JBL MS 8.

[SWEET SYNERGY]

Originally Posted by Duper

Yeah, same net result, sweet synergy. Give it a listen.

Duper, I hope I dont have to go the route you did. If I cant get this processor to do what its supposed to I will not be too happy. Im glad you finally got the end result you were looking for, hopefully through trial and error I will get there with the ms8.

Originally Posted by tbone587

I gotta get my pictures together but I am going to posts them sooner than later. I cant believe how good this sounds. I have always had nice amps and speakers and a good deck, but never had a processor. It makes a huge difference. I definitely spent a couple days calibrating over and over again and adjusting crossovers, but it is now where i want it to be. All I need now is to get a new sub box when I have the money to get some more bass.

Tbone, so at this time you dont have a sub connected?

I can also tell if I can get the midbass issue squared away its going to sound amazing. Sound is very detailed, soundstage is good, but will be excellent once missing frequencies are put into play.

[Duper]

Good luck! I learned a lot messing with my MS-8 - learned even more with the bitone, but I chalked it all up as a fun, albeit expensive learning experience. I know there are a LOT of guys out there that are super happy with their MS-8 so I know it's possible. Cheers,
Chris

[SWRocket]

Originally Posted by SWEET SYNERGY

Im trying to figure it out myself. theres a 240 page thread on diyma about the ms8 processor. http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...essor-238.htmlTheres a good 20 pages about how to get better midbass. Some people used different work arounds like not running your sub through the ms8, or split it off the front outputs on the ms8 (youll need an amp with crossovers to do it this way). Others just played with crossover settings, and sweep levels. Anyway you should check the thread out. Over the fist 100 pages is all before the unit came out, so theres alot of useless info, but theres also a great deal of invaluable info too.

I think I have gains at about the correct level now (they recommend 2v, doesnt have to be exact), so Im going to try different sweep levels and possibly wire system differently. Im also going to try once without the sub and see the result. I know its supposed to be a plug and play processor, but theres so many different variables while tuning (gain, crossover, power difference between 4ch, sub amp, and ms8 amp) on top of the fact everyone has different setups and every vehicle is different, makes for alot of unknowns. I will play more over the weekend and can hopefully give some clearer answers or suggestions.

LOL, I read the DIYMA thread in its entirety and some pages more than once. I will try again as well playing with the levels and gains and x-over points. The first tune I did with ot there was midbass...but never again after.

[SWRocket]

Originally Posted by Duper

Good luck! I learned a lot messing with my MS-8 - learned even more with the bitone, but I chalked it all up as a fun, albeit expensive learning experience. I know there are a LOT of guys out there that are super happy with their MS-8 so I know it's possible. Cheers,
Chris

I had a bitone before the ms-8 and the sound was amazing. the image was ok, but not as good as the ms-8, and that was after many hours tuning by an expert with tools. I would have stayed with the BitOne, except that it somehow fried one of my amps (sent a huge spike through the outputs.) ARC says they have seen this happen on 3 different occasions with the BitOne.
Certainly, if I can't get the ms-8 to where I need it, I'll put back the bitone and pray

[tbone587]

I have my sub connected now and everything is sounding excellent. I was able to squeeze my box in. I have to do a little tweaking at this point, but I am very happy with the results. What did you guys set your crossover points to and what level was your factory radio at when calibrating?

[Duper]

Originally Posted by tbone587

I have my sub connected now and everything is sounding excellent. I was able to squeeze my box in. I have to do a little tweaking at this point, but I am very happy with the results. What did you guys set your crossover points to and what level was your factory radio at when calibrating?

I tried practically every crossover point - Andy W (JBL) thinks 3500 is a good starting point though and he highly recommends 24db slopes. He's fanatical about it actually but I had some decent results and kept coming back to 18db slopes.
Radio level was 23 or 24 - it should be the lowest you can go and it still give you that Level OK msg.

[tbone587]

Duper,

You set your front/sub crossover to 3500? I have mine set at 80 i think. I have component speakers.

[Duper]

Oh no... Sorry, didn't notice you said front/sub - I was talking about the mid to tweeter crossover point (if you're running active). 80 / 24db is generally a good setting for front/sub.

[SWEET SYNERGY]

Originally Posted by tbone587

What did you guys set your crossover points to and what level was your factory radio at when calibrating?

Ive been going off the recommended slopes in the manual. I believe sub to front 80hz/24 slope.

Originally Posted by Duper

Radio level was 23 or 24 - it should be the lowest you can go and it still give you that Level OK msg.

I didnt realize it should be the lowest you can go. I set mine to the highest without level being too high which is 29-30. I figured after that it clipped the signal so you should not go beyond that point.

Interestingly last night I tried a cal with only fronts and rears. Didnt set up sub, crossed fronts at 80hz, (no midbass) did it again at 30hz, some midbass but nothing like what I would expect out of a quality speaker and properly deadened door.

