SMD Distortion Detector Testing and Review!

[smd4life 5,000+ posts]

meade has an account here...maybe he can chime in

 

[tuckintaco93 10+ year member]

id like to have one or use one but dont have the money to drop on something liike this now....if someone with one will be at scrpain the coast this month then mabe they could help set my gains

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

meade has an account here...maybe he can chime in

he is prolly at work right now. he does roofing which prolly goes till 5-6o'clock and i doubt his first priority when he gets home is to get on here. if anything he'll be on smd.

 

[twistedchild420 5,000+ posts]

Another quote from some random dude....

Are people really this hard-headed? It's easy.Clean signal--->distortion--->clipping.

Clean is good. That's what you want. This will pick up DISTORTION. Some people don't care if their sound gets distorted. That's fine, your car, do what you want. Distortion=/=Clipping. A scope will ONLY show you when you're clipping. Distortion will occur BEFORE clipping will.

If you don't have a scope right now, then this DD-1 is (seems like, no personal experience lol) a fantastic way to save a few $$ and tune your system right. If you already have a scope, then chances are you're one of us guys who likes new toys, so there's no reason you shouldn't add this to your collection too.

Personally, I have a tpi440 that I use for MUCH more than scoping amps. I use it on a daily basis, using almost every feature it has. So the DD-1 won't replace it. However, I'll probably pick one up when I can fit it in the budget.

Just my $.02

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

I was thinking of getting one because good scopes will cost u a lot more......twisted u wanna ship it to me and ill send it back asap //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

I was thinking of getting one because good scopes will cost u a lot more......twisted u wanna ship it to me and ill send it back asap //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

*** I asked first

 

[rangerboy101 10+ year member]

nice device either way, Only thing an oscope doesn't have is the simplicity of the cd/led light.

That's probably going to be a reason it'll sell though. People want simplicity. They don't want to have to **** around with a bunch of stuff to set their stuff up. The easier the better.

 

[twistedchild420 5,000+ posts]

This is what Ric @ pulse car audio said....

a little more info for you guys...
We all know that when you clip your system it adds "dirty power" so I wanted to see what kind of dirty power Gary had before setup with the SMD dd1. The results are surprising. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

BEFORE TUNING WITH SMD dd1

ACv- 62.09

amp- 39.14

2430.2026 watts SPL score 150.8dB

AFTER TUNING WITH SMD dd1

ACv- 56.14

amp- 34.07

1912.6898 watts SPL score 150.9dB (after playing music for over 45 minutes straight with the truck off!!!)

edit: in other words... 517.5128 watts where "dirty" or distorted power and it didn't help the score at all. and FYI I have seen a few people (one re re on youtube said this too) say that "i've tuned by ear this tool is useless you can hear distortion"... I have been doing car audio for 16+ years. I have built countless SPL and SQ setups not to mention everyday bangers... I can tell you this... This is the fastest and easiest way to set up tuning, and I thought I got the cars pretty close by ear (judges comments on my competitors setups confirmed that) but this takes the cake so to speak. Gary's truck sounded fantastic before, and anyone who has heard it would agree... like i said in the vid though.. it sounds BETTER now.

if you don't add this to your toolbox as an installer of audio both home and auto... then you are insane. bottom line.

 

[power-fanatic07 5,000+ posts]

Some ppl will buy it just because it sais SMD on it, some people would never buy it for the same reason.

So true. People are dumb.

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

meade has an account here...maybe he can chime in

you don't remember the last time he was on here? That thread was full of lolz

Edit: found it

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/subwoofers/361181-new-aa-smd-woofer.html

 

[twistedchild420 5,000+ posts]

*** it...here's this too...lol

Check out these pictures. This is a very expensive O-scope and Tony D is an expert.....he might know what to look for but the untrained eye and a cheaper scope would probably lead you to believe that you have a clean signal. Look closer though. To be honest, 6 months ago, i too would have given a signal like that the "go ahead" thinking it was clean....the DD-1 says different though. See the light on and the wave looking pretty decent? Its not squared off at all and look, we have distortion. h34r:

this one has a ugly "spike" in it....seems pretty apparent....but i dont think my cheap *** TPI 440 would show that clear enough to call it a bad signal.....and on top of that, its NOT CLIPPED.....again! eepwall:

i have some video's that Tony sent me that will explain this even further.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

In order for the smd meter to detect that, it would need to be able to compare the source signal with the output signal. It doesn't have that capability before anyone chimes in and states that this thing is measuring distortion and not just clipping.

Ummm looks like a clipped signal to me. If this tests "distortion" what's its point of reference?
Some ppl will buy it just because it sais SMD on it, some people would never buy it for the same reason.

Exactly...People are trying to distinguish distortion and clipping as two different things when they are very much related. Distortion simply means the output signal differs from the input signal in a way other than magnitude and phase (i.e. the waveform itself is different). Clipping is a type of distortion. From my basic understanding of what this device does, it's simply looking for clipping, which is easily detectable with a scope and a decent set of eyes. Now I will say that in twisted's last post (the one I quoted below) it looks like they are claiming this device can detect other (non-clipping) types of distortion but I too would like to know how it accomplishes this without a reference point. Unless it just looks for a perfect sine wave and if the signal is deviated from that too far it claims distortion...

*** it...here's this too...lol

Sorry, maybe my eye is a bit more trained, but I look at both those signals and see distortion, I would definitely be able to pick those out on a scope.

 

[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

I would low key use one... Lol.

I still need help setting my gains every now and then.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I think many of us are over analyzing the product. All though I to think the price is to high(perhaps $100 would be more fair) and will more then likely not purchase one, I still see where it is very helpful for many people. For many who do not own an O-scope or for those who do not know or want to learn how to use one this is a great tool.

 

[wickedwitt 10+ year member]

*** I asked first

Imma one up you...

Twisted, come to West TX and scope my stuff, get and give a demo, have a laugh.