# MyLink max Vol without distortion



## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

I set the Gains on my amps on a volume of 21 and I am happy with the results and how loud it is at 21. 
My four year old son begins to cover his ears at a volume of 17 lol.


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## ItsBenAWhile (Mar 15, 2013)

How many watts per channel? And stock speakers too?


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

120w RMS x 2 channels 

Front Stage: Image Dynamics CTX 6.5cs


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## ItsBenAWhile (Mar 15, 2013)

I only have a 75 x 4 Channel Amp. 

Plus some nice speakers. Really nice. Hopefully I'll be happy. Getting in put in next weekend!


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

ItsBenAWhile said:


> I only have a 75 x 4 Channel Amp.
> 
> Plus some nice speakers. Really nice. Hopefully I'll be happy. Getting in put in next weekend!


Sweet! Which speakers? 



And for anyone who lives in the New England Area (MA, RI, NH, and maybe CT+ME if you are the closer side towards MA) who wishes to have their gains set properly, I am willing to meet you half way.

The SMD DD-1 is as accurate as an O-Scope, this is shown towards the end of this video:


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## ItsBenAWhile (Mar 15, 2013)

Stage II - Imagine - The Home of the World's Finest Loudspeakers, and World Championship Car Audio Speaker Systems.



getting them for free! 



I might want to add a sub. ima not 100% yet.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

EcoDave said:


> I bought the SMD DD-1 (Distortion Detector) recently and found out that the maximum volume of the MyLink head unit without harmonic distortion is 25.
> I followed the instructions in the manual and it tests at 40hz and 1khz. The manual says that the average undistorted volume between the two is your overall max Volume.
> 
> 40hz undistorted Max Vol = 21
> ...


Harmonic distortion is always there. The only difference is how loud is it compared to the source content. 

How do you know it's the head unit distorting and not you clipping your RCA input signal due to having too high of a setting on the PAC harness? If you were to lower the gains on your PAC harness, would you be able to raise the head unit level even higher?


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

I would rather not take the dash apart again lol.
PAC at 75% gain + Factory unit, measured at the amps with gains all the way down and crossovers set to pass through = 1% Distortion at a volume of 22 during a 40Hz track. 

Then I raised the gains on the amps and they both went up to about halfway just before the distortion light came on. 
Now I find myself listening to music at a volume of 14 for normal listening, and up to 18 for loudness. 

SMD DD1 compared to an O-Scope:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ySG2BL5kAW4&t=7m42s


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

EcoDave said:


> I would rather not take the dash apart again lol.
> PAC at 75% gain + Factory unit, measured at the amps with gains all the way down and crossovers set to pass through = 1% Distortion at a volume of 22 during a 40Hz track.
> 
> Then I raised the gains on the amps and they both went up to about halfway just before the distortion light came on.
> ...


If you won't take the dash apart to check the AA-GM44 gains to ensure it's not that unit that's producing way too high of a voltage on the RCAs, then you'll need to reserve your statements about distortion until you do, because at this point you don't know if it's the head unit or the PAC harness. To be more clear, what you're measuring isn't harmonic distortion; it's clipping. Harmonic distortion is an entirely different thing. You are normally looking for the point at which the head unit is clipping the RCAs. Since our head unit does not have RCAs, you are not in fact measuring head unit clipping. You have two possible sources.

1. The head unit is clipping the PAC harness (unlikely sine the harness is rated for up to 60 watts, which I know the factory deck doesn't produce)
2. The PAC harness is clipping the output. 

The correct test for you would have been to test how far you can go on the gains of the PAC harness before clipping. If you want to test how far you can push just the head unit before clipping, pull off a rear door panel and measure one of the rear speakers.


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## blacksheep40 (Jun 9, 2012)

hey Eco Dave, do you really expose your kid to high intensity noise like that? I just lost all respect for you...


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

No dude, that was just during a very short time of testing and he was curious as to what I was doing in my car out in the driveway.
He covered his ears and then he ran off to play with his brother in the back yard right then and there at that moment.


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## blacksheep40 (Jun 9, 2012)

ok, misunderstanding. good to hear you aren't one of those people


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

blacksheep40 said:


> ok, misunderstanding. good to hear you aren't one of those people
> 
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


Like one of these people?


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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

I now have my PAC AA GM44 set to 50% gain, max volume is 36 without Clipping

My Massive Audio NX2 Amp gain goes up to about 55% without clipping
vol 37 sends a clipped signal that can blow your speakers
When I had my PAC at 75% Gain before, max volume was 21 for me without Clipping

Amp Gain could only go up to about 45% without clipping
Overall My Front stage sounds much better and stronger with the PAC at 50%
I think Andrei was recommending 75% to everyone. 
The "drivers door open" ringing is much more tolerable too.

I bought a Distortion detector from SonicElectronix $150 SMD DD-1, works really great.
I'll have it handy for anyone that wants to set their gains on their system at the next Lordstown Meet.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Sounds to me like the PAC unit starts distorting once it exceeds a certain output level or voltage. Did you try reducing it even more and compensating with an increase in gain on the amplifiers?

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## EcoDave (Mar 7, 2013)

Reducing the pac gains results in very low overall volume output. 
Putting The Pac at 10% gains , the volume on the factory radio can be maxed out without clipping, but even then My NX2 amp gain maxed out at about 60%.


I found the best balance was to have the PAC at 50% gains which resulted in a max volume of 36, and then The amp gain maxed out at about 55%, and the resulting sound volume level in the car at 36 seems loud enough to cause hearing loss. 
I now listen to music comfortably at around 20 and if i want to go really loud then I go to 30 but anymore than that is too loud for my eardrums to handle.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

I'll measure the voltage next time I'm in there to see how they match up to what you found. Sounds like the head unit provides clean power up to the max volume. The only issue is how high to set the PAC harness so it doesn't clip the output.

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## Chevy Bangs (Jul 20, 2015)

What is the voltage output on the head unit for the 2014 without the mylink system


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## Cruzindallas (May 17, 2020)

EcoDave said:


> I bought the SMD DD-1 (Distortion Detector) recently and found out that the maximum volume of the MyLink head unit without harmonic distortion is 25.
> I followed the instructions in the manual and it tests at 40hz and 1khz. The manual says that the average undistorted volume between the two is your overall max Volume.
> 
> 40hz undistorted Max Vol = 21
> ...



So what do you have the gain voltage set to?


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