advertisements turn into sales and sales turn into profit.

When your using the clip lights, are you using a -5dB or -10dB sine wave?

Yeah, more than one person used that method. Not sure if they're joking.

@@DIYAudioGuy It's worrying if they did..

You can do most of that with a good clamp meter, but the AMM1 is designed with audio in mind.

@@DIYAudioGuy Rather difficult to use a clamp & volt meter when you are testing on music with the ever changing impedance loads, i think that is what he was getting at.

Some shops won't do that.

Smart.

Right, you don't have to drop big cash on the high-end stuff, just avoid the bottom of the barrel. Pioneer, for example, makes solid amps that are clean and do rated. Rockford Fosgate Prime amps even have a clip light.

@@DIYAudioGuy 100% decent brand doesn't necessarily mean buy the top end. You are correct. I'd rather own a Prime RF than some dubious brand.

ATV / boat / motorcycle seems to be the future of the industry. It is a real challenge to put a radio in a modern car.

Definitely want to get my hands on one of those at some point.

The best thing about the SMD tools is that you don't need to plug into a computer.

@DIY Audio Guy agreed. I still have to plug into the dm-608 dsp once in a while. I have the bt-24 bluetooth dealio but it's just easier to adjust thing on the laptop. It's really cool to stream hq files and bypass the head unit though. We live in a cool day n age with tons and tons of goodies to play with.

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OH YEAH... AUTOSOUND???.... %99.999999999 "SQ"..... 0.000000001 "Competition"... Know your customers... Very few Competition types out there... as SQ goes... Nicer the car the better the SQ.. regardless of GEAR. BDBD/2023

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Glad to hear!

Yes.

Please do!

He has certainly had a big impact on car audio.

Cool! I have a way to set crossovers with math and a DMM. I would like to compare my method with the CC1.

Thanks for watching.

That also works.

Passive radiator.

@@DIYAudioGuy I didn't have the time to watch all of your videos (or at least the most important ones). How does the shape of a box affect the sound? And how do you match the box to a fitting sub (&passive)? I'm asking because these weirdly shaped cabinets for the sides inside the trunk exist. Thanks!!

@@GamingShiiep The shape of the box is not affect the sound.

I'd do an infinite baffle 15" or 18" on 500-1,000 watts. It should fit most tire wells. Its fairly common in serious vehicles. Can play loud below 20Hz if needed. It does require cutting metal out of your car.

Tuning by ear works IF you know what you're doing. Sounds like you know what you're doing, so save your money.

@@DIYAudioGuy this is true. I learned from good installers when I was a sales guy at an audio store. They adjusted many systems from people who did it themselves to the proper levels. Many times they would let me listen before they changed anything so I learned what it sounded like. I also got to hear the before and after almost every time so I definitely trained my ears to know what I'm hearing. I've got friends that insist they know what they are doing and have seen them blow countless speakers and subs over the years. Seemingly never learn, some people anyways.

Yea, that is what I was hopping to show.

You have to double the power to gain 3 DB. So you're not wrong there. Plus there are so many other factors in the real world that will impact the actual amount of power and amplifier will give you. But that's not the big issue. The big issue, even after decades, there are brands that just slap random numbers on the side of the amp. So there are a ton of people out there buying garbage amps and they have no idea.

@DIYAudioGuy Agreed. My point though is to get more output, wattage is too difficult compared to speaker count or efficiency in general. To double output how you essentially need 10x wattage whereas you can add 3x the cone area. Not always possible but you get the picture. That's why I shop the speakers, then match the amp. It would be insane to just try and dump 1k to a set of components rather than buying twice as many components.

He has been selling these things for over a decade, if he was priced to high he would have lowered it by now. I don think the price has ever gone up, so after inflation he has cut the price.

@DIYAudioGuy idk man, I understand that R&D has to get figured into the price of a tool like that. But when I can get very nice and advanced DMM and Oscopes and obd2 and Tech2 devices now for under $50 and the myriad of other technology tools that have come down in price drastically in the last decade you would think he could do something to cut the cost of manufacturing and pass that on to everyone. Especially being someone as passionate for the community as he seems. Not really trying to complain, just feel that they are over priced for as limited as each one of those devices are. Mind you if I wanted all 5-6 different tools offered it would cost close to 2 grand. The for the reply tho. Love Steve and what he does and your channel. Just my personal opinion on these tools

The pros that run live sound and mix music do it all by ear. The good ones have spent years training their years.

@@DIYAudioGuy spot on mate . 😊

Nothing wrong with that!

You are welcome.

I have known a few installers that could set dead accurate by ear alone.

Yes, it's hard to justify for DIY.

Slowing the footage down really helped. I think it was interesting that neither the scope nor the AMM1 showed clipping on that cheap amplifier.

@@DIYAudioGuy Yeah. Curious what it takes on the scope to show the distortion. Like would you need a better scope or more practice with it to see it. Or what other device would it take to make it easy to detect the 1% distortion. Maybe some sort of RTA you can clamp onto the output of the amp that shows the frequencies and the harmonics. I think harmonics 40dB below the fundamental tone is 1% and 20dB below is 10% distortion. There's probably a device that could do that, but is it cheaper than the SMD tool? I need to look into this more now.

Can't bet it at that price.

Where?

@@jervornjoseph4483 A store called Mardens

Anymore?

@@jervornjoseph4483 That’s the only one I found sadly. But they could have more now. It’s like a misc inside yard sale never know what they’ll have. Gotta search thru it.

It's good to have tools!

@@DIYAudioGuy yes definitely this was a good video.

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Awesome! Thank you!

@@DIYAudioGuy I'll have to jump on your blog and share some projects, keen to learn some things, can I ask did you study anything or are you fully self taught?

Thanks for your comments, I try to read them all and I try to listen to my viewers.

I would love to have one of those!

I have the same thing but it is the Hantek one.

Great suggestion!

I don't think I'll ever understand why he's so divisive. You've got rabid fans on one end and intense haters on the other. He's just a dude like the rest of us, puts his pants on one day at a time, working to build something out of his life.

That works as long as you have some sort of way to see distortion.setiing voltage ac via Dmm is not all equal. 20 vac on gain is not equal to 20 vac clipped on gain.but you have a clip light so non issue🤙🏽

@@angelvip2474 if I have a 1000 watt RMS reputable amp I set with multimeter to 900rms what ever the voltage may be for the ohm load. I just leave a 10% room for error . You gain 3 db out put every time you double power , you will never hear the difference between 900 and 1000 rms on the same set up.

@@angelvip2474 I think with good amplifiers that post there proper power in there manuals I think the dmm method works well, but I have clip lights on these amps so it seems to be pretty close the only draw back u may leave power on the table that was my experience with it, I may have been 20% under what I would have set to without clip, but with 5k watts and six of them that is a lot of power left on then table

That's how I did my gains when I first started, one of my most popular videos shows how to do it. It works, but you have to know what you're doing to make it work.

Thanks.