# Pioneer DEH-80PRS Automatic Sound Levelizer



## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

I've had this dec for about 6 months and had it hooked up to a couple of soundstream reference 500s and tried a Zapco Z400C4SL, all have clip lights!

My problem is this, I could never get it to crank up loud and sound good. so I finally hooked up the mids and tweeters directly to the headunit and ran a separate sub amp, all in network mode. Still did not crank like I thought it should. ( my old alpine frickin cranked !! )

Today driving home from work on the Interstate I noticed the ASL setting and decided to turn it on and adjust it all the way up and now it cranks out the music until I come to a stop, then it gets quiet.

How are you supposed to set the gains on an amp when the out put goes way high on the road? I guess I could do the adjustments going down the Interstate!! :mean:

I absolutely hate this feature and if one shuts it off, the signal is way lower than when its on and your cruising down the road. I wish there was a bypass for this to let it put out its full signal when sitting lets say in my driveway. Any Ideas anyone??????? (how to bypass this) 

Oh, forgot to say that I could hear the loudness change enough to notice while driving home and I thought there was something wrong with my sub amp. Turns out the this ASL decides how loud to make your system.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

90scaraudio said:


> I've had this dec for about 6 months and had it hooked up to a couple of soundstream reference 500s and tried a Zapco Z400C4SL, all have clip lights!
> 
> My problem is this, I could never get it to crank up loud and sound good. so I finally hooked up the mids and tweeters directly to the headunit and ran a separate sub amp, all in network mode. Still did not crank like I thought it should. ( my old alpine frickin cranked !! )
> 
> ...


I would hook your amps back up. Your either doing something wrong, or expect to much out of your equipment. How did you set your gains?


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## Shadowmarx (Feb 12, 2012)

maybe he likes Distortion....


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

OK, one more time.... With ASL turned off, I can turn the volume up to 60 no problem (thats with mid and high hooked up to separate amps or directly to the dec.)

With ASL turned on and set to max also going down the road I can turn it up to 40 and its rock concert loud. 

I hooked up an oscilloscope to the RCA mid out and put a 1k tone set at 200mv rms to the aux input and mesured at volume level 60. Got about 2 vrms. Now going down the road this number jumped to almost 5vrms without any clipping in the signal.

OK, anyone that has this headunit, do me a favor... turn the ASL on and maximize it. Now drive on the highway and turn the volume up to a decent level, I had mine to 40. Now go into the menu for the ASL and turn it off and tell me the difference in loudness between having ASL on and off. 

Just saying that I hate that they put this feature in this deck.:mean:


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

ASL is the last peice of the puzzle, its the only way to fully achieve full output on the 80.. its dicussed SOMEWHERE in the 80 thread...

Readjust your gains

Sent from an other planet (Tapatalk)


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

I wonder what effect turning off ASL and setting Source Level Adjustment to +4 would have.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

xt577 said:


> I wonder what effect turning off ASL and setting Source Level Adjustment to +4 would have.


Still not as loud at all.

And yes, I wish there was a cheat to make the Deck run at full output. 
:mean:


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

90scaraudio said:


> Still not as loud at all.
> 
> And yes, I wish there was a cheat to make the Deck run at full output.
> :mean:


Dang, same here.

What about boosting all of the eq freqs equally?

I guess using ASL isn't so bad, but I wonder if it is messing with FR and not just boosting the spectrum equally.


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## thomasluke (Jun 10, 2011)

xt577 said:


> Dang, same here.
> 
> What about boosting all of the eq freqs equally?
> 
> I guess using ASL isn't so bad, but I wonder if it is messing with FR and not just boosting the spectrum equally.


If you boost all the eq bands then FR is going be jagged as hell. It doest boost ALL the sounds.
Just the FREQ's that are marked. It would be no diff than boosting every other band.
Same thing just half the bands are boosted.


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## benny (Apr 7, 2008)

Why not just set your amplif1er gains to full output with 2V of signal? I'm failing to see the problem here.


