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Got a Steave Meade Designs DD-1 and CC-1...any hints for using them?


Nitrousbird

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Wife got me both of these for my birthday.

I looked at the instructions...use seems pretty basic, actually more so than I thought it would be. Any hints/tips/tricks for using these?

For the DD-1, I simply need to run the test tones and find the max undistorted output from the head unit. One that is set, do the same but with the amps and find where the max undistorted gain setting is. For the boat I assume it would be better with the boat off, since the voltage is lower. For my truck, where I'm only using the stereo when it is running, idling in the driveway would likely be best.

For the CC-1, it is simply to set the crossovers for whatever test tone I am setting them to based on the test tone. Is this more accurate than say the specific crossover settings on the head unit itself?

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CC-1 is designed for setting amps with pot adjustments that have a wide sweep to them. Basically letting you know that what you think might be 60Hz is actually that.

Most head units have digitally numbered settings, so not as helpful there. Could tell you if the digital numbers are correct or not I guess, but without infinite adjustment like a potentiometer, kind of pointless.

Cool toys either way.

Edited by jk13
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Been wanting to try these out for some time. Excited to see the feedback. If you decide you want to rent them out later, let me know. I will be your first customer.

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I might be willing to rent after I use it. I was going to try it out on my Avalanche today but it started snowing and I park it outside. I want to test it out on the Avalanche first before trying it on the boat.

I don't necessarily "need" the CC-1, but wanted to play with it. In my Avalanche it will be more needed as my head unit has a poor crossover selection and who knows how good the crossover markings are on my sub amp. For the boat, the crossovers on the amp are very poorly marked, but the head unit has a nice selection to work with. I figured if I don't like the CC-1 I can probably sell it for nearly what the wife paid for it so not a big loss. The DD-1 is what I'm really interested in.

I'll keep everyone updated. So far it seems like a decently enough built unit (though maybe not a $150/each unit - at least from the feel of it perspective). Instructions were a little lacking IMO, at least when this is supposed to be a precision instrument from someone that is supposed to be well respected in the business. I would have liked to see the simple included instructions then the more complex information dealing with theory and the "why's" behind tuning. It wouldn't have cost them but a few extra pieces of paper and a few hours of time to really have something good to read (obviously all that can be researched, but nice to have something that goes right along with what you buy).

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Makes more sense. I'm also interested in your usual honest opinion of these when you're done.

I get the DD-1, great ease-of-use tool and has saved many an amp and/or woofer.

The CC-1 will help on those adjusters with a wide sweep and poor markings as stated. Beyond that it won't tell you what the best frequency is for your system, or if you should have any overlap or underlap in your crossover points for best performance. You'll need other tools to help with that. At least it will give you a definitive frequency setting so if you have to adjust after the fact you will have a starting point.

Used to totally geek out with O-scopes, RTAs, DMM, and every other tuning tool I could get my hands on, even after I was done competing and started doing this for a living. After 25 years I tune most everything by ear (and DMM if necessary) unless there is a sound issue I can't remedy. If I had these way back when it would have saved me some time for sure, but I would have probably missed picking up some knowledge along the way. As you said, the theories and why's.

That is a great gift though, definitely not trying to take away from that. I have many things in my toolbox that are certainly not as useful.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've just started playing with it and I'm still a bit on the fence.

I have an iDA-X100M head unit in the boat with an Imprint box - basically the best Marine head unit setup Alpine ever sold. The DD-1 doesn't even recognize a signal until the volume is almost all the way to the top from it. At 100% volume it detects no distortion. That's a 4V pre-out.

In my Avalanche, I have a Pioneer's current top of the line single DIN head unit. In there, I use the head unit to power the mid's and highs and RCA's to feed the sub amp. I only had a few minutes to play with it (so I couldn't tear the dash apart to disconnect the mid's and high's) and didn't want to crank to max volume. I cranked it pretty high and couldn't get it to detect a signal on the DD-1. This head unit also has 4V pre-outs.

