What to look for in a dsp

[Hillbilly SQ]

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.

Agree 100%. That's how I roll. Only adjust the sub output when needed or if I feel like pounding the pavement. Otherwise, the material is what it is...or isn't.

[Lanson]

Exactly, I agree as well. But even regarding the sub output... that's something that when an MS8 is set up just right...you shouldn't have to touch really at all.


But that's what it gets back to. The MS-8 is viable if a set-and-forget system is desired. Also, the 8 amp channels helps a lot when you need some channels but don't need them amped up. rear surround, center, tweeters, for example. Hell for a while, I ran my entire system on just the MS-8, until I purchased amps. At lower to mid-volumes, it worked just fine. 20W @ 4ohm, and 30@ 2ohm is "enough" for some things.

[Brotaco]

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.

I figured they were pushing the Bitone because it was the better moneymaker for them. I think their price was $1095 for the bitone and then they charged either $95 or $110 an hour for the bit tuning on top of that depending on whether I bought a package deal from them or not (a little confused remembering the pricing exactly). It's too much for justify, so I'll probably start out with the MS8 instead.

[Brotaco]

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.

Thanks, this info is very helpful for me. I think I'll go with the MS8 starting out, they seem to be fairly reasonable used.

[pocket5s]

I figured they were pushing the Bitone because it was the better moneymaker for them. I think their price was $1095 for the bitone and then they charged either $95 or $110 an hour for the bit tuning on top of that depending on whether I bought a package deal from them or not (a little confused remembering the pricing exactly). It's too much for justify, so I'll probably start out with the MS8 instead.

You can get one for $850 on amazon. If you are patient you can usually find one for about 600 or so used. $95-$110 an hour huh. Well from what I've seen in a video, it takes the bittune a few minutes to do its thing, so based on an hourly rate, that's what, $10-$15 tops?

You can get a helix dsp on Crutchfield for 700.

You can get a zapco dsp-z8 for 550 on amazon.

The biggest downside to the ms8, from those that I know who have had one, is you pretty much have little to no tuning options. All the others have as much capability as you will likely ever need. With the money saved, you can get a calibrated mic, download REW, and still have plenty left over for tons of beer to entice people to come over and help you tune on it


Best of all, if you get stuck, there are plenty of people on this forum with experience covering all of the above units who can help

[dejo]

sonic has the rf 360.3 for $479 when its in stock

[captainobvious]

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.

Agree and disagree. Road noise and cancellation is an issue. Having seperate presets to account for things that occur while the vehicle is at highway speeds vs sitting in a parking lot is a nice bonus.

[pocket5s]

Agree and disagree. Road noise and cancellation is an issue. Having seperate presets to account for things that occur while the vehicle is at highway speeds vs sitting in a parking lot is a nice bonus.

ah yes, a preset is one thing, but that isn't "tuning on the fly" to me. presents are wonderful, wonderful things

I guess the one thing i might concede to would be a bass boost. however I'd just assume have a preset for "I wanna pound the pavement" than a knob. my gripe about standard bass boost knobs is they are centered on a given frequency. well, that's fine if all your songs have big boost on that frequency. me personally, my 'bass boost" is a preset where I crank up the whole sub and I change the XO higher and move the midbass higher up as well. give the sub more range to pound with. That's just me though.

[Lanson]

Agree and disagree. Road noise and cancellation is an issue. Having seperate presets to account for things that occur while the vehicle is at highway speeds vs sitting in a parking lot is a nice bonus.

Yeah this is true, I actually have a preset in the MS-8 for windows up, and one for windows-down. Pretty sweet actually.

[dejo]

the 3sixty.3 has a bass gain and or bass knob (knob centered at 45hz), I like the remote gain very well