The SSA features a color touchscreen that provides real-time views of your audio signal. This article explains what each screen shows and how to navigate between them.
Oscilloscope View
The oscilloscope screen shows a 2x2 grid with a live waveform for each connected channel. This is the same type of display you would see on a bench oscilloscope — it shows the shape of your audio signal over time.
What you see on each channel panel:
- Waveform — The audio signal drawn as a continuous line. A clean sine wave appears as a smooth curve. Clipping shows up as flat tops and bottoms where the signal is being cut off.
- RMS voltage — The effective signal level, which represents the average power of the signal. This is the number most relevant when setting amplifier gain.
- Peak voltage — The highest instantaneous voltage the signal reaches. Comparing peak to RMS helps you understand the dynamic range of your signal.
When to use it: Use the oscilloscope view to visually confirm your signal is clean, check for clipping at the source output, or compare signal shape before and after a processor.
FFT Spectrum View
The FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) screen shows a 2x2 grid of frequency spectrum graphs — one per channel. Instead of showing the signal over time (like the oscilloscope), it shows which frequencies are present in the signal and how strong each one is.
What you see on each channel panel:
- Frequency spectrum — A graph with frequency on the horizontal axis and level on the vertical axis. Peaks in the graph correspond to the dominant frequencies in your signal.
- Peak frequency — The frequency with the highest energy. Useful for confirming a test tone is at the expected frequency, or identifying the dominant note in music.
- Peak hold — The highest level reached at each frequency stays visible briefly before fading, making it easier to catch transient peaks.
When to use it: Use the FFT view to verify crossover frequencies, check that your EQ adjustments are doing what you expect, identify noise or interference frequencies, or confirm that a test tone is the correct frequency.
THD Analyzer View
The THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) analyzer provides detailed distortion measurements for a single channel at a time. This screen shows a frequency spectrum with markers highlighting the fundamental frequency and its harmonics, plus numeric readouts of key measurements.
Measurements displayed:
| Measurement | What It Means |
|---|---|
| THD% | Total harmonic distortion as a percentage. Lower is better. A clean signal from a quality source is typically below 0.01%. |
| THD (dB) | The same distortion measurement expressed in decibels. More negative numbers mean less distortion. |
| THD+N | Total harmonic distortion plus noise. Includes both harmonic distortion and background noise in one number. |
| SNR | Signal-to-noise ratio. How much louder the signal is compared to the noise floor. Higher is better. |
What you see on the graph:
- Fundamental marker — Highlights the main frequency of your signal (for example, 1 kHz during a test tone)
- Harmonic markers — Shows where the 2nd, 3rd, 4th (and higher) harmonics appear. These are the frequencies that make up the distortion.
Display modes: The THD screen offers three viewing modes that you can switch between using the navigation arrows:
- Spectrum curve — Detailed frequency response graph showing the full spectrum
- Oscilloscope waveform — Time-domain view of the signal being analyzed
- Bar graph — 16-band frequency bar display for a simplified overview
When to use it: Use the THD analyzer when you want precise distortion numbers — for example, comparing signal quality before and after a component, verifying that a DSP or processor is not adding distortion, or measuring the noise floor of your signal chain.
Settings
The settings screen is organized into tabs that you can tap to switch between:
Display Settings
Adjust screen brightness and screen timeout duration. The timeout controls how long the display stays on before dimming after no touch input.
Custom Settings
- Channel names — Give each channel a custom label (for example, "Front L", "Sub", "Rear R") so you can identify them at a glance on the analysis screens.
- Calibration — Fine-tune the voltage reading accuracy for each channel if needed.
WiFi Settings
Enter your WiFi network name and password to enable over-the-air firmware updates. The SSA connects to your WiFi network to check for and download new firmware versions.
System Info
View the current firmware version, hardware version, and other device information. Useful when checking if a firmware update is available or when contacting support.
Navigating Between Screens
Tap the screen to switch between the oscilloscope, FFT, THD, and settings views. The touchscreen responds to taps for navigation and button presses within each screen. On the THD analyzer, use the left and right arrows to switch between display modes.