Right. Unfortunately, I found this site 2 years after my DD-1 purchase.

Bummer, you have to be confused completely. That site is full of bullshit. Sorry

Rofl. I see what you did there. Actually, I'm learning quite a bit and I honestly appreciate it. I don't plan on running any competitions or having a big dick contest, I just find value in promoting a brand such as Fi, regardless of the made in America part. I still enjoy the market and I think more people can benefit from the knowledge on this forum and from the workers at Fi like Nick, who takes the time to respond to customer inquires, no matter how juvenile the question.

I moved my amp today, drilled it into the back of my fold down back seat so I can easily adjust the gain and monitor it's temps. It was hot, but not hot enough to burn me or make me pull my hand away. I need to get familiar with my equipment so I know what is acceptable heat wise. It should get better ambient cooling being in the cabin now as well.

I have not yet adjusted the gain. I think I'm going to play my deepest bass song, adjust at my preferred listening volume and monitor temps over a few hours to see where I'm at. I've used this method on tens of subs before the DD-1 and only ever blew a pair of Visonik's back when I was 15.

My last question, my head unit has 2 subwoofer options. One appears to be the general subwoofer level, which is +6. And then there's another subwoofer option in another setting where I have it at +6 as well. Should I just make both of these 0 and adjust gain only? Does the EQ crossover options such as vocal or xplod affect the woofer? One of the frequencies in the curve is 65Hz or so, but is that only for the mids/highs? Thanks again everyone.

Zero everything. No bass boost, do not EQ to the + side, always attenuate (dial the EQ down).

You claimed you were clipping the HU at 47 out of 50 and you have the sub outs dialed to +6? Bullshit. Not bullshit on you, but it is proof that the DD1 is a complete pile of shit. Not only that, but there is no way in hell an Xplod unit is clean to 94% of it's total output at 0... no way in hell.

How is that proof that the dd-1 is shit? All having the sub level up on the ead unit is going to do is cause the amps gain to be set lower.

My guess would be that his point was with a +6 setting the preamp output would reach it's limit earlier in the volume range than with a lower level setting, which is entirely true....that's why it's louder, it outputs higher voltage for a given volume setting, hence it's louder at a given volume setting.

My only problem with the assumption is it all depends on how the circuit was designed. For example on the older Alpine units the sub level was labeled 0 to +15, but in reality the "+15" setting was actually just the full output and not an actual boost, or in other words it was actually the 0db setting. So although it was labeled 0 thru +15, it actually functioned as -15 to 0. So one would not expect an unreasonable amount of clipping with a high level setting, which is counterintuitive.

Without knowing the actual function of the circuit in relation to the settings, it's hard to pass judgment.

 

 

Exactly. But knowing Sony +6 is +6.

 

Ramtied, an amplifier is not the only gain device in a signal chain. A head unit's volume knob is also a gain device. Turn it up too much and your low level line will clip.

Nope.  Sony is just like Alpine, as is Kenwood, Eclipse, and Pioneer.  I have yet to measure a head unit that does differently,   Sony makes some of the best HUs in the game and their stuff from the 90s is still years ahead of some of the stuff out today.