# Hammer's 2009 Mazda RX-8 Build



## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Wow, I don't believe I am even starting this thread. I finally made a start at this project. A little background... A couple months after getting my car, I knew the audio system had to go. It's not a "bad" Bose system, but it's just not there for me. I also knew that I wanted to quite the car down. Many 8 owners try to increase the sound of exhaust or give it a deeper tone. Not me for my DD of 70 miles a day.

I am not a total SQ guy, nor a bass head. Just something in between. I set out over a year ago and I headed down the carpc route but after about 4 months planning, I scrapped that.

The most important part of this thread: THANK YOU to all the DIYMA folks that answered my questions and pointed me in the right direction. 

I started off with building the box, after I decided on 2 JBL GTO1014D. The 8 is limited on trunk space and I still wanted to be able to have usable space. The car does not have a spare tire as standard equipment so there is a little room to work, but not much. 

Planning the box:










To make sure I could get it in and out:









Building the box:









Stuffing and more stuffing:









Covering the box:









Completed enclosure:









I used black as I am still on the hunt for a true match to my carpet color. I have some samples on the way and I can rip this off and cover again if I find a perfect match.

While I was waiting on supplies and just resting, I constructed a solid state relay. Thanks much to The Tube Doctor for his help and feedback. 









Now on to the amp rack that will fit in the trunk floor cutout.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Because of the limited space, I was limited on my selection of amps. I decided to go Massive NX-4 for front stage and center and an N2 for the subs. I made a small tray out of 1/2" MDF to fit in the "box" in the trunk floor. I had thought about glassing it and probably will before this project is completed. The most annoying part of this was all the kurf cuts to fit make the bends. Glue is curing as I write. Cleanup, sanding, lid building and covering comes later. 










Oh wait, who is that I see coming of the street. Wait, is it brown? Yes it is. Come on, no, don't stop there. Dang, I thought the UPS man had something for me...... Oh wait, he's stopping at my house; whoo hoooo!!










The start of the sound deadening job. Damn, the MLV is HEAVY!!!! Still waiting on one more box due to a mix up in shipping. Overall, looks like the products that Don has at SDS are great and shipping seemed great. The only issue is the mlv seems to be a little messed up on both ends from being rolled around during shipment. The protective coverings are shredded. Doesn't look too bad and I'll have to see when I unroll it all. 

More to follow as I start to remove the interior and the fun begins.


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## maverickmann (Jun 11, 2006)

Good looking start. I always wanted an 8. Looking forward to seeing it 'done'.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Thank you. The 8 is a fun car to drive. It's not the fastest car out there but they do handle incredibly well.


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## jward84 (Jul 21, 2011)

I just sold my 8. Miss it already!! Lol will be following this build


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

I get tired of cars quick. I normally don;t stay in them more than about 3 years. I don't think I will sell this one when I am ready for a new DD.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

More goodies came in today. I received a lot of the stuff to make my own RCA cables and the Metra face plate. I also finished up building the tray and the lid. I am waiting to wrap them in carpet until the amps arrive. This way I can lay them out and place the cooling fan and make a final cut. I plan to use the rotorary image for the cooling fan intake.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Before I begin the sound deadening project on Friday, I took some simple dB sound levels using my Atrix Android phone and Sound Meter Pro by Smart Tools. Several weeks ago, I was at Measurement Assurance Technology dropping off tools that needed calibration. We took a quick look at the phone and made a couple adjustments. It is calibrated from 40 to 95 dB to about +/- 5%. I was surprised at just how accurate the phone mic is. The phone is limited to 100 db and has a difficult time measuring under 40dB.

I plan to do the same type of drive after the project is completed. 


Mazda RX-8 dB Levels.wmv - YouTube



What's the proper way to embed a video?


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

I spent some time the last several days working on the CLD/CCF/MLV application in the front doors and the trunk. I still need to do a little trim work for the front doors as the panels have a gap on the aft edge about in the middle. If I trim the MLV back by about 1/8" and remove the CCF about 1/2", they will fit snug again.










On the inner skin that only had one layer, I applied the CLD on the inside between glass. Where there were two layers, I added it to the cabin side. I was actually surprised at just has the inner skins had very little resonance to them. The outer skin, well, that is a another story. 










