Explain digital sound processors to me? JBL MS-8, Rockford 3sixty.3, audison bit one

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

What is the point of them?

To add more channels to run more amps?
Is it so you can run your set up active?

I honestly know nothing about them. @ciaonzo ; @keep_hope_alive ; @TaylorFade ; @mylows10 ;

Click to read more...

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

It's mainly for active systems with the benefit of a lot more tuning power. The processors you listed can take as few as 2 channels of input and generate up to 8 channels. I'm on my phone so I'll leave it at this for now.

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

It's mainly for active systems with the benefit of a lot more tuning power. The processors you listed can take as few as 2 channels of input and generate up to 8 channels. I'm on my phone so I'll leave it at this for now.

Feel free to write more when you have free time and are on a computer.

Do you get degrade the signal at all by running a 2channel HU into one and splitting it into 8?

 

[clickclickw00t 10+ year member]

Feel free to write more when you have free time and are on a computer.
Do you get degrade the signal at all by running a 2channel HU into one and splitting it into 8?

It turns the analog sound to digital, then processes it, then converts it back to analog. Basically, the only "loss" you have is the minor loss of fidelity going ADC->unit->DAC. But no, you will not necessary get "signal loss". And the minor loss in fidelity is way more than fixed with the awesome tuning abilities.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Aside from the MS-8, all other DSPs at the same price level require someone at the helm who knows how to tune, as well as an RTA setup. When you have many, many equalizer bands there is literally no productive use of your time to attempt to tune only by ear. While the MS-8 is not perfect, and the installation manual is missing critical tips, I can have my system tuned from scratch in less than 20 minutes. I do this every time I have done a memory wipe on my MS-8, which has been twice so far in the last 7 months that I recall.

At an Audison dealer with a Bit Tune you can pay them to tune your system more or less automatically. I don't know any Audison dealers near me to be able to see this in person, but you can see it on YouTube on the Amplified show by Soundman in California. You're chained to the dealer if you ever need to retune the system with the Bit Tune.

The point of possibly quadrupling the complexity of a system with a DSP and the options they can open is because the results can be mind blowing. It's not going to make a ****** install sound competition ready, and it can't make crap speakers sound like high end speakers. It can make good speakers sound amazing, and along with an install that covers a lot of common issues you start to forget you're in a car at times.

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

Without processor...



With processor...

 

[chefzane]

Without processor...


With processor...

This x2, was a world of diff for me

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

You might think I'm kidding, but it's not far from the truth.

I think one of the greatest testaments to the efficacy of processors is what JBL accomplished right when the MS-8 came out. They took a bone stock BMW system, added some amps and an MS-8 and recorded the highest SQ score ever (at the time). And BMW's aren't known for the greatest stock speakers in the world. I know because I own one.

I actually have an MS-8 now. And a BMW. I got the MS-8 first so it was sitting until I decided on amps and new drivers. Well... I got sick of it collecting dust while I made up my mind and I installed it. ALL I did was replace the factory amp with the MS-8. 20 minutes later and I'm telling you... it's like night and day. Literally.

Now, this isn't me talking up the MS-8 specifically. Just processing in general. Lots of EQ is nice. And time alignment is nice. Put both together and you really have something special.

All of this time and money that we put into our car stereos... I can't believe more people don't use some sort of processing. And the prices are getting lower and lower. The Zapco unit is like $450 brand new. And heck, you can get the MiniDSP for 100 bucks.

The MS-8 takes some of the fun out of it though because it does it ALL for you. Like... everything. Sometimes, and in my case (this time), that's a good thing. But it's fun to try different crossover points or slopes. Add a little delay here. Cut a little there. Attenuate something -1db. Blah blah blah. You can fiddle until the cows come home chasing the dragon. But don't let that deter anyone from trying it. It's a great ride getting everything dialed in.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

we can chat sometime if you wanna discuss it more.

 

[chefzane]

Waiting on keep_hope_alive to setup and review the mini-dsp so I know if its close to what I want, don't wanna spend the money on the ms-8 its silly when a laptop dedicated to the mini and a mic setup for the RTA its still cheaper than a new ms-8, and I like to play with my setup

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

How does the P99 head unit compare to having a 80PRS with a MS-8?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Waiting on keep_hope_alive to setup and review the mini-dsp so I know if its close to what I want, don't wanna spend the money on the ms-8 its silly when a laptop dedicated to the mini and a mic setup for the RTA its still cheaper than a new ms-8, and I like to play with my setup

Learning to tune manually will make you better appreciate what MS-8 can do. I think it's silly to say a Mini-DSP with a laptop RTA setup can be superior when you haven't spent hours and hours in the car trying to figure out WTF to do as your ears get tired and your car still doesn't sound how you want it to.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Waiting on keep_hope_alive to setup and review the mini-dsp so I know if its close to what I want, don't wanna spend the money on the ms-8 its silly when a laptop dedicated to the mini and a mic setup for the RTA its still cheaper than a new ms-8, and I like to play with my setup

Learning to tune manually will make you better appreciate what MS-8 can do. I think it's silly to say a Mini-DSP with a laptop RTA setup can be superior when you haven't spent hours and hours in the car trying to figure out WTF to do as your ears get tired and your car still doesn't sound how you want it to.

 

[OldManBass]

Trumpet, can you have multiple settings on the MS-8? Say an "SQ" setting, and a "Full Bass" setting?

 

[chefzane]

Double post