That's as far as I went with the Avalanche. In the boat, I just started playing with my tower amp. Set the gain to the DD-1, less than I expected, though I think I will reset it with the head unit @ 3/4 volume instead of 100%. Gain setting was pretty easy.

Next I played with the CC-1. Once I figured out an issue I was having, it worked pretty well, though I can tell it isn't 100% accurate, as I could mess with the crossover very slightly and it still be in spec. That said, close enough.

One big complaint is the RCA input on the DD-1. On the CC-1 it is external, so you can plug whatever RCA you want into it. On the DD-1, it is in-set into the unit, so any good quality RCA won't plug into it as the plastic housing hugs too close to it. I had to use a female to female adapter and then a cheapie RCA to actually plug into the unit (as the cheapie had a thin barrel). Not sure why the difference, and would be less of an issue to have it inset on the CC-1 than the DD-1.

Hopefully I can find some time over the next day or two to get my tower amp set exactly where I want it. I'll try 100% first (since I already have 1/2 the amp done), see how it goes, then then try at 75% volume to see if there is an output difference. There "shouldn't" be but I want to prove if there is.

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That headunit is 2 volts per channel / not 4...look it up. The CDA 118m and the 9886m are 4 volts.

Headunits are wierd / they make really low voltage throught the majority of the volume knob. You could be at 30 of 35 and still be under 1 volt and then hit 2 volts in thise last five clicks.

Edited by Murphy8166
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That headunit is 2 volts per channel / not 4...look it up. The CDA 118m and the 9886m are 4 volts.

Correct and incorrect. Without the Imprint box it is a 2V pre-out. With the Imprint box it is a 4V pre-out. I have the Imprint box, which was a really good purchase for $100. :)
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I've got a bit more time to play with them.

- CC-1 is very easy to use. Turn up volume to where it gets signal, play frequency you want, hit read then adjust your crossover by following the arrows. It is 100% impossible to get even close on my amps without this. Not a big deal as my head unit has a crossover, but I like having my amps set as well to ensure nothing can ever get screwed up.

- DD-1, I may have had a voltage issue at first, as I was getting some weird gain settings. After playing with it again, I was able to set the gains much higher before distortion with a much better result.

I've tuned my sub and towers thus far, leaving my in-boats off right now. I can already say it is cleaner and louder than last year. It is sounding very good with just a flat EQ, so I'm looking forward to getting my in-boats in check. A little bit of this is tuning the towers down a bit more, as I did have them @ 125Hz with a pretty steep slope to be safe, but tuned them back to 110Hz per Brian @ Exile.

I think once I'm done I'll have to get around to breaking out my Alpine KTX-H100 and finally put the Imprint box fully through its paces.

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Finished tuning my system with the DD-1 / CC-1. EQ's flat across the board and oh my. Significant improvement over last year's tuning. Much louder and clearer - I'm pretty impressed with the results. I'm not tuning expert (FAR from it) and had my stuff set pretty conservatively (volt meter gain setting), and I wasn't as close as I thought I was.

I'm now looking forward to see what my KTX-H100 will bring to the table.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just tuned the setup in my truck.

My sub amp's crossover @ 100Hz marking that is very clearly marked and easy to use, was wrong. The actual setting was about 125Hz on its marking. CC-1 is quite useful it seems. Head unit crossover was also not dead on with the test tone either...only had settings from 125 and 100Hz and was somewhere between it.

System sounds more balanced now using these tools. Overall, they are a great investment.

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  • 1 year later...

Reviving an old thread - I just recently picked up a SMD DD-1 and CC-1 to tune my three amps. After a lot of playing with the DD-1, I finally got the gains on the amp set; however, I cannot seem to get the CC-1 to work properly.

Nitrousbird, did you have any issues with your CC-1? I just got one to set the crossover frequency on my PPI amps (as it is impossible without this tool) and I get a signal, hit the read button, and it tells me to turn the frequency down. Problem is, the calibrate light never comes on. I have tried every combo of hooking it up to the amp (red to + speaker, black to ground), (red to + speaker, black to - speaker), etc, but still can't seem to get it set properly.

If you have any advice or had similar issues, please let me know. Thanks!

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