Once I mount my replacement speakers, I'll trim it up with MLV.










Not yet finished with the trunk. The way I am doing this is that the strip that ties pieces together are not glued to both sides. This way, if I have to remove it at latter date I can.











I have found that using a heat gun at a high temp helps to make the bends and curves....


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## perfecxionx (Sep 4, 2009)

what kind of glue did you use to apply carpet?


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

I used contact cement on both surfaces. Used a light nap roller. I have a spray gun but for the little there is I decided to roll it. Got to be light on the carpet side so it doesn't bleed through. 

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk


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## Tarheels1 (Jan 20, 2011)

Nice project.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Thank you. I got a little done this week. I finished up the sound deadening in the trunk. This weekend, I'll work on the main section of the car and run some wires.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

I've had some time over the last couple of days to get some more completed on the build. I made my RCA cables based on the RCA DIY thread. I think I did it right by soldering the sheild to only one end ground. 









I'm going with Image Dynamics for the front stage. 









The car has Bose 8.5" woofers there now so I had created an adapter. Don't tell my wife, but I stole her cutting boards to use for the adapters.  I used a dremel with the circle adapter to make the cuts. 









I also got the amps mounted temp into the amp rack. I couldn;t make the MS-8 fit in this, so it will be mounted under the rear deck.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

A little more work last night and this morning. No more work says the wife until I go to Wal-Mart and get her new cutting boards.  I built up the wire harness. One end goes to the car side plug, to the radio and Axxess. The white plug will go to the factory radio when I need to adjust the clock. It'll stay tucked away when the factory is not plugged in. 



















I also modified one of the blank out plugs for the base boost switch. I don't know if I'll ever use it, but it'll be there.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Lots of work since Friday afternoon. I ripped out the interior and started the install. As of now, I modded the shark fin Sat antenna to accept the Sirius. Ran most of the wires and got a couple speakers installed. Too tired and my back hurts too bad to upload pictures. I don't feel like going back out to the garage to get the camera. 

I'll add them in the morning.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Ok, I have been slow on getting you guys updates... So here it is.

I took the entire interior out, minus the dash and laid down the CLD tiles, CCF and MLV. As is the case with most cars, the floor had much of the area covered with vibration dampening and I left it in place. The most difficult part of the sound part was the transmission tunnel. There is just a lot of wiring and connection points to work around. I can't find the couple images I have of the MLV portion.










Some tips with this stuff. A heat gun does wonders helping to mold it. I found that the utility knife blades with the hook are the best for cutting MLV and commercial long shears for the CCF. Wear gloves when applying the CLD tiles as they can cut you quick. In my testing with the CLD, I found that more smaller peices works better than one large one. I used the plastic snaps to size of the cut out holes to minimize opening sizes. 

The first thing I decided to do was to modify the shark fin antenna to use the new Sirius antenna. 









Here is the factory antenna used









with the antenna removed









Bbase plate for the factory antenna that I modified to fit the new, slightly larger antenna









Here it is installed with a little JB weld to hold it in place. I didn't need to add the JB, just thought I would for extra measure.











Now on to wiring. I made a choice that I wanted to use existing holes and wire routing. When it came speaker wires for the door, it took a bit of work.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

For the front doors, I used the existing harness. Since this car had factory Bose, I didn't have any open space in the plug unless I wanted to de-pin the Bose wires. I wanted to leave them there in case I want to switch back to sell the car.









By doing it this way, I had to trim into the car a little for the speaker wire. After I notched out an opening, I etched the surface and them primmed it. The notches hide nicely behind the boot. 




































After all was dry, I used liquid rubber on the metal and wrapped the wire in tape so I didn't end up with chaffing. 

I used the existing firewall wire run to run my 0 awg wire from the battery into the cabin. I ran the wire down the left side. 


























I used the center speaker location to mount the nav antenna and the 3.5" speaker. The blue part is a scrap ferrous metal for the GPS antenna magnet. 









Time to modify the battery connection. Here is the factory end used to connect the alternator input and the 60 accessory fuse.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Cut off the side tabs so it'll fit the new battery connector.









Hooked up









Oh, just found a picture with some of CCF down. It's 1/2" CCF on the floor. 









Here is the new unit installed with a custom boot screen.









