Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.3

Going active next year and I am stoked for this upcoming processor. Hopefully the autotune is phenomenal. Not too much has been released about that. The manual adjustments are plentiful to say the least.

After they work out the bugs it should be released.

Ready for autotune/manual with RTA?

These videos were posted in 1.11

Well im still kind of a noob, thats why I never really understood the point of this thing.

Why do we need one? I mean, the signal is sent clean from the receiver, the amp then uses the crossover to cut the unwanted frequencies. Why do we need this audio processor? Isnt that what the receiver does already?

Answering your questions in the more general "DSP" (Digital Sound Processor) sense rather than specifically this product;

Why do we need one?

Advanced tuning capability.

I mean, the signal is sent clean from the receiver, the amp then uses the crossover to cut the unwanted frequencies. Why do we need this audio processor?

Because the xovers built into amps are limited. You are stuck with a specific (fixed) slope with a specific bandwidth of xover frequencies to select from and specific xover types you can use.

These limitations are for the most part eliminated with a good DSP. And a DSP does a hell of a lot more than just function as a crossover. They also offer advance EQ and time alignment among other features.

Isnt that what the receiver does already?

Generally no. Your headunit might have some EQ, some time alignment and some flexibility in xover selection. Your amp might have a crossover.

But generally speaking a good DSP will offer more flexibility and more options within those features. More xover slopes, wider range of xover frequency selection, ability to select different xover types for different channels, more advanced EQ features and options, more detailed time alignment, etc etc. Also there are now going to be several options for those who need 8 channels of processing in the DSP market whereas there are only 2 headunits I know of that have ever been produced that have more than 6 channels of processing. Many of the external units offer 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, which few if any headunits offer.

This is just a general overview, not an all-encompassing comparison. But the moral of the story is more flexibility, more options and more adjust-ability which results in the ability to obtain a better sounding system as a result.

Are these units for everybody? No. Not everybody needs the advanced features an external DSP will offer.

But for someone looking to greatly improve the performance of their stereo (primarily on the sound quality side of the spectrum) they offer a large amount of benefits.

Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.3

Going active next year and I am stoked for this upcoming processor. Hopefully the autotune is phenomenal. Not too much has been released about that. The manual adjustments are plentiful to say the least.

After they work out the bugs it should be released.

Ready for autotune/manual with RTA?

I'd like to see a lot more of the nitty-gritty details about what all it does before really getting excited, but just from the overview he gave it sounds like it has the potential to be a really neat unit. Not sure if RF developed the auto-tuning or if they used Audessy with a modified target curve (he mentioned Audessy in the first vid and a "RF curve" instead of an "Audessy" curve), but a lot of how well an auto-tune does is all in how the software was written. JBL put a LOT of time into getting their auto-tuning right.....not sure what method(s) the RF unit is using.

Honestly it sounds like RF took a lot of people's complaints about the MS-8 and tried to "fix" them in the RF unit. Hope it turns out to be as nice a piece as it's anticipated to be......I miss my H701 but do enjoy the MS-8 as well, sounds like the RF might be a good mix of both.

What were some of the gripes that people were saying about the MS-8 that seems to be corrected with this unit? Im curious to see if it is something that will affect me or not, Im currently shopping for a DSP for the upcoming build.

I'm interested if the auto-tune can match the MS8s.... nothing so far even comes close.

My only gripe with the MS8 is I can't save multiple tunes with different xover points.

I'm interested if the auto-tune can match the MS8s.... nothing so far even comes close.

That isn't saying so much, I wouldn't use the MS8's. I also don't even care if it has one because no matter what it makes assumptions that I won't.

What were some of the gripes that people were saying about the MS-8 that seems to be corrected with this unit? Im curious to see if it is something that will affect me or not, Im currently shopping for a DSP for the upcoming build.

Off hand.....lack of digital input, limited manual tuning capability, preset saving similar to what 72kid mentioned. It seems like there's more I thought of last night that I can't think of now.

What were some of the gripes that people were saying about the MS-8 that seems to be corrected with this unit? Im curious to see if it is something that will affect me or not, Im currently shopping for a DSP for the upcoming build.

Off hand.....lack of digital input, limited manual tuning capability, preset saving similar to what 72kid mentioned. It seems like there's more I thought of last night that I can't think of now.

