I used to watch this series back when I started college. These videos, and wanting a better understanding of circuits, inspired me to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. I’m in my senior year now and seeing a new video after all this time is pretty awesome!
This is a great video ... funny that some of these ppl who purchase your Amp Dyno don’t watch these and understand how this works .. As far as music goes: Decent engineers have to please labels and clients and they still want it as loud as possible even in 2019.. most commercial pop/ rab/ country music contains clipping and has since CD days.. Great vid thanks
I set my Sub Amp with the -10db 40hz tone and my mids and highs i did a 1000hz @ -5db and it sounds freaking amazing. Hey guys buy the DAmore test tone USB. That's what I used for the test tones. Thanks bro for explaining the overlap.
okayyy and so then you flip this scenario around... and set NEGATIVE 5 (-5) or NEGATIVE 10 (-10) for music that is recorded above 0db to keep your amp from clipping??? is this correct? is this what all this gain "overlapping" stuff means?? bc in no electrical engineer just a regular guy trying to get the most from his system. if you could answer that would be fucking AMAZING
If I have a DSP (Alpine Optim8) in my set up where do I need to set my over lap? DSP only or DSP and Amplifier or Amplifier only? Thanks for all the information in videos!!!
So, as I understand this, overlap allows you to clip at a predetermined level. Usually 0-5db on midd and highs and 5-10db on subs. Is that correct? That sounds counterintuitive. Clipping has always been taught as bad. Bad for speakers, bad for sound quality. I don’t want any clipping. Thank you.
@@meade916 I asked a question. Couldn’t you clarify? I guess clueless is what you say when you want to insult potential customers. I really wanted to buy the product but wanted to understand first. If you need more headroom, why not just buy a more powerful amp?
@@haroldpalmsesq2506 So, why design or configure an audio system so that you can easily push an amplifier to the point that it distorts? We’ve discussed the technical reason already: To play quiet audio sources at the maximum output level of the amplifier. Does having gain overlap built into a system mean you can potentially damage it? Yes. Absolutely 100%, yes. As such, this means that the system operator needs to take some responsibility for how loudly it’s played. Translated, that means you have to know when you’ve reached full volume in terms of the amplifier’s output capabilities. Your installer should be able to tell you what “full volume” is for normal modern recordings. Be honest with yourself; if you aren’t going to be able to curb your enthusiasm, ask the technician working on your installation not to include any overlap. What if you ignore our suggestion and just crank the volume? How hard is your amp going to try to work? For example, a sensitivity setting with 6 dB of overlap would make the amp try to produce 400 watts of power if you maxed out the volume with a track recorded at 0 dB. So, what’s needed to design an audio system where the amplifiers can’t distort? The short answer is money. If you want to feed 50 watts of power to your speakers, but have the system configured with 6 dB of gain overlap, then buy a 200-watts-per-channel amp. If you want to provide your subwoofers with 500 watts of power, choose a 2,000-watt amp. Financially, this doesn’t work, does it? A good 500-watt monoblock amp might cost $650. A 2,000-watt amp of the same caliber might cost $1,500-2,000.
I've got DD1 and Oscope. My DSP DM-608 has 10v out. My PG amps will take up to 8v in. Should I give them a full 8v ? Or is there a similar process. Set to 5-6v for "gain headroom" if that's a thing. Thanks for your time if you get this.
I set my system with a 40hz -10db track, why do some songs still sound quiet? My maximum undistorted volume is 38 out of 40, so I cant even turn it up that much to compensate for the volume
Hi, I am using pro audio mids in my doors. Does running a high pass (I run 160Hz -24dB/of) filter improve the available amplifier headroom allowing for more gain overlap? I understand the HPF protect the speakers mechanically but does filtering out low frquencies improve thermal handling enabling to handle more distorion? I would imagine low frequencies would fry the driver faster than higher frequencies. Thank you.
Dang, this is the best free college I've ever gone to, do we get diplomas at the end? On a serious note though, I have a basic 6 channel system, 4 channel on the front and rear doors and of course a monoblock on my subwoofer. Both my 4 channel and monoblock are current set with a -7.5dB tone. What you're saying is it would be advisable to set my 4 channel with a -2.5dB instead? (Those are the test tones I have in my library, they are in 2.5 increments to -10dB.) So my question mainly is, would you set it up like that because bass notes in music are recorded lower, or is it just because subwoofers in general can handle more clipping? Just wanted to ask for clarity. Great videos with a lot of great information, good job Mr. D'Amore.