I've uploaded the nav files with Garmin's newest files and activated the NavTeq and TTN traffic. 

Here is the speaker box and amp rack. The MS-8 is mounted the rear deck and didn't take any pictures of it.


















Amp cover









Ignore the RCA cables. I have to make some new ones as I changed the MS-8 location during intall and these were too short. I plan to do that this weekend.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

I modified the aux input in the center arm rest to accept the new USB connections. I thought it would also charge my phone but is too slow. I think the amp output is low compared to using a standard accessory plug output. 









I have to say that in the past, I used a DMM to set gains. I used two online calculators to verify proper settings and tried that first. Then, I used my oscope to set/check the gains. I was surprised that the DMM route was close but was still clipping. This is how far I was off.










So far, I am very happy with the system. I am still playing around with the MS-8 and have tried a dozen or so combinations. I have to admit, I have thought more than once to bypass it and use the sound features of the head unit instead. I think I need to get a RTA and set the eq with that. I still seem to have a little bit of hollow sound. My settings for the setup are:
Subsonic @35/12
Sub front @ 95/24
Front lo hi @ 4500/24
Center hi pass @ 150/24
Side hi pass @ 60/24

The only issue I seem to have is the volume of the head unit seems a bit low. I set the MS8 at -35 when doing the settings and then -7 for regular running.

Also, based on my crossover points, what test tones should I use to set the gains properly. I think I used 62 for subs, 200 for front lo and center, 6500 for front hi and 100 for the sides/rear.

Any thoughts on this would be great.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

Thanks four sharing your install!

What are you using for front stage and center? Maybe I missed it.

Regarding HU volume, I find that it has everything to do with the initial input setup. If I have to set the HU volume past 50% during the setup, I generally lack headroom after the calibration process is complete.

Also, without getting too technical, as an experiment, turn your sub gains way down to see if this helps overall system output, midbass, dynamics and headroom. You may be surprised.

I've used a bunch of different volume settings during calibration. Usually, the more I turn it down, the better it sounds. Now, I'll usually calibrate at between -38 and -45db.

Also, you might try a 12db slope between your mids and subs. That may thicken things up a bit.

Let us know if this helps.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Se7en said:


> Thanks four sharing your install!
> 
> What are you using for front stage and center? Maybe I missed it.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback. I am using Image Dynamics CTX-6.5cs for the fronts and one Polk Audio db351 for the center. I think I may have wasted my money on the Polk. I am limited in space though. I can easily fit a 3.5" and maybe a 4" with some minor mods. Anything larger will take some serious mods.

I didn't think that HU volume had anything to do with the initial tunning. I'll have to play with it in the morning but think I have it at about 25 of 35 just becasue that is a comfortable listening level when sitting in the garage. 

My sub gain is way down as it is now and if I turn it down anymore, you don't even hear the test tone during the sweeps. Also, if I run through each channel verification, I have all the speakers level matched (about 51db on the meter) except the sub. It doesn't matter how much gain I add, you can just barley hear the white noise. 

I'll play with the slope and see what that does. Too bad you cannot make individual changes. I get tired of running through the whole setup....


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Mods: Is there any way I can go back and edit my first post? I'd like to add my equipment list.

*Equipment Details:*
Kenwood 9980HD H/U
2 - Massive NX4 - Front mid, Front Hi, Rears & Center Amps
Massive N2 - Subwoofer Amp
JBL MS-8 - All 8 channels used
Front - Image Dynamics CTX-6.5cs
Rear - Infinity Reference 9633cf
Center - Polk Audio db351
Subs - Boston Acoustics G210-44
Axxess ASWC Controll
Pioneer ND-BC20PA Backup Camera
0 awg to amp rack
0 awg ground
4 awg to amps
CLD / CCF / MLV Entire Car


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

Seeing our equipment list, HU volume wouldn't have any effect. What I said, would only apply if you were trying to integrate to an OE source.

Moving down the list, your high pass on your mids might be contributing to a thinness in sound, or a perception that you're lacking output.

In my own system, the difference between an 80hz and 60hz high pass is more than significant. The same can also be said when going from a 24db slope to 12db. I ended up with [email protected] and it integrates beautifully with the sub, has good impact but not too much, and is musical, not dry, to my ears at least.

