JBL MS-8 sounds HORRIBLE

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

With a factory head unit you must do the input test with the CD. This is part of correcting the factory EQ curve and any time delays.

 

[npcout 10+ year member]

Thanks everyone for the tips, will call them tomorrow with these suggestions.

I was so freakin excited for this to as I was looking forward to great SQ. I really hope this works out, I don't want to deal with sonics *** crap return investigation policies that have screwed me in the past.

 

[CSCStang]

Thanks everyone for the tips, will call them tomorrow with these suggestions.
I was so freakin excited for this to as I was looking forward to great SQ. I really hope this works out, I don't want to deal with sonics *** crap return investigation policies that have screwed me in the past.

X2 Done with Sonic......

 

[npcout 10+ year member]

X2 Done with Sonic......

I bought a pair of speakers, 1 of the tweeters didn't work upon installation, it hissed, crackled, etc. I purchased speakers and amp from them on same purchase. Amp rated 65RMS X 4, speakers rated 80rms.. They told me I blew the tweeter by a mismatch in power and void the refund/return.

I lol'ed

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Thanks everyone for the tips, will call them tomorrow with these suggestions.
I was so freakin excited for this to as I was looking forward to great SQ. I really hope this works out, I don't want to deal with sonics *** crap return investigation policies that have screwed me in the past.

Before you call them and start reading off of this thread, I can put the shop in touch with someone at Harman. They might be more receptive to that, plus the guy I know really knows his stuff.

 

[Jroo 10+ year member]

Have you heard the car to hear what they say is off? Im not sure they place you have the car is up for the install. Kinda like taking a mercedes to a chevy dealer and them saying we cant figure the car out. Also those JBL amps have to be set a certain way using the install cds. I read on another forum some guys that initially didnt follow the set up stuff in the manual and they amps didnt sound right until they redid everything. This is also if they got the MS 8 set up correclty, which Im not sure they have right.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Trumpetx suggestions are very simple, but very good ones to follow as they are the general cause of 95% of the MS-8 woes. Have them check those things and report back. If they still have problems, it would help to know exactly what makes it sound so bad..

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I wish it wasn't so, but even JBL dealers screw up MS-8 installations. Something as simple as one speaker wired out of polarity will throw off the sound. People don't learn basic troubleshooting anymore. This thread is so light on information that we're just throwing spitballs to see what will stick.

 

[npcout 10+ year member]

Before you call them and start reading off of this thread, I can put the shop in touch with someone at Harman. They might be more receptive to that, plus the guy I know really knows his stuff.

I could see this being very valuable. It appears from what I gather, they are having a hard time getting in contact and working with JBL Tech Support. They are suppose to call me back this afternoon, I will ask them if they would like to go this route, if so.. I'll forward you there information.

When I spoke with them today, they said..

They don't see this as a polarity issue, he said they are very familiar with that and this is not that type of response

The bass and subwoofer amp is working fine

They said the ms-8 and the 4 channel amp seem to be working against each other with a lot of distortion, and all being the same model, they should be working together with each other. He said at low volumes, its okay but as you turn it up, there is limited power, poor clarity, etc. and that the stock setup prior to install has better SQ and clarity. The way I took it is that everything sounds, "Dull" and washed out.

The guy I spoke to today is the most senior guy there, he said he has heard MS-8 before, but never installed one. He said he knows what it is capable of doing, and this is not it. There not charging me more for my car sitting there, and there not trying to sell me something else. There response was that they will work on my car until they get it perfect and that I can pick up my car and bring it back whenever should I need it.. so the person who said they may be doing it wrong on purpose to push me to a jl clean sweep, it doesn't sound like that.

 

---------- Post added at 04:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------

 

I wish it wasn't so, but even JBL dealers screw up MS-8 installations. Something as simple as one speaker wired out of polarity will throw off the sound. People don't learn basic troubleshooting anymore. This thread is so light on information that we're just throwing spitballs to see what will stick.