My 4ch amp is bridged right now to run my from components with passive crossovers. Im going to try and run fronts and rears off of this amp (instead of using ms8 to power rears) and see what happens. Once I get front stage sounding proper I will worry about incorporating sub.

[Duper]

Originally Posted by SWEET SYNERGY

Ive been going off the recommended slopes in the manual. I believe sub to front 80hz/24 slope.



I didnt realize it should be the lowest you can go. I set mine to the highest without level being too high which is 29-30. I figured after that it clipped the signal so you should not go beyond that point.

Interestingly last night I tried a cal with only fronts and rears. Didnt set up sub, crossed fronts at 80hz, (no midbass) did it again at 30hz, some midbass but nothing like what I would expect out of a quality speaker and properly deadened door.

My 4ch amp is bridged right now to run my from components with passive crossovers. Im going to try and run fronts and rears off of this amp (instead of using ms8 to power rears) and see what happens. Once I get front stage sounding proper I will worry about incorporating sub.

you'll actually get better imaging if you run your fronts full active... It will time align the tweets and mids. Try running your tweets and mids off each channel of your amp.

Btw, your stock radio with all tone settings zeroed out can get up to about 35/36 before it will clip. Just a side note.

[SWEET SYNERGY]

Originally Posted by Duper

you'll actually get better imaging if you run your fronts full active... It will time align the tweets and mids. Try running your tweets and mids off each channel of your amp.

Btw, your stock radio with all tone settings zeroed out can get up to about 35/36 before it will clip. Just a side note.

Thanks for the tip Duper. I was thinking of running fronts and rears off the 4ch and using ms8 to power tweets. But I have to get caps to protect the tweets first.

Another question if I run input setup and use the disc, do I have to do that every time I calibrate?

In other words if I use the disc, put the head unit were it needs to be volume wise. Can I continue (erasing filter settings) changing crossover setups without entering the disc again or do I have to do that every time?

Last question, was you midrange overbearing? Mine is too harsh, like when tweeters are too harsh thats how my mids are right now.

[tbone587]

when calibrating mine I could only go as low as 26 before the signal was "low". I also did the acoustic calibration at -40. What are you guys calibrating at?

[Duper]

Originally Posted by SWEET SYNERGY

Thanks for the tip Duper. I was thinking of running fronts and rears off the 4ch and using ms8 to power tweets. But I have to get caps to protect the tweets first.

Another question if I run input setup and use the disc, do I have to do that every time I calibrate?

In other words if I use the disc, put the head unit were it needs to be volume wise. Can I continue (erasing filter settings) changing crossover setups without entering the disc again or do I have to do that every time?

Last question, was you midrange overbearing? Mine is too harsh, like when tweeters are too harsh thats how my mids are right now.

If memory serves, if you want to change the crossover settings, slopes, etc - yes, you have to run the calibration disk again.

For me, it seemed like I got a completely different tune almost every time I ran through the setup process when my expectation was that it would sound relatively the same just a little better or worse depending on my settings.

Andy from JBL told me to use all four channels on my amp to drive the front stage (tweets and mids) and use the MS-8 to power the rears. If you're running with Logic 7 on, I'd highly suggest doing that too since the front stage is where all the magic happens and the rear just plays out of phase sound for fill. Even if you're not, I'd suggest the same - I don't run with rear speakers anymore at all and my staging is pretty darn good. I don't miss the rears at all.

[SWRocket]

So I finally got my ms-8 tuned.
Yesterday I decided to just start from scratch so I pulled the car into the garage shut the doors. I checked each speakers phase and reset the gains on the amps. The sub amp gain I set at about a quarter and the 4 way fro the fronts at just past half. Then I reset factory on the ms-8 and started the tune. the HU (OEM) volume that got me all "OK"s was at 24 and I left the HU there through out the rest of the calibration.
I set my x-overs at 20hz/12db subsonic, 80hz/24db sub->front and 5khz/24db mid->tweet.
once I got to the speaker verification I turned the volume of the ms-8 down until it sounded at about the volume of a normal conversation (I don't have a db meter to check for 77db) This ended up being about -37.
plugged in the mike and did the calibration, then finally I turned my sub gain up to the same level as the fronts. (after calibration)
That was it. it kicks butt!
I will say that the image quality was sharper and better focused when I didn't have midbass but I wonder if that's a x-over function (perhaps 5.5 khz or a different slope on the mid->tweet would have been better...)

a little more details, I am running my 2-way front active (x-over on the ms-8 not the amp.) the rear speakers are still connected to the factory BA amp, but I have the fader full forward so I can't hear them. I plan to upgrade them and the center (disconnected currently) and run them of anothe 4200SE at some point.