If your sub is gained down already, then you're setup properly.




bhammer said:


> Thanks for the feedback. I am using Image Dynamics CTX-6.5cs for the fronts and one Polk Audio db351 for the center. I think I may have wasted my money on the Polk. I am limited in space though. I can easily fit a 3.5" and maybe a 4" with some minor mods. Anything larger will take some serious mods.
> 
> I didn't think that HU volume had anything to do with the initial tunning. I'll have to play with it in the morning but think I have it at about 25 of 35 just becasue that is a comfortable listening level when sitting in the garage.
> 
> ...


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Thanks. I just went out and tried the 12 slope and it made a heck of an improvement. More experimenting in the morning. Appreciate your help thus far.


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## slowsedan01 (May 4, 2008)

Nice install, thanks for sharing. How do you like that batty terminal? I am going to use the same one in my install.


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## edouble101 (Dec 9, 2010)

Nice build so far. I like all the small details.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

slowsedan01 said:


> Nice install, thanks for sharing. How do you like that batty terminal? I am going to use the same one in my install.


SO far, so go. It works for my application. I like the allen screw for the main battery connection.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

edouble101 said:


> Nice build so far. I like all the small details.


Thank you!!!


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

How goes crossover settings?


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

So I have spent a little time today playing with the settings. I think one of my issues is that the sound is different for the type of media I am playing. For example, CD seems to have the widest and best sound all around, followed by HD, bluetooth and then Sirius. I figured sat would sound the worst. I have figured out that I need to be using the same song(s) to make the adjustments so I have been using a CD. I lowered the fronts to [email protected] and that seems to do a good job. I do however seem to get just a little too much base at them during certain songs so I may bump it up just a bit.

Here is a questions: once I get my xovers set, should I adjust the gains with the lowest freq that the speaker / ms8 will pass? And from there, level adjust down the gains to get a good match? Also, I am guessing that I should have the MS8 set at -7dB when I set the gains. I know that my HU can be at max volume with zero clipping before the MS8. I don't think my gains are properly set at this point anymore.

EDIT: LOL, I was typing this message when you asked.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

I'm glad to hear that those adjustments helped.

I would use cd as a baseline reference.

When you say certain songs are a bit much, is it because there is too much bass, or is it because your door is resonating? If its just a tonal balance issue, you can hit that with eq later. If its so much that the door itself is activating, you may want to try a higher point.

I generally spent the most amount of time playing with this sub to mb xo point, because I'm really sensitive to bass playing from behind me. Basically I'm looking for the smoothest transition from sub to mid that I can get. IMHO, getting this right is critical to getting great sound out of the ms8. Keep in mind, you will want to eq later.

As for setting gains, I try to get my primary xo points figured out first. The ms8 will let you know what it's trying to do tonally. Then, I disable the processing on the ms8, such that the xo is preserved, but eq and TA is not. Then do a manual adustment by ear. It doesn't need to be perfect, but the closer you get, the better it will end up. I did this on a friends rta with a pink noise track looping in the car. All we did was adjust the left side to be matched, then right, then some small adjustments to balance left to right, etc. 

Then I recalibrate after the gains are matched... The initial impact in my system was very significant.




bhammer said:


> So I have spent a little time today playing with the settings. I think one of my issues is that the sound is different for the type of media I am playing. For example, CD seems to have the widest and best sound all around, followed by HD, bluetooth and then Sirius. I figured sat would sound the worst. I have figured out that I need to be using the same song(s) to make the adjustments so I have been using a CD. I lowered the fronts to [email protected] and that seems to do a good job. I do however seem to get just a little too much base at them during certain songs so I may bump it up just a bit.
> 
> Here is a questions: once I get my xovers set, should I adjust the gains with the lowest freq that the speaker / ms8 will pass? And from there, level adjust down the gains to get a good match? Also, I am guessing that I should have the MS8 set at -7dB when I set the gains. I know that my HU can be at max volume with zero clipping before the MS8. I don't think my gains are properly set at this point anymore.
> 
> EDIT: LOL, I was typing this message when you asked.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Splain more about that set up process.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

As opposed to going to deep into the process, as it's hardly scientific, I've found the MS8 to give much better overall resolution when the amplifier gains are matched (edit: matched to provide better system balance) and when it has to perform less corrective eq during calibration.

