One last upgrade

[rebelfromva 10+ year member]

When I get back from this deployment I'll have a few grand to spend but I really don't want to drop it all. This is the very last time I'm dumping this kind of money into the setup. There are 3 things I still want to do but not really needed so I'm just going to do one of them.
1. Add a JBL MS-8.... Do I need it? Not really, it very competative in the SQ lanes as it is but I want to see how much better it can be. ($600-$700)

2. Upgrade to the Hertz Mille... Is it really needed? No but it will improve, how much is the question.

($1000) sell mine for $400ish or more if I hold out for it.

3. Upgrade to a DD M4a... Its it needed? Well I would gain, maybe get in the 152 range which is cool. Its the most sure bet upgrade but it also cost the most. $1500 for the amp and $300 for the added battery. Sell my amp for $800 which is a faster sale then the speakers.

This is it so I want to make it count.

Well you for sure know the 5.0k is gone one it's up fs. I obviously seen a major improvement going fro 1 5.0k to 2 so I think the amp would be dw's best choice. Then I'd go with the ms-8. Your front stage sounds **** good enough for now!

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Can't see second page

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Jon you guys want it now but are they going to want it 8 months from now

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

I think you are talking me out of it. I really don't have the time aymore to tune for hours, get annoyed driving to work for a few days listening to a bad tune and doing it again. I was just looking for the auto tune but it looks like thats not going to work for me. It already has a great stage with proper imaging. It could be a bit wider I guess

The MS-8 can do what you want. My temp setup is a 21inch subwoofer and my stock bose setup running on a ms-8. For setup, keep your sub gain DOWN. Keep it where it all blends ok and on the input setup, when you test each output, the noise coming from sub shouldn't be louder than anything else. Once the MS-8 has done it's thing, you can turn always up it. The MS-8 has a subwoofer control, just make sure when you did the initial setup, the bass knob was all the way down, hu wherever you normally run it and the amp was as high as it needed to be to get you to blend. Then when you want more bass, kick up the ms-8 subwoofer or just go straight for the remote gain knob. The MS-8 won't register that increase, so no, it won't try to keep your bass blending, but at 150db, it's not going to succeed anyway and that's not the point lol.

I don't have a remote knob in my setup, I keep the bass setting and subwoofer at middle positionto get the midbass required that I used for my setup, and simply max out subwoofer and kick the bass setting up a notch or two from there if I'm playing rap. That is enough to max out my subwoofers actual output on a 1000 watt amp. That's pretty good amount of gain built in considering at flat on both it matches up to stock 5.25 midbasses lol.

FWIW, the ms-8 does a "good" job tuning. You'll stil want to tweak it once it's done it's thing, but it does do a nice job, especially if your car has a center channel, or if you willing to add one. Best auto-tune I've heard to date.

Also you can get the MS-8 off of amazon for less than 500.

Also if you want a setup that blends and another that doesn't you do that by using the favorites, you can set up to 5 presets. Adjusting the bass and subwoofer controls works. However, a remote gain knob would do the same thing really , IMO better. Just turn you SQ setting up on the sub amp lol.l

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

Why get a processor that does auto tub tune when there are hu's out there that does that, especially if your don't want to get caught up in tuning.

I don't see 600 dollars being worth an auto tune.

600 dollars is worth unlimited tuning options if your willing.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Why get a processor that does auto tub tune when there are hu's out there that does that, especially if your don't want to get caught up in tuning.
I don't see 600 dollars being worth an auto tune.

600 dollars is worth unlimited tuning options if your willing.

Listen to a system with an MS-8 and you'll understand. You have no idea what you're missing.

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

I've heard alot of people who weren't satisfied with auto tune.

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

Listen to a system with an MS-8 and you'll understand. You have no idea what you're missing.

The fact that a MS-8 dropped in a stock BMW sound system posted the highest SQ score of all time (at that time) made it pretty clear to me

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

Was it an auto tune setup?

 

[Timmy13091 10+ year member]

I say m4a just because I've herd you talk about them a million times //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Was it an auto tune setup?

Auto tune on MS-8 is to set levels, get the system EQd flat and do the time alignment. It sounds like a clock radio immediately after performing a calibration, similar to how a system sounds when you manually tune it to measure flat. You fix that by adjusting the audio settings, mainly the 31 band graphic EQ, and possibly raising the gains on your amps for more output. It's not your typical graphic EQ, because you're drawing the curve to mimic what you're trying to achieve manually with an RTA setup. Except it takes that whole frustrating process out of the equation and it gets you to a vastly improved system in a few minutes.

I'm starting to think there must be something wrong with self-labeled audiophiles when it comes to active systems. I get that there's some real pride in doing things yourself at each and every step of the way. I had a personal problem with MS-8 when it was really starting to take off on DIYMA, and it's because I was bound and determined to learn to tune manually. I could never get my system sounding good enough, and it wasn't until I got an MS-8 that I realized how far off the mark I was. What convinced me to ditch my Alpine processor was reading, and reading a lot until I soaked up tons of info from Andy W. and others about what makes MS-8 different.

Some people reading my posts might think I'm full of it and I talk up the MS-8 because I sell JBL. I haven't sold a single MS-8 on the forums. Most people who want to run an active system barely comprehend how to get it up and running. It's become trendy, and people who aren't ready for an active system are buying an 80PRS, a set of components, and a 4-channel amp because the forums said to do it.

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

and people who aren't readyfor an active system

I don't get what you mean by this.

 

[momax_powers 10+ year member]

What about the imprint since u have the alpine 117

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

I thought about imprint but it doesnt do much for a 3 way. As for the HU, I don't care for pioneer's sound. I'm a Alpine guy

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I don't get what you mean by this.

Let's make this simple: there's a lot to **** up about an active system.