I looked and it doesn't seem like there is a JBL dealer within 250 miles of my house. I live an hour from philly pa.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I stand corrected, it sounds like you got good honest people there. OH YEAH! tell them to ditch the passive crossovers on that nvx set. Have the tweeters ran off the ms8's tweeter channel. Sometimes the ms-8 does not like fighting against passive crossovers with their processing. Tell the shop to run everything active without passive crossovers, it should yield better results.

With that JBL amp, you gotta bypass that input mixer. You need an amp that just supplies pure power without any processing. You might need to get different type of amp if you cannot bypass it.

 

[npcout 10+ year member]

Okay, need to confirm something with you guys. I spoke to my shop, they got in touch with JBL tech support who told them this which I wasn't aware. I may be saying this wrong, so please bear with me haha.

They said, during the calibration phase, to have volumes low. The shop said the MS-8 likes my volume level to be around 50%, that is where it is liking it. Per the JBL tech support, I must use the volume control on the ms-8, I am to leave the set volume on my stock unit at 50%, and make all adjustments on the MS-8 or I can risk damaging the MS-8. Something about volume needing to be at 50% to get the correct voltage??

I was under the assumption with the MS-8, I can control all sound through my OEM system as I really like the steering wheel controls. He said I can turn the system down to make it quiet, but turning it up, I can only go to 50% which is not that loud. To get the sound louder, I must bring the stock system to 50%, and then all other adjustments through the ms-8 monitor.

Does this sound right? That doesn't make me all to happy. He said this was directly told to them by the JBL reps, volume control needs to be done through the ms-8, not the car system. I choose the ms-8 over cleansweep because I thought I kept reading I can control volumes with my car with the ms-8 whereas the cleansweep has a separate knob to use.

Im not smart enough to do this myself, but im having my serious doubts this unit is going to sound "Amazing" like the ms-8 is suppose to. Ive never heard an ms-8, but if it doesn't really impress me with SQ, i may just ditch it and buy a new headunit.. I don't have the brains to do this myself, and I don't know where else I could take my car to.

/rant, frustrated.. I kept reading how the ms-8 is idiot proof. Been without a car for 4 days now, I never expected this haha.

 

[los33]

Okay, need to confirm something with you guys. I spoke to my shop, they got in touch with JBL tech support who told them this which I wasn't aware. I may be saying this wrong, so please bear with me haha.
They said, during the calibration phase, to have volumes low. The shop said the MS-8 likes my volume level to be around 50%, that is where it is liking it. Per the JBL tech support, I must use the volume control on the ms-8, I am to leave the set volume on my stock unit at 50%, and make all adjustments on the MS-8 or I can risk damaging the MS-8. Something about volume needing to be at 50% to get the correct voltage??

I was under the assumption with the MS-8, I can control all sound through my OEM system as I really like the steering wheel controls. He said I can turn the system down to make it quiet, but turning it up, I can only go to 50% which is not that loud. To get the sound louder, I must bring the stock system to 50%, and then all other adjustments through the ms-8 monitor.

Does this sound right? That doesn't make me all to happy. He said this was directly told to them by the JBL reps, volume control needs to be done through the ms-8, not the car system. I choose the ms-8 over cleansweep because I thought I kept reading I can control volumes with my car with the ms-8 whereas the cleansweep has a separate knob to use.

Im not smart enough to do this myself, but im having my serious doubts this unit is going to sound "Amazing" like the ms-8 is suppose to. Ive never heard an ms-8, but if it doesn't really impress me with SQ, i may just ditch it and buy a new headunit.. I don't have the brains to do this myself, and I don't know where else I could take my car to.

/rant, frustrated.. I kept reading how the ms-8 is idiot proof. Been without a car for 4 days now, I never expected this haha.

This sounds more like the amp powering the ms8's seem to be clipping or distorting due to too much power is being sent. They need to set the volume at your listening level and tune the amp and not tune at there level.