The other thing is that I've suffered a lot of inconsistencies with my calibrations. Sometimes the system sounds tonally fantastic, but out of phase, or suffers from strange image placement, or poor image separation, hard left or right stage biasing, etc. Other times, I've had the system sound really well focused, even placement of images, but the curve might be very mid bass heavy, or too bright, etc. 

More recently, I've started to look at it in terms of the things that I can control with the ms8 and the things that I cannot. For the things that I cannot control, those are the things that I really try to get right during calibration. For me, this is primarily all things related to its time alignment calibration.

I do have some control over the systems overal sense of impact and to some extent tonal balance and even phase coherence based on crossover selections. In my system, using 12db slope between my sub an mid bass works very well for a seamless and focused bass up front experience. Similarly, 12db slope between mid and mid bass works very well, for me at least.

When I actually calibrate, I don't really pay attention to the mirrors as much as I do where my mids and mid bass are located. I generally try to center my headphones towards my mids, which coincidentally are very close to my mid bass. This generally leaves my nose pointing at the center of my Apillar. My only goal at this point is to get TA as perfect as possible. If the eq is off (it almost always is), I can correct it either by ear or with an rta later. If the TA is wonky, there's nothing I can do except recalibrate.

Sorry for the long winded response.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

It's too much bass I think. I'm going to move it up a couple and see how that is. I get a distorted bass sound and not a good thump. It is only on songs that are real heavy bass and have a good mix of it unp and down. I'll find the song and let you know where it is that I am talking about.

So, you are saying that you set your gains by ear? I found out long time ago that it is dangerous to do that. I'd rather stick to using my scope and then backing down the speakers that are too loud.

More playing with it on Sunday.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

I've too had that weird sound or placement. Was listening to HD yesterday and at some times, vocals only out the center and then it would shift to RR and then centered like it should be. Then, I would get insturments only up front and strange issues like that. It only seems to happen on certain songs for me.


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## ek9cv5 (Jan 12, 2012)

Nice set up you got there


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

My gains are initially set up on a scope, but that does not mean the system is balanced.

If you match all of your gains to be matched, then defeat processing, it will probably sound really unbalanced. 

If you manual try to match things up a bit more, it's less work for the ms8. There may also be some nasty peaks or dips that the ms8 is trying to deal with. Call it rough eq, chainsaw method via gains. Flatten it out if you can.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Se7en said:


> My gains are initially set up on a scope, but that does not mean the system is balanced.
> 
> If you match all of your gains to be matched, then defeat processing, it will probably sound really unbalanced.
> 
> If you manual try to match things up a bit more, it's less work for the ms8. There may also be some nasty peaks or dips that the ms8 is trying to deal with. Call it rough eq, chainsaw method via gains. Flatten it out if you can.


I got you. That is essentially what I will do. But, when I match, I'll only turn the gains down so that I know I will not be clipping.

When you set your gains, what test tones did you use for each stage?


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

bhammer said:


> When you set your gains, what test tones did you use for each stage?


Honestly, I don't remember. We used a ton. We weren't just setting amp gains, we were sweeping the entire system.

My gain stage is rediculously complicated thanks to bose and GM lanbus. Bose into LOCs into MS8 into TRU line drivers into amps.

I'm tying to bypass all of that crap by having a factory amp modified for clean, full range output, then into a Rane processor, then amps.. Done.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Might need to mess around with that sometime...makes sense.

And you'll love the Rane...I know I do/did.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

thehatedguy said:


> Might need to mess around with that sometime...makes sense.
> 
> And you'll love the Rane...I know I do/did.


In my opinion it's definitely worth putting the system on an RTA once you got a good calibration that seems align everything well. I was kind of shocked when I first did it.

I believe that I have a null in my system around 550hz or so. In fact, I know that I do. I saw it on an RTA when I was using the Audison processor. 

When we RTAd the MS8, we saw an epic spike between 400-1khz (10-15db). Remember, this is after calibration. No wonder my mids were being over driven  

We remeasured with me and then another person in the car, which is what the MS8 usually sees. This calmed things down a bit, but more in the 700-1k range, 400-600hz was still a huge mess. This also varied wildly from calibration to calibration. 