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## Shadowmarx (Feb 12, 2012)

I see what your say'n now... 
I just turn that ASL crap off...
My amps put out plenty of power I really don't need the deck too...


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## Shadowmarx (Feb 12, 2012)

Why???
I really don't see the point ...
My amps put out plenty of power, don't need my deck too...

Never was a fan of ASL crap any ways...



90scaraudio said:


> Still not as loud at all.
> 
> And yes, I wish there was a cheat to make the Deck run at full output.
> :mean:


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> ASL is the last peice of the puzzle, its the only way to fully achieve full output on the 80.. its dicussed SOMEWHERE in the 80 thread...
> 
> Readjust your gains
> 
> Sent from an other planet (Tapatalk)


Quoted for posterity, or because you completely ignored it....

Maybe you think I donno what im saying.

Sent from an other planet (Tapatalk)


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

Does anyone know if ASL boosts the entire frequency range equally?


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

xt577 said:


> Does anyone know if ASL boosts the entire frequency range equally?


You would think it would have to keep things equal. 

So to make this work as well as my old alpine, I will have to turn off the ASL and set the gains more sensitive on my amps to make up the difference.
To bad there isn't a feature to not only turn ASL off but enable it as to put out full power and not automatically adjust the volume. Seems that would be good to set the gains on an amp close to 5 volts for better S/N ratio, but oh-well.


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## mojozoom (Feb 11, 2012)

Have buddy run a cell phone based rta as you drive a see how much the spl increases and if the FR is effected.


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

I'm seriously considering playing loud pink noise through a boom box to simulate road noise and activate ASL while I'm setting my amp gains.


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## mojozoom (Feb 11, 2012)

In most factory head units it looks at the VSS signal from the ECM and adjusts based on that. Not sure if the Pioneer is tied into that signal in your application.


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

mojozoom said:


> In most factory head units it looks at the VSS signal from the ECM and adjusts based on that. Not sure if the Pioneer is tied into that signal in your application.


There's no ECM connection I am aware of so I'm pretty sure it uses a mic.


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## mojozoom (Feb 11, 2012)

That's neat. I wonder how it distinguishes road noise from The Chemical Brothers.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Ok well screw you, youll figure it out eventually...

Sent from an other planet (Tapatalk)


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## sqnut (Dec 24, 2009)

xt577 said:


> Does anyone know if ASL boosts the entire frequency range equally?


No, it boosts the low and high end only. 

Like all dsp on the deck, boosting / engaging ASL, BBE, maxing out your eq etc is going to take the output voltage closer to 5v at full volume. But whats the point of getting 4V out at 60/64, if the response is totally messed up while getting there?

Edit : In any case preout voltage of hu's like damping factors on amps are point less numbers.


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

I turned mine off and set my gains accordingly.


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## boom_squid_2 (Jan 29, 2008)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> Ok well screw you, youll figure it out eventually...
> 
> Sent from an other planet (Tapatalk)




I couldn't help but lol


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

sqnut said:


> [ASL] boosts the low and high end only


Looks like I'll be sticking with 2v then.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

sqnut said:


> No, it boosts the low and high end only.
> 
> Like all dsp on the deck, boosting / engaging ASL, BBE, maxing out your eq etc is going to take the output voltage closer to 5v at full volume. But whats the point of getting 4V out at 60/64, if the response is totally messed up while getting there?
> 
> Edit : In any case preout voltage of hu's like damping factors on amps are point less numbers.


I was curious about how this system works electronically and found very little info on this circuit. However, even though this shows old technology, IMO, ASL should use the same theory. It looks like the complete signal gets attenuated until road noise comes into play. 
I may decide to take the deck apart and find the pin-out of the IC chip they use for this function. I'll bet there is a pin that could have an effect on this, maybe 0 - 5 vdc to un-attenuate the signal. HHMMM may have to do a modification. 

This the link to the info and I attached the PDF.

