# Opinions please - Ms8 or P99rs?



## Eticket (Sep 2, 2011)

I know the units are different and you need to start with a good source deck, but it seems like the ms8's autotune seems to work well whereas the p99rs still needs extensive tuning.

Opinions?

Thanks,John


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## pjc (May 3, 2009)

Im sure you are going to get tons of different opinions... but I'll offer mine anyway. I had a Denon and MS8 combo and loved it. Especially being not familiar with tuning the MS8 was the way to go for me... and I repeat lol.. for me. Im a very confident installer for the most part but am not familiar with the tuning I was wanting. I recently sold that setup and again bought another MS8 for my new truck but keeping the stock deck for now. I love the auto tune. Not saying its 100% perfect but for an average SQ guy such as myself it was the way to go. 
And there is a decent price difference too. MS8 can be had all day for $400 where the P99 will be closer to $900 or so. Either way I dont thing you are making a "bad" choice.


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

First of all, not a fair comparison. The MS-8 is an outboard processor ONLY while 99RS is a headunit WITH built-in processing. So you have to add the cost of a good HU to the MS-8 to make a fair comparison from a price perspective.

Second, Gabe (Se7en), who lived in Austin for the past few years, had an MS-8 and one day it arbitrarily put out white noise at full volume, smoking all of his Dynaudio drivers. 6spdcpe was kind enough to take care of him, but imagine your drivers going up in smoke - what is that worth to you?

Third, the 99RS is a great processor. The auto eq/ta will get you 90% there. Then you have a learning opportunity because you can go in and look at the settings to see what the auto eq/ta set. Next you can go in and tweak them as needed. Plus, on top of the auto eq, you have 31 bands of EQ per channel. Read the "my soundstage ate my windshield" post and you can use the eq to really fine tune the imaging.


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

pjc said:


> And there is a decent price difference too. MS8 can be had all day for $400 where the P99 will be closer to $900 or so. Either way I dont thing you are making a "bad" choice.


The P99 is an HU with a built-in processor. The MS-8 has to be paired with a decent HU.

I think the ability of the MS-8 to smoke your drivers randomly makes it a bad choice. If you want outboard processing, get a BitOne or Mosconi 6to8 rather than an MS-8.


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

I had a Michelin tire blow out on me....should I stop buying Michelin tires?

....really

Non of the stated H-Us or processors have had perfect record


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## Eticket (Sep 2, 2011)

does the p99rs have an imperfect record? 

I didn't realize the mS8's were doing that... (relatively new the board). is that why there are so many refurbs for sale?


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## TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL (Jan 31, 2011)

Both the MS-8 and the Bit One have had issues. The P99 has had one potential issue that I'm aware of, possibly taking out a set of tweeters. The MS-8 and Bit One problem are a little more often reported. I currently use a P99. I have an MS-8 sitting in storage. I prefer the P99, because I learned to tune using it, I would never learn if I used the MS-8.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

P99 all the way, every day! The P99 technology comes from the well established ODR line from pioneer and has been tried and true. I have had both in my car. The MS8 lasted for 1 week, and the P99 has been in for almost 2 years.


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## jstoner22 (Jun 30, 2009)

i wouldn't part with my P99 either.

one less unit in the audio chain, and it has enough dsp capabilities to achieve anything you want.

don't shy from learning to tune. an autotune is great to get you most of the way there, but at the end of the day, it doesn't know what your ears like. you need to be able to tweak to your tastes after (which is made easy by the P99)


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## Rupinder (Jan 25, 2011)

i cant say about ms8 but i had rf 360.2 and now i have p99 .i would any day prefer p99.a less link in audio chain .plus on the go tuning is much better and easier in p99.the auto ta is quite accurate in p99


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## avanti1960 (Sep 24, 2011)

for me the P99 autotune tonality was not a good starting point. it was extremely midrange biased (plus 10db from 800 Hz to 3.5Khz, verified with RTA). I turned it off and used an RTA to tune it to my liking.
the TA was much better- needing only a little adjusting to dial in. 
if you connect the tweeter to the "high" channels there should be no issue with blowing them- the high channel is limited to 800Hz low frequency- BUT you should pre-set your network before running autotune regardless. 
Never used MS8 but being an avid on-the-go adjuster I could never part with a system that did not allow it. 
plus, the P99 is dialed in and it is extremely nice- despite the learning curve and need for RTA.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

I loved loved loved my MS-8 using it with sides, center, and rears.

The problem people have with the tuning from the MS-8 is they lack basic system design and setup and want the processor work magic to fix problems it can't fix. If you listen to Andy and follow his advice, the end product is very very very good.


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## necrophidious (Aug 14, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> I loved loved loved my MS-8 using it with sides, center, and rears.
> 
> The problem people have with the tuning from the MS-8 is they lack basic system design and setup and want the processor work magic to fix problems it can't fix. If you listen to Andy and follow his advice, the end product is very very very good.


I'm sure that is true in some circumstances, but certainly not in all. The MS-8 will spit out the end result, and if it sucks, there is not much you can do about it. I worked with a professional installer, the folks at JBL, read through that entire MS-8 abortion thread, and even had some help from Andy as well. The results were still awful. You might get great results, you might not. I currently have a P99, and would highly recommend it.


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## skyven (Jul 25, 2012)

P99 are the best decision i have, TA, 31 ch eq, and most important compatible with my phone4s. You cannot heard perfect sound that never there.


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## ZAKOH (Nov 26, 2010)

JBL MS-8 is great for 

1. factory sound system integration
2. 5.1 sound
3. Retail price is lower.

If you don't care for these things, maybe p99RS is the way to go.


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## hippopotamus (Sep 5, 2012)

i use them both.. P99RS combined with Ms8 with center + rear fill speakers


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

thehatedguy said:


> I loved loved loved my MS-8 using it with sides, center, and rears.
> 
> The problem people have with the tuning from the MS-8 is they lack basic system design and setup and want the processor work magic to fix problems it can't fix. If you listen to Andy and follow his advice, the end product is very very very good.


Agreed. Mine sounds very good, better than many manually tuned cars I've heard. The only thing I don't like about it is what I'm going through now for example. The driver's side tweeter is just the tiniest bit bright. Almost perfect but it bugs me. If only I could lower the level just a tiny bit it would be perfect. It took a ton of experimenting over the past year and following Andys advice but I'm really happy with it.


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## mughal90 (Sep 8, 2011)

M also inclined towards p99, hope to get one soon


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