LosIsATool 5,000+ posts
CarAudio.com Veteran
Review of: JBL MS-8
I've had this in for about 4 weeks now. As of yesterday its tuned, yes it took 4 weeks.
You see a lot of stories about how the MS-8 worked wonders, better than software based processors right out of the box. You also see post about how the MS-8 didn't work for them.
I was one of the it didn't work for people.
It almost cost me $500 for an HO alternator, I knew I wouldn't need one for what I'm going for but I was having bad voltage drop.
I found out why- When you calibrate the MS-8 it runs a sweep and EQs to build the Harmon curve(my preferred curve ). It has to hear each speaker. With the Harmon curve the sub is about 6db hot to the midrange. I guess it wasn't hearing the sub enough so it BOOSTED it a lot. That caused my M1 to go into heavy clipping, get the sub very warm, and drop voltage into the 12s. It was very bass heavy at low volume also. It just didn't sound right and the exact opposite of what other users experienced.
How I fixed it- During calibration I turned the gain on the M1 all the way up, this helped it hear the sub in turn not boosting it. After calibration I dialed the gain back to a good blending volume. No more voltage issues, stays above 14v at idle full tilt.
Issue #2- Still haven't found out why it did this. It BOOSTED 400hz to the point I had to back the manual EQ at 400hz all the way down to -10db. I kept listening to the same area of a song over and over till I found the right frequency.
One big props- Sound stage is spot on. There is a song where the trumpet is 10 feet away during recording and the singer is up front, you can see that. A song where a symbol is out the driver window, you can se that.
Now the bass is right, it rumbles when it supposed to, kicks when it supposed to, blends perfect with the mid range, not there when its not there.
Mid bass is very solid, sound stage is very solid. Highs are crisp and clean. Vocals are realistic
This is what others have out the box. It took a lot of work, if I didn't have to tune is 20 minute sessions I could have gotten it much faster.
Judging by how it is right now its a winner, at first I wanted to pull it out and get a bit 10. The onboard amp on the rear fill it very helpful to get that 7.1. There is a big difference when logic is on and off. Much better with Logic on.
If you have any questions ask. I think I'm a MS-8 expert now
I've had this in for about 4 weeks now. As of yesterday its tuned, yes it took 4 weeks.
You see a lot of stories about how the MS-8 worked wonders, better than software based processors right out of the box. You also see post about how the MS-8 didn't work for them.
I was one of the it didn't work for people.
It almost cost me $500 for an HO alternator, I knew I wouldn't need one for what I'm going for but I was having bad voltage drop.
I found out why- When you calibrate the MS-8 it runs a sweep and EQs to build the Harmon curve(my preferred curve ). It has to hear each speaker. With the Harmon curve the sub is about 6db hot to the midrange. I guess it wasn't hearing the sub enough so it BOOSTED it a lot. That caused my M1 to go into heavy clipping, get the sub very warm, and drop voltage into the 12s. It was very bass heavy at low volume also. It just didn't sound right and the exact opposite of what other users experienced.
How I fixed it- During calibration I turned the gain on the M1 all the way up, this helped it hear the sub in turn not boosting it. After calibration I dialed the gain back to a good blending volume. No more voltage issues, stays above 14v at idle full tilt.
Issue #2- Still haven't found out why it did this. It BOOSTED 400hz to the point I had to back the manual EQ at 400hz all the way down to -10db. I kept listening to the same area of a song over and over till I found the right frequency.
One big props- Sound stage is spot on. There is a song where the trumpet is 10 feet away during recording and the singer is up front, you can see that. A song where a symbol is out the driver window, you can se that.
Now the bass is right, it rumbles when it supposed to, kicks when it supposed to, blends perfect with the mid range, not there when its not there.
Mid bass is very solid, sound stage is very solid. Highs are crisp and clean. Vocals are realistic
This is what others have out the box. It took a lot of work, if I didn't have to tune is 20 minute sessions I could have gotten it much faster.
Judging by how it is right now its a winner, at first I wanted to pull it out and get a bit 10. The onboard amp on the rear fill it very helpful to get that 7.1. There is a big difference when logic is on and off. Much better with Logic on.
If you have any questions ask. I think I'm a MS-8 expert now