Quote:
Originally Posted by oca123
Ken, I read a little bit of it of the paper you linked to and it is very informative. I singled out some interesting things from the few pages I read:
- Room modes are important
- Reverberation gives impression of spaciousness
- Center channel is not just a sum of right+left in 5x2x5 as described
- L7 "decides" whether the recording is surround or not and determines the volume of the rears depending on that. It is supposed to be a user-adjustable setting and they actually called it "correction"
- Power ratio of center to left and right should be 1:2 when all 3 are driven by the same signal... or not
Looks like I need to read this more thoroughly... this is off topic anyway. I am printing it now.
Overall the MS8 was a nice introduction to acoustics, but it is not giving me the sound that I want and it doesnt provide enough options for customization for me.
Would you recommend waiting for the DSP8 or getting a Bit.One? I hear the latter had lots of issues and I wonder if they have been resolved. I also think the DSP8 is going to be what, $1500?
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AFAIK, the DSP-8 is going to be like the BitOne - a straightforward processor with time delay, xovers, and EQ. If and when I get to see this dead grandmother firsthand ("Bueller? Bueller?") I expect it to be just an 8-channel DSP-6. I really hope that Zapco doesn't try to add any weird tech to it, because that would scare me.
That whole paper boils down to this sentence for me: "We can find the optimal center attenuation by trial and error."
Well, duh. All that math, and you still turn the damned knob until it sounds good?
The issues of the BitOne are all supposed to be fixed with the BitOne.1. The model I tested was fine. It has some nice features. But it's graphic EQ only.
You might want to talk to Technic - he swapped out his BitOne for an MS-8.
Personally, I think that the MS-8 was aiming just a little low. If they had gone just a little higher, and planned on trickling down later - adding a Toslink, adding an expert mode with channel by channel EQ, stuff like that, it would have been better for buyers like you (and me, for that matter). Then again, given that it took Harman 3 years to get the damned thing to market, if it had had ANY more features on it, it would have probably just been scuttled before launch. I don't know that they've succeeded in getting it into Best Buy. I hear they have a simplified version already in the pipeline, and they would LOOOVE to get that into Best Buy - wearing an Infinity, or a JBL, or some kinda Harman badge. The thought of a Best Buy installer getting his ass kicked by an MS-8 is kinda entertaining. Like NASCAR.
To recalibrate what I'm saying, I'm not knocking the MS-8. Every piece of gear has its limitations, and as a former product planning director, I have opinions about what should have been done with every piece of gear I test
But for what you get and what you spend, it's a piece of gear that is particularly suited for BMWs. I don't think it will power 8" worth a damn, I don't think it can make HiFi speakers sound like they aren't particular crappy speakers, and from experience in other cars, I can tell you that it can't make poor-quality speakers sound like great speakers. It can make pretty good speakers sound like great speakers, and that's the deal people get out of the Logic 7 upgrade.
But with 4-ohm speakers in our testing, we've been really disappointed. We used one in a Ford Flex with Sony 4-ohm speakers all round, and an amp on a 10" woofer, and the result was woeful until we upgraded the Sony speakers and put an amp in there. Then it would knock your socks off. But the powered output of the MS-8 is best into a small 2-ohm speaker, my experience says.