JL Audio