Recently installed an MS-8 along with an amp and new componenets into my 2007 BMW 525i.I have hi-fi system. Here are the details of the install

-JBL MS-8
-Rainbow SLC 210.25 NG 4" components (Passive crossover @ 3500hz)
-Stock Underseat Woofers
-Stock Rears (running off the ms8)
-JL xd600/6 Amp -(2 Channels on the Rainbows, 4 channels bridged to the stock underseat woofers)

Overall, I am not very impressed so far. Low end is good considering im putting 200 watts each on the stock woofers. Highs seem ok if not a bit harsh.

The problem seems to be the MIDS.

They are absolutely awful. I have run the setup about 20 times, and in each case, severe EQ'ing is needed to get anything resembling a flat response. Most bands betwen 1kz and 8kz are between -6 - -10. After this, some songs sound OK, but others just sound hollow and lifeless. It actually becomes very fatuiging after about 10 minutes of listening.

Here is my config setup

-All settings on head unit are centered
-Input sensitivity on JL amp about a quarter of the way (should be 2v)
- 49 clicks on the headunit for OK signal (47 produces a LOW signal)
-Front stage is setup as 2-way (Subsonic filter @ 20hz , crossover at (3600hz)
- rears are labeled as sides and are crossed at 110hz.

Most of the time the soundstage sounds great. Great seperation, voice right in front of me. But after such severe eq'ing, voices dont sound natural at all. I cant believe how off the eq is considering that is one of the main feature of the MS-8.

One thing i found odd was the crossover between front LO and HI fronts. When I first ran the setup, I set subsonic filter at 20hz, and i set the lo/hi crossover at 150hz, believing this was the crossover between the underseat woofer and the components, with the passive crossover handling the 150 highpass. Oddly, this resulted in almost no bass. It was only after setting the crossover closer the passive's that i got good bass. This doesnt make sense to me, and i feel could be where the problem and solution lies. But who knows.

If anyone else has had this problem and / or can provide some insight, I really would appreciate it.

 

I had a problem like this on my e39. After running a $200 Oem to after market converter from audio control.... I ended up just getting a line inverter and running the system that way. It's made a big difference. The installer ran the inverter passed the factory amp and added another amp passed that for the components

 

- what are the inputs to the MS-8?
- Front 2-way should be 200Hz at 6dB, infrasonic should be 30Hz at 24dB.

I have done around 6 MS-8 installs in E9x BMW and that's what I use. Midbass from both the underseat woofers and front door mids (OEM and aftermarket) is excellent after tweaking the 31-band EQ. Acoustic calibration alone will not give you any meaningful midbass -JBL is looking into this.

 

Trying this out tomorrow. I will post results. I was able to set the lo/hi crossover correctly after turning up the input sensitivity on the amp for the underseat woofers. I guess before the sweeps were too low and it resulted in no bass whatsoever.Currently I have lo/hi crossed over @ 120hz. Results now are decent midbass, and the mids are no longer piercing. Sound Stage is great if not a bit narrow.

On another note Technic, I read that the underseat woofers in the e60 are driven with 40 watts @ 2ohms by the stock amp. I'm currently driving them with 200 watts @ 2ohms. Do you think i would get a better result driving them with 100? I'm thinking i may be risking blowing them in a short amount of time with the current setup but have no previous experience with these drivers.

Inputs to the MS8 are fronts rears and woofers. The installer messed up, I'm going back this week to have them remove the rears from the equation. I thought initially this could be the source of my problem, but running off the ms8 AUX input suprisingly resulted in a negligable improvement.

 

Eventually those OEM woofers will fail with the 200W and the crossover point used (30Hz), more quickly if those are your only bass drivers in your system. A trunk sub will make the crossover point of the woofers at least 80Hz so they can last a little longer with that power.

The E60 OEM woofers can powered by the MS-8 internal amp (60W max) and still give you quite surprising midbass on the safe side, by the way.

Rears connected should not be of any concern after running input setup.

 

My next step is to put a 10" sub in the trunk. After that I would like to eventually replace the midbass woofers. What would your recommendation be on a sub amp combo for the trunk? Also, I've heard that the trunk in this car is sealed up pretty tight, so any thoughts you have on that would be helpful as well.

 

You will be fine with a 10" trunk sub, the "thump" will be felt in the cabin if tuned right. Try to get a set of SSMB8 as midbass drivers under the seat -they will need custom spacers, though.

 

i dumped around 4g into my stereo and im not happy. actually took most of it out and just rollin with the 4's and earthquakes.. As for powering the stock underseats at 200 watts those are going to blow out. mine did in like a week at 100 watts each. i think the stock underseats play vocals to give the car a deep softer music feel. with the earthquales they only play bass. and the 4's are tiny and dont produceany bass. so theres a huge gap in sound

 

Would adding the center channel into the Hifi system fill the midbass gap if using earthquakes under the seat?

Is MS-8 still the best system to use in upgrading the sound system?

 

"Best" is relative. However, it is pretty good and a great starting point because it's very scalable.