Amazing how many mfr’s & car audio RU-vidrs make vids w/ the AD1 but have no clue what gain overlap is.. Lots of them... Listening to them explain it is laughable. Music is dynamic not one solid sine wave at one frequency that’s what gain overlap is for. To offset the difference in RMS values of a sine wave and the RMS of a stereo 2 track master that may be mastered to -8RMS or -6RMS or -15 to -10 RMS like say older 70’s/ 80’s / 90’s music before digital recording & the “ Loudness War “ . Even Sundown ppl have no clue. They think setting the gain overlap makes the AD1 gradually ramp up into distortion when testing. Also once crossovers are set & tuning is complete ( DSP systems ) measuring the AC voltage on the speaker output is nothing near when setting amps with tones & no crossovers. This is another reason gain overlap is needed, to get more real world watts/ power from amp to speakers.
So when using the smd dd 1+ , we set gain with 0db track then use 5 or 10db of gain overlap for the tracks that are recorded less than 0db so that those tracks that are less than 0db will still sound loud?
@@uptobatentertainment okayyy and so then you flip this scenario around... and set NEGATIVE 5 (-5) or NEGATIVE 10 (-10) for music that is recorded above 0db to keep your amp from clipping??? is this correct? is this what all this gain "overlapping" stuff means?? bc in no electrical engineer just a regular guy trying to get the most from his system. if you could answer that would be fucking AMAZING.
@@kkiidd77 u can’t flip the scenario b/c no music is recorded over 0db. Even DJ russticals rebass peak at 0db, but average -7.5 db. Brief loud moments known as peaks may cross 0db. When setting gains we are dealing with average volume known as RMS. With streaming iTunes Spotify Apple Music Amazon etc use -5db RMS for subs and 0db RMS for mids and highs. Mids and highs are more sensitive to distortion therefore clipping can damage those speakers a lot easier than a big old copper voice coil in a sub.
You can choose - 5db to -7.5 to - 10db tones for subwoofer.. I rec -5 or -7.5 after using 0db for the source ( s )( head unit, iPhone, iPad, digital player, or aux) ideally you want to set each playback source.
@@sleepzzz800 Well that's not a clipping issue, that's a power issue. If you really want to be safe and not overpower your sub, you can back off your gain once it's been set. You're never going to hurt anything by turning gain down once it's set, you just don't want to turn it up to the point where your speakers can experience clipping for long periods of time.
Yes you can. If you can would recommend downloading WAV files at the uncompressed full resolution / sample rate 16-bit / 44.1000 Hz and you should be fine. Steve Meade has a video of how to on it.
Provided that your Bluetooth playback source is fully calibrated with dd-1, when your Bluetooth has distortions or less distortions, all your calculations will be wrong because, for example, playing your file from Bluetooth mode may be, for example, +7 db, but because your Bluetooth source is not calibrated, for example, instead of +7 dB, it is considered +9 dB, and in practice, instead of +7 dB, you have an overlap of +9 dB!!!
Hey Tony! I've always used -5db. I listen to mostly Decaf, Dj Russticals, and other modded music. I've been thinking about going with -7.5db to get a little more juice out of my system. My question is if a song is recorded super hot I assume you compensate for this if you're at -10db or -7.5db by just watching voltage and turning down as needed to keep the amp out of clipping? I'm still a bit confused on it tbh. I see you and Meade setting amps at -10db. He likes Morrison's music a lot as do I but even his studio tracks some of the bass tracks are approaching 0db on his music. Wouldn't -10db be WAY too much gain for music recorded that hot? Thanks ahead of time.
if you are playing something that sounds a little too hot on the bass...just turn it down a notch. Keep that option there though by using a higher overlap for songs that might need it.
I had my 4 channel set at -3db and it blow one of my super tweeters in the dash so I set it back to 0db! Why is that !!! I running a Rockford punch 400 watts amplifier!
For speakers and tweeters to remain healthy, it is not enough to have the correct gain level, the frequency range is also important, maybe they have reached a harsh and bad frequency. You can use the SMD CC-1 device to adjust the frequency.😎
Sinister then use 0 dB for Head unit and dsp if applicable then use -3 to -5db tones for mids and highs then -5 to -10 dB tones for subwoofer.. if you use 0db tones all the way you lose significant output due to music being dynamic and not a constant 0db tone
