What to look for in a dsp

[pocket5s]

I don't think there would be a huge market. Not too many people who would actually want to be shoehorned into a single HU and dsp combo. You have that now, the p99. Beyond that you almost have to have a laptop, unless you just love the idea of tuning a modern dsp on two or three lines of display. Yuck!

Personally I would rather have a solid HU with no frills at all. Give me a p99-like unit that is dead silent, have plenty of low level voltage and that's it. Ok, USB support because everyone had an iPod or equivalent and perhaps optical out. No dsp, no speaker outputs, none of that stuff to interfere with the signal.

[BlackHHR]

Seems very simple... plug here , control here , rta here , dsp there ... That is too easy

[Hi-FiDelity]

I don't think there would be a huge market. Not too many people who would actually want to be shoehorned into a single HU and dsp combo. You have that now, the p99. Beyond that you almost have to have a laptop, unless you just love the idea of tuning a modern dsp on two or three lines of display. Yuck!

I was actually things something along the lines of a 2 Din touch screen HU as apposed to an 80prs kinda display. While you may be limited to your choices, if it's something like a PPI DEQ.8 or Soundstream Harmony you've actually got more than enough tuning and being able to adjust something like that on the fly from your HU would be a massive reason to get one of those over a Helix or Zapco.

Personally I would rather have a solid HU with no frills at all. Give me a p99-like unit that is dead silent, have plenty of low level voltage and that's it. Ok, USB support because everyone had an iPod or equivalent and perhaps optical out. No dsp, no speaker outputs, none of that stuff to interfere with the signal.

That's actually kind of what I was getting at. Take a good solid HU, remove the cheap ass processing and gimmicks and just have it output a clean signal in either analog or digital. Something like that would be a great candidate for integration with a standalone DSP.

[captainobvious]

I would stay away from the ps8 right now. Still issues with it

You mean beyond the fact that the "coming soon" controller is a mythical unicorn dipped in fairy dust and childrens tears?

[captainobvious]

Personally, I want a controller with whatever DSP I use. Now, it doesn't need to do everything, but I expect to be able to control presets and digital volume control at a bare minimum. The Audison controller is easily the sexiest and includes good functionality. For total package of everything that it can do (and has a controller), the Mosconi seems to be the best pick. If Arc had a controller, they would be head and shoulders above the pack, but you're more likely to find Obama's birth certificate so don't hold your breath. The Helix unit has a nice featureset, but not as robust as the Mosconi, and doesn't have a real controller. Problem with the Mosconi is that everything is an add-on and it gets insanely pricey. But if you're willing to pay for it, you can have optical and coaxial digital inputs/outputs, 8v RCA outs, high resolution streaming bluetooth that actually works, and a controller...all in a tiny footprint.

[Hi-FiDelity]

Personally, I want a controller with whatever DSP I use....

I agree, I just think that if someone like PPI or Soundstream would make a solid dead head that could interface with a DEQ.8 or Harmony they would have a massive leg up on the comp.

[Brotaco]

How does the Bitone rate these days? I know its been out for a long time, but I stopped by an Audison dealer shop today and they raved about it as one of the best on the market. They said they had dozens of installs using it and with the Bit tuning add-on they could give me a competition grade system. It was pretty expensive though, so I'm wondering if they are just trying to upsell me. The shop was also an Arc dealer and when I asked about the PS8 they kinda downplayed it, saying it was really only for very advanced users and that they hadn't old very many because most of their customers were happy with the Bitone. Is anyone familiar with the Bittune? Is it really capable of autotuning a competition system?

[pocket5s]

no it isn't. if they are trying to sell you on that, laugh at them. then ask to see their track record with auto-tuned competition setups. or any competition setups. If they produce nothing, laugh at them again.

the bitone itself is not a bad unit. it is just dated. Not to say that alone makes it unworthy, just stating a point. there are many great sounding vehicles with bitones in them, so it is a viable option. If it had any "faults" at all it might be that it only has graphic eq, as some prefer the flexibility of parametric but otherwise there isn't too much negative to say about it.

[Lanson]

Is anyone familiar with the MS8? Does the autotune work well? I'm a novice at tuning so I need something that's going to get me there.

I'll weigh in on the MS-8. I've had incredible success with it. I'm not a novice but I'm not a pro, but the MS-8 makes my cars sound "pro". I've installed 5 of them so far, and each build came out great.

It works especially well when a few points of interest are maintained. These are:

1. Center channel, if you have one or can install one. The bigger, the better. A tweeter in the center won't cut it.
2. Speakers that work under their beaming frequency. The whole floodlight vs. spotlight thing. I've learned the MS8 can maintain an incredibly strong image (even in multiple seats) as long as all the speakers in the system are working below their beaming frequency.
3. A clean-enough head unit. Stock or aftermarket, had good success with both.
4. Well-deadened and sealed-up doors, etc. Rattles during the tuning/calibration process make for a jacked-up final response.
5. Patience in experimentation with phase, which is one thing the MS-8 can't fix on its own. Example, you might have to fool around with swapping terminals on your subs, to discover the phase relationship between your midbass and subs was causing cancellation.
6. A system with no holes in it. Example, you can't use a 9" midbass and a tweeter and expect good results. This also goes along with the beaming thing.
7. A system with "standard" power structure. It doesn't really work well with 12000 watts on the sub, and 10W on the tweeters.


There's more, but if we get those basics out of the way, its a great start. I highly recommend them if you just want it to work, and work pretty well every day on all music, without needing to tune per song for the "perfect" sound.

[pocket5s]

There's more, but if we get those basics out of the way, its a great start. I highly recommend them if you just want it to work, and work pretty well every day on all music, without needing to tune per song for the "perfect" sound.

if anyone is tuning per song, they are doing it wrong lol. I guess that's why I don't get the need for on the fly adjustments. the only thing I adjust on the fly is the volume. Everything else means you are either a) trying to compensate for what wasn't originally recorded or b) trying to compensate for lack of a solid tune to begin with.