Hey everybody:

I am about to purchase the JBL MS-8, and I want to know the best way to hook it up to my 2008 Acura TSX with factory navigation.

I do not want to lose steering wheel controls, bluetooth, or navigation speech; I figure the best way to do this is to take the audio signal after it has passed through the factory amp.

Does anybody have any experience installing the MS8 in a TSX with factory navigation?

Thanks

 

You can hollar at Andy W. at JBL and see if he has any direct advice.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...-wehmeyer.html

 

thanks, ill try that.

anybody have any experience hooking this beast up?

thanks

 

I have the stock navigation in my acura too. I took the audio signal after it passed through the amp and used a Hi/Lo converter to turn the speaker wire signal into RCA outputs. Then just plug sum RCA's from the converter to the amp. Oh and get your amp's remote from the stock amp's remote. nothing to fancy.

 

thanks a lot for the reply, def a big help. which converter did you use?

 

I added my own RCA out's to the HU. The MS-8 isn't connected yet, but I don't recommend using the stock amp's speaker outputs. I've seen high frequency junk (30kHz and 100kHz) riding on the regular signal. The HU should give a cleaner signal.

You can splice into the wires going into the stock amp and pick up front left (+ and -) and front right (+ and -). This way you get a nice balanced signal all the way to the MS-8 inputs. The MS-8's -input is not chassis ground so there shouldn't be a ground loop problem and should accept a balanced line input.

NOTE: All this is being said without me having the rest of my system connected to test the finished product.

 

Please keep me updated, seems like a good idea, question is will bluetooth, gps guidance, and steering wheel controls be lost?

I'm guessing no, but I am unsure which channels they use. I think I have been told that they use front l/r, so I think this is a viable option.

Let me know how your install goes, I am still working on getting parts together.

Plan on using JL xd600/6 to power components, coaxials, and 6x9s, and have a seperate alpine amp and type r sub.

Still unsure of good speakers, I am thinking boston acoustics all around.

 

MS8 was born and bred to go active, man

2-way front + coax rear, + center / sub, OR 3-way front + center / sub

And when you go active, you just buy DIY speakers. Not only will it cost a HEAP less, it will be extremely tunable, and purpose-chosen instead of price-point chosen.

www.partsexpress.com, www.madisound.com, www.meniscusaudio.com are all great starting points.

I may not know about an MS8 in your car, but I definitely know active systems.

 

I have no where to mount a center channel nor do I really want to cut up my door to mount three way speakers. I got the MS-8 to auto tune for me, hopefully it will produce some nice results. Did you have to custom fit a center channel? Thanks

 

Center is merely an option, but yes my car has one (2010 Flex), my Acura is just sitting in the driveway ever since I bought this other car.

Ideally with your car, then, you'd want to go active 2-way front, and coaxial rear. Stock rear is probably sufficient, according to Andy of JBL who helped invent the MS8, a frequency response from ~100hz to 10kHz for the rear speakers is fine.

Now for the fronts:

http://www.mobiletoys.com/partners/i.../whatfits.aspx

They show that you have 3 and 3/4" of depth for front 6.5" drivers. Is that accurate? And, are you going to install tweeters in the sail panel, or A-pillar (or elsewhere?) Also for both of those areas, what depth do you have to install a tweeter?

 

running the MS-8 off of the HU's front left/right channels shouldn't affect gps, bluetooth, etc. I expect all of those are inputs to the HU and the HU mixes/mutes as needed and sends what you want out the front channels.

I back up what fourthmeal mentioned about speakers. I've purchased from all three of the sites he mentioned. Partsexpress is more the value minded seller. Madisound and meniscus are higher end, typically for home audio. You can see drivers at their site used in high end home speakers.

For the car, I will be using dayton rs150-4 (6"?) in the doors and replacing the tweeters with a custom enclosure housing 1
Tang Band W2-748SG 2" (midrange) and 1
Dayton ND16FA-6 5/8" (tweet). I'm leaving the 6x9's alone for now. With a baby in the backseat, I don't want bass. Purchased all of these at Madisound. These are NOT meant for lots of power though.

An awesome site for speaker review is http://www.zaphaudio.com/

 

Thanks for the input, I'm basically getting speakers for free, and I'd rather not have to install custom openings for woofers in my doors. I will mount tweeters in the factory openings. I've been thinking Boston Acoustics all around. I've heard excellent things about the boston acoustic pro60se's, and will probably use similar speakers for the rear doors and rear deck. I'm undecided on an amp yet, I hear class ab is the best for high frequencies and am thinking about getting the JL G6600 (class ab) or the XD600/6 (class d).

