First DSP

[Crusher]

Hello, I am going to buy my first dsp soon and hear good things about Helix reading around and there are some good tutorials on You tube. I have two way components with passive crossovers up front and two way coaxials in the rear doors powered by a brick 4x45 rms amp plus a small underseat active sub which I will also be upgrading. I only listen through the factory head unit at present.

I have been looking at the Helix Match M5DSP mk2 a 5 channel amp 7 channel dsp which looks really nice, I could use that and ditch my current amp, I have also been looking at the Helix DSP mini which i think is a better dsp in terms of specs?? and I could use it with my current amp. I am not after a load of power, does anyone have any advice on which to pick and also what helix or non helix sub would sound good connected to the m5dsp (4ohms 90rms , 2ohms 160rms? )

One of the attractions of the above is the de-eq of factory but another option I was considering was possibly a dayton 408 music playing directly through the device, just wondering what is likely to sound better a factory signal that has gone through a Helix or signal played directly on the dayton 408.

Thank you!

[BigAl205]

I don't know enough about the Dayton, but I've used Mosconi, Precision Power, and Helix, and I like Helix the best. Several of my friends are using MiniDSP, but they seem to have random issues...your mileage may vary.

[dumdum]

Helix all the way, I’ve used mosconi, jl and zapco... helix wins on the interface alone!

[Crusher]

Thanks guys, I think I am going to go with the m5dsp mk2 as I like the idea of all in one.
https://www.audiotec-fischer.de/en/m...ers/m-5dsp-mk2
https://www.audiotec-fischer.de/en/h...ssors/dsp-mini

Do you have any experience of the helix match subs and how they sound, or can you recommend a decent non helix match sub and enclosure that would play well with the 5dsp sub out put.
Maybe something like http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/subw...aded-enclosure

Incidentally I discovered this particular amp/dsp here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xys8gkcJlT0

[Holmz]

..I only listen through the factory head unit at present.

... (4ohms 90rms , 2ohms 160rms? )

One of the attractions of the above is the de-eq of factory but another option I was considering was possibly a dayton 408 music playing directly through the device, just wondering what is likely to sound better a factory signal that has gone through a Helix or signal played directly on the dayton 408.

Thank you!

In order:

How good or bad is the sound now?

if you do not listen at super loud levels, then the 4-ohm is more than sufficient.

if you had some RCA to 1/8" headphone jack, then you could play the same some out of the factory HU... and the same song out of the something else, like an iPhone... and hear whether with headphone whether there is an obvious reason to ditch the factory HU.

[Crusher]

To my uneducated ear, it sounds quite good, above average but not quite right and at louder levels I find the bass lacking and certain highs harsh. I see people look for a flat or waterfall eq so I made some rudimentary measurements using audio control tools and pink noise on an ipad, the results I get are far from this and this is why I originally began to consider a dsp.

Thanks for your suggestion re RCA headphone jack, today I played pink noise from my phone directly through my amp , I couldn't do my active sub at the same time as it is tapped into high level separately so I did that on its own.

All speakers through headunit:


Components only played direct from phone:


Sub only, direct from phone, problem being I can compare like with like volume level.


I cant do anything about that using the HU 3 band eq, bringing the treble right down and boosting mids changes it only slightly. Cutting out the HU seems to give better results would you say? There seems to be more bass but not 100% sure, and what the hell is that massive dip at 500 all about?

The results are one of the reasons I was looking at Helix as it has an input eq and someone has posted a good video on you tube on how to use it , but I may be able to get a Audison AP5.9 cheaper now and I believe its input eq is automated.

[JCsAudio]

I own a, JL TwK88, and Dayton 408 and have owned a HELIX.

Helix, most powerful with way more options than the average enthusiast could ever need. Over complicated software and therefore might be frustrating for the beginner. Check out Apicella YouTube videos on how to use. Also very expensive. Match amplifiers with built in DSP are definitely nice though.

JL TwK88, really nice DSP for the enthusiast as well as the advanced tuner. Has intuitive multi-level software from beginner to advanced levels to tailor to your level of knowledge. Very powerful 10 band parametric EQ is enough to tune most any vehicle. Nice strong 4 volt pre out and noise free operation. Well made DSP.

Dayton 408, Easy to use software but not as intuitive as the JL. Bluetooth module a nice feature and works well. iPad app makes quick tuning adjustments easy with Bluetooth module. Very inexpensive and can sound just as good as the JL or Helix under normal conditions. May be more susceptible to ground loop noise and pre outputs less than 4 volts. Some say pre outs clip but I haven’t noticed this myself. The budget king when it comes to good sound cheap.

hope this helps for a guy who has used all these.

[jtrosky]

Only thing that I will say is that everyone is different. I personally find the Helix software interface to be extremely straight-forward and easy to use - it just "clicks" with me. In fact, I also have a Dayton and I find it's interface more confusing that the Helix (mainly it's I/O routing). Not to mention that it's nice to have all of the features of the Helix available to you (augmented bass processing, allpass filters, ability to setup differential rear-fill, etc) - and I personally REALLY appreciate having more than 10 bands of parametric EQ to play with. If you need a few allpass filters and some tricky EQ, it's very easy to run out of bands with a 10-band parametric EQ. Sure, you can make the EQ a lot better than it was, but you'll still have some significant left/right differences (significant being 2dB or more of difference between left/right), it won't quite match your target curve as well, etc - especially if you have channels that play a very wide range of frequencies (for example, my dash speakers might play 400hz-20khz on a single channel). It's just nice to have the bands if you need them.

I think someone else already mentioned this, but I would recommend downloading the software for the DSP's you are considering and see which one "works" for you. To me, the Helix is *the* gold standard when it comes to DSP - it'll cover just about any situation you may face.