Mobile automatic volume control apparatus


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## nismos14 (Jun 22, 2007)

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Or get moar powerfuller amps.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

nismos14 said:


> Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains. Adjust your gains.
> 
> Or get moar powerfuller amps.


But I still think its bad advertising to say 5v outputs!! Otherwise it is a decent deck for the money. 

Oh, and the poor people that have no external amp and have to hook up their speakers to the Deck, you cant adjust the gains of the amp inside the deck!!!


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## nismos14 (Jun 22, 2007)

90scaraudio said:


> But I still think its bad advertising to say 5v outputs!! Otherwise it is a decent deck for the money.
> 
> Oh, and the poor people that have no external amp and have to hook up their speakers to the Deck, you cant adjust the gains of the amp inside the deck!!!


You should see how alpine and kenwoods measure up, they're also the same. 

Yes, but you have amps, as stated in your sig and in the first post.


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## sqnut (Dec 24, 2009)

90scaraudio said:


> But I still think its bad advertising to say 5v outputs!! Otherwise it is a decent deck for the money.
> 
> Oh, and the poor people that have no external amp and have to hook up their speakers to the Deck, you cant adjust the gains of the amp inside the deck!!!


Saying that a hu is rated for 5v is no different from saying an amp is rated for 2000 watts power (peak). As a consumer you should be able to differentiate between numbers are relevant and those that are marketing hyperbole. Sales and Marketing run most companies, that's just a fact of life.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

True, but it would be great if Pioneer would come out with a firmware update to let the consumer decide 5v full out or variable with ASL. 
Just trying to let people know of some issues with this.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

OK, I re-thought this and did more tests with scope and sig-gen.
Sitting in my garage with car turned off.

1. Mute sub out
2. Turn internal amp off
3. Set midrange to full range.

First I hooked up o-scope up to one of the mid out-puts and hooked up Sig-gen to one of the Aux inputs.

Next, turned unit on and turned volume up to 62
Then turned up sig-gen until unit cliped at the out-puts then backed off to un-clip it. It shows 5.1 vrms

Next I turned volume down to 52 and the scope shows 1.28 vrms.

So it will put out 5 volts at full volume but it drops quickly when volume is turned down to 50.

So you have to spin the knob for a week to get it up to 50 just for 1.2 volts. At least it gets there

I apologize for all the fuss but it is good to know, sorry... :blush:


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

That was already covered in the 80prs thread lolz. There was a huge jump in the voltage from volume 60 - 61 iirc.


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## xt577 (Apr 19, 2011)

90scaraudio, I assume your measurements were taken without ASL, correct? It would be interesting to see the units output _with_ ASL. using the same volumes and test tone.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

xt577 said:


> 90scaraudio, I assume your measurements were taken without ASL, correct? It would be interesting to see the units output _with_ ASL. using the same volumes and test tone.


Sitting in my garage I turned ASL on and off with no difference during test but your correct, I bet the volume becomes more linear to 5volts with ASL on @ 70mph.

The unit will clip the outputs with 500mV going in with volume at 62. Thats why I used 400mV. The wave form that shows the 5.1 volts is just before clip. So it does put out more than Pioneer says it does.

I'll post a pic of the clipped signal for anyone that's not seen one.


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## sqnut (Dec 24, 2009)

90scaraudio said:


> So it does put out more than Pioneer says it does.


True, but you'll never see the 5V in real world usage. That is why the preout numbers mean little.


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

Here's a clipped output on this deck....


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## [email protected] (Aug 4, 2013)

nervewrecker said:


> That was already covered in the 80prs thread lolz. There was a huge jump in the voltage from volume 60 - 61 iirc.


What thread is this? I'm not sure I know exactly which one it is.


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## SViglienzone4 (Apr 3, 2012)

Im not sure about this at all. But wouldnt a line output driver solve this problem for you. http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Mobile/App/Product/Item/Overview.aspx?i=161MATRXPG&tp=9503 ?

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk 4


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> What thread is this? I'm not sure I know exactly which one it is.


http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...ioneers-knockout-punch-alpines-cda-117-a.html


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