 

I might even just install the MS-8, upgrade to some low watt rms 2 ohm speakers and run active. What do you guys think?

 

Tried to edit last post:

I could get the JL for basically free, so maybe that's the route to go.... This is very confusing haha

 

always amplify with the ms8. The onboard amps are fine and all but a mix of amped and non amped gives bad results from users, its just the way the ms8 is.

The ONLY Bostons I would own are the best ones they make. Otherwise, you'll save a lot of money DIY'ing.

If you are getting stuff for free, get the best stuff you can, no exceptions.

 

Where have you read this? I recently picked up a MS8 and plan to run a 2way active front stage off an external amp, 2 6x9 TB subs off another external amp, and power the rear doors with the MS8... I'm trying to read all of the massive thread on DIYMA but I haven't read about that scenario not working well.

 

from the mass of DIYMA threads and the "official" review of the product from Erin.

Basically, its hard to get the gains right otherwise, and there's delay on the in-product amps.

 

I don't know what the MS-8 does during calibration, but it seems straight forward to account for various delays in channels. During calibration, they should know when they send a signal to a single channel and get feedback from the mic (headphones). If not, it deserves a firmware update!

It seems like the gain of each channel could handled in software too. They are already adjusting signal levels with each active xover setting (attenuating high or low frequencies). even user selectable gain per channel seems reasonable. Just make it part of channel setup.

Sounds really easy. Its just software! That's from a hardware engineer though

I haven't calibrated mine yet. I'll pay closer attention during cal. Maybe a good cal is all people need.

 

You're correct but gain adjustments with the amps vs. gain with the built-in amps makes for disparity.

The other delay I'm talking about is the AMP delay.

But its nothing horrible. We're just talking about optimals. Optimally, you'd have all channels amped. Remember that the MS8 will want to run the front speakers active independent, so if you buy a set of Boston components, you are not going to use the passive crossover.

 

I am going to use the passive cross over I think

 

I plan to use 7 outputs accordingly:

Channel 1 & 2: passive components in front
Channel 3 & 4: 2 way coaxials for rear door
Channel 5 & 6: rear deck 6x9
Channel 7: Subwoofer(s)

Unless you think its better to go active up front and lose the sub, I do really like the idea of a subwoofer.

I have an Alpine Type R currently hooked up to an Alpine MRP-M1000 via LOC of the 6x9's, and it has just never sounded quite right, some songs sound great, others sound terrible.

 

If you're going to have a sub there's no reason to keep the 6x9's. Remove them to let the sub frequencies into the cabin and use the remaining two channels to run the fronts active.

I'm still gathering gear but I plan to run some Hybrid Audio Imagine comps active off a JL XD600/6 on channels 1-4, rear doors off channels 5 and 6 and (now) it's looking like a 12" IDQv3 with a XD600/1 on channel 7.

 

I plan on using Boston Acoustic Pro60 SE's in the front, they come with a crossover, is there any reason I should have difficulty running them active?

Can any component set be coverted to active?

 

Yeah any components and even some coaxials can be easily converted to running active... All you're doing is replacing the passive crossover box with the one (in this case) in the MS8. You'll need to run separate speaker cable to each tweeter and woofer.

 

The only time you'd want to stay passive is if the woofer and tweeter stay close in proximity to each other. Otherwise, let the MS8 do its job and auto time-align those tweeters to the rest of the system.

 

Yeah forget the 6x9s! I plan on using the factory speaker wires, thanks for the info

 

The issue is that each speaker needs individual wiring from your amps. If the TSX does that, great. If the TSX links the woofer to the tweeter, run new wiring.

 

We're lucky to have the tweeter wires separate from the woofers off the factory amp instead of daisy-chaining off the woofer wiring with a capacitor.

I got my MS8 in the mail today and it's heavier than it looks, definitely feels like a great piece of kit.

 

Yeah def. does. I am still gathering the pieces to my system, but I must say I was thrilled when I got the MS-8, just need speakers and wires, etc, and I can begin my build!

 

wire, www.monoprice.com I use their 4 conductor 16 gauge all the time. Amp wiring, I tend to go with Knukonceptz Kollasus Flex wiring, pretty good stuff.