When you input your crossover settings, it runs a sweep of tests afterwards and throws out information so to speak. So once your done going through all the settings, you can't simply go in the menu and change a crossover point "on the fly".

You have to go back into the menu, start all over.

Example, for the last three days I've been messing with my XOs and slopes, so I've had to do the following:

Insert test cd.

wait for ms8 to register it, then press ok. take cd out.

select sub.

select front setup (1way,2way,etc)

input crossovers and slopes.

input which channel goes to what.

then run 4 tests.

The above takes me about 1 to 2 minutes.

Listen to a few songs, decide I want to change the XO or slope, have to start that all over.

One to two minutes may not seem very long, but when your doing it fifty times... Plus I've done it so many times I can fly through the menus without having to remember what's what...

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It has a function that allows you to save favorites, like presets. Well it's only for system level and tone control (treble, mid, bass, EQ settings), it's not for Crossovers and slopes.

So you can't simply switch between to different crossover setups (which would be fucking awesome).

The remote is somewhat of a pain at times, sometimes I can press it and it works perfectly, other times I have to press it more then once and end up going to the next page or unintentionally changing a different setting. (remote works off the ms8 unit, not the display)

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So as much as I've complained here, I can't say that any other DSP would be better in any regard.

I'm interested if the auto-tune can match the MS8s.... nothing so far even comes close.

That isn't saying so much, I wouldn't use the MS8's. I also don't even care if it has one because no matter what it makes assumptions that I won't.

From the get-go you don't have a choice, you have to run through it's tests.

There's a option in the main menu that allows you to turn off the processing:

Processing: The Audio Controls Processing option activates and defeats the

MS-8’s digital time-correction and acoustic-equalization circuitry. Using the

Select button to switch between Active and Defeat will let you hear how the

MS-8’s advanced digital signal processing dramatically improves your system’s

performance.

But I'm not sure if it removes the crossover settings as well... I guess I can do a quick test tomorrow morning and find out.

Update: Setting the processing option in the menu to defeat, does not remove the crossovers and slopes.

When you input your crossover settings, it runs a sweep of tests afterwards and throws out information so to speak. So once your done going through all the settings, you can't simply go in the menu and change a crossover point "on the fly".

You have to go back into the menu, start all over.

Example, for the last three days I've been messing with my XOs and slopes, so I've had to do the following:

Insert test cd.

wait for ms8 to register it, then press ok. take cd out.

select sub.

select front setup (1way,2way,etc)

input crossovers and slopes.

input which channel goes to what.

then run 4 tests.

The above takes me about 1 to 2 minutes.

Listen to a few songs, decide I want to change the XO or slope, have to start that all over.

One to two minutes may not seem very long, but when your doing it fifty times... Plus I've done it so many times I can fly through the menus without having to remember what's what...

The CD is only needed for the MS8 to EQ the incoming signal, which is only really needed on OEM headunits. My CD didn't even include the audio file on it.

The reason you can't change the xovers after the tuning is because the tuning would be no good with different xover points/slopes. Any particular tuning is only going to be valid for the particular xover settings at the time of tuning. Just pointing this out as I wasn't sure if you knew the reasoning behind it or not. Any auto-tune that doesn't follow the same ideology would be less accurate by default, so while a pain in the ass it's ultimately necessary. That said I do miss being able to compare differences in xover settings quickly and easily without having to retune the entire system if the only thing I'm trying to do at that particular moment is test different xover points.

I tried without the cd and output was only on left channels.

Perhaps it was being finaky and I should have tried again.

I understand the auto tune relies on the given xos inputted, just wish you could disable it all together and change xos on the fly.

Guess im smoking too much crack

RF now has a price tag on this, $699.99

No new information has been released.

I've read the expected release date is the first quarter of 2012.

I think the ARC PS-8 is going to dominate once it comes out. It's pretty much infinitely adjustable.

I think the ARC PS-8 is going to dominate once it comes out. It's pretty much infinitely adjustable.

Didn't Robert Zeff have a hand in designing that?

I hope these processors are released soon.

Yep. I don't know how he is at processors, but he's been a wizard with amplifier design.

Didn't Robert Zeff have a hand in designing that?

A hand, yes. Their website mentions several people who had a hand in the design.