 

[npcout 10+ year member]

Okay, so I got the car back today.. to be completely honest, I'm not really impressed with the sound. Maybe I was expecting to much? I'm hearing parts to songs I've never heard before, mainly in the introduction part of the song, but it just doesn't sound "Musical." It sounds clear, no distortion. Hard to describe, it sounds flat, like the song sounds more like a speech, rather than a musical performance.

Is logic 7 suppose to be on? I don't quite understand what that is. Also, they told me my 4 channel amp, all settings are off, there is no HPF or LPF, the ms-8 controls all of that so the settings are off on the amp. Does that sound correct?

I have a TC EPIC 10, tuned to 30. In my previous car, this thing pounds and sounds LOW and DEEP. It sounds much worse now, almost like higher pitched. Its not hitting low and hard.. I'm playing the same type of music, it just sounds like its not dropping low and deep.

I may have to play with the gains and all..

My old car with pioneer headunit, with my jensen amp and alpine speakers, and hifonics sub amp.. sounded WAY better and more clear with more power than this JBL MS-8/MS500x1/MS100X4 setup. Im sure something is off in the tuning, gains,etc. Either that, or I expected to much and have somewhat forgotten what my previous system truly sounded like as its been 2-3 months.

 

[CSCStang]

Okay, so I got the car back today.. to be completely honest, I'm not really impressed with the sound. Maybe I was expecting to much? I'm hearing parts to songs I've never heard before, mainly in the introduction part of the song, but it just doesn't sound "Musical." It sounds clear, no distortion. Hard to describe, it sounds flat, like the song sounds more like a speech, rather than a musical performance.
Is logic 7 suppose to be on? I don't quite understand what that is. Also, they told me my 4 channel amp, all settings are off, there is no HPF or LPF, the ms-8 controls all of that so the settings are off on the amp. Does that sound correct?

I have a TC EPIC 10, tuned to 30. In my previous car, this thing pounds and sounds LOW and DEEP. It sounds much worse now, almost like higher pitched. Its not hitting low and hard.. I'm playing the same type of music, it just sounds like its not dropping low and deep.

I may have to play with the gains and all..

My old car with pioneer headunit, with my jensen amp and alpine speakers, and hifonics sub amp.. sounded WAY better and more clear with more power than this JBL MS-8/MS500x1/MS100X4 setup. Im sure something is off in the tuning, gains,etc. Either that, or I expected to much and have somewhat forgotten what my previous system truly sounded like as its been 2-3 months.

What a headache. Hope you get it dialed in man.

 

[bradl79 10+ year member]

Okay, so I got the car back today.. to be completely honest, I'm not really impressed with the sound. Maybe I was expecting to much? I'm hearing parts to songs I've never heard before, mainly in the introduction part of the song, but it just doesn't sound "Musical." It sounds clear, no distortion. Hard to describe, it sounds flat, like the song sounds more like a speech, rather than a musical performance.
Is logic 7 suppose to be on? I don't quite understand what that is. Also, they told me my 4 channel amp, all settings are off, there is no HPF or LPF, the ms-8 controls all of that so the settings are off on the amp. Does that sound correct?

I have a TC EPIC 10, tuned to 30. In my previous car, this thing pounds and sounds LOW and DEEP. It sounds much worse now, almost like higher pitched. Its not hitting low and hard.. I'm playing the same type of music, it just sounds like its not dropping low and deep.

I may have to play with the gains and all..

My old car with pioneer headunit, with my jensen amp and alpine speakers, and hifonics sub amp.. sounded WAY better and more clear with more power than this JBL MS-8/MS500x1/MS100X4 setup. Im sure something is off in the tuning, gains,etc. Either that, or I expected to much and have somewhat forgotten what my previous system truly sounded like as its been 2-3 months.

yeah mine sounds like it too, i am still messing around with it though and i am going to RTA and set the EQ up, but my Bass is just so over powering my highs and mids, i had to turn my bass all the way down on Audio Control