In my case, I made the decision to focus on one seat performance, cross my mids much higher, shifting the heavy lifting in that trouble region to my mid bass and effectively crush the peak that the MS8 was creating with the eq. 

The results were pretty remarkable. The system started to sound like music again, I gained a ton of depth, and as a result of having my mid bass crossed higher, width started to wrap around or engulf me (again tunable for percieved scale with a little eq). 

OP. apologies for distracting you build thread. I'll happily ask a mod to move my posts elsewhere or delete them if you'd like. Obviously, this is about your build, not mine.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Heck no, leave it here..... It is helpful to see input here. I have been looking at some RTA for the home users.

I will also focus on the one seat that is used the majority of time. 

I played around a bit more today. I'll post some numbers and feedback a little later.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

Fwiw, I'm pretty impressed with Smaart Tools for both pc and iOS, if you're looking into RTAs.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Thanks, so you are using the AudioTools By Studio Six Digital and you bought the Smaart Tools add-in? What does the Smaart Tools add-in give me that the base app does not?


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Oh, and how do I get the pink noise to play through all the channels at once? All the ones I have found only play in front channels.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

So far We've been using Smaart tools pc, with an m-audio pre amp.

I also picked up a copy of Smaart tools for my iPad in an attempt to build a fully mobile, battery powered rig, but that's still work in progress.

For pink noise, I've Ben using an Iasca test disc for stereo and we burned amino track from an online source.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Se7en said:


> So far We've been using Smaart tools pc, with an m-audio pre amp.
> 
> I also picked up a copy of Smaart tools for my iPad in an attempt to build a fully mobile, battery powered rig, but that's still work in progress.
> 
> For pink noise, I've Ben using an Iasca test disc for stereo and we burned amino track from an online source.


Geeze, at $895 they are proud of the software!!! Guess I'll do some looking!


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

bhammer said:


> Geeze, at $895 they are proud of the software!!! Guess I'll do some looking!


According to my friend, there's a cheaper version, around the $50 price point. I'll confirm and pm you the info.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Thanks, I did some goggling and found it for a very reduced price.  I'll probably try it and compare to TrueRTA. If I like it, I'll buy it. If your bud has it at a discounted rate, let me know.

I just uploaded a question in the main ms8 thread. I think I may have found some of my issue with the overall sq. If you take a look, I'd appreciate it.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

bhammer said:


> Thanks, I did some goggling and found it for a very reduced price.  I'll probably try it and compare to TrueRTA. If I like it, I'll buy it. If your bud has it at a discounted rate, let me know.
> 
> I just uploaded a question in the main ms8 thread. I think I may have found some of my issue with the overall sq. If you take a look, I'd appreciate it.


Just checked the main thread. I don't run a center or surround, so I'm not really in a position to help. I did one install in a friends car with full surround and did not experience what you're describing.

Sorry.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Geeezzzzz, a lot of help you are.  

I may turn the L7 off, I'm undecided about it for now. Wanted to get a good tune and leave it for a week and then try the other and see which one I like better.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

So I have been playing some more. If I just run CD or my high bit rate MP3s, the SQ is great. It is when I start playing Sat or HD that I start having the issues. 

I tried changing my rears over to a 3 way front but can't seem to get the imaging set up right. More playing to be done. 

I am also having a big issue with my blue tooth. the caller can hear themself talk and is unusable at this time. The joys of DIY.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

bhammer said:


> So I have been playing some more. If I just run CD or my high bit rate MP3s, the SQ is great. It is when I start playing Sat or HD that I start having the issues.
> 
> I tried changing my rears over to a 3 way front but can't seem to get the imaging set up right. More playing to be done.
> 
> I am also having a big issue with my blue tooth. the caller can hear themself talk and is unusable at this time. The joys of DIY.


This last issue is a known problem with the MS8, due to the amount of delay being introduced through the audio system...8 MS to be exact 

Pm Andy for a firmware update.


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

Andy said that you have to use the mute on the remote to enable the fix. I planned on not having the display installed. For the mean time, I bypassed the MS-8 and am using the TA and surround features on the HU. 

I miss the scope of the EQ and am still playing with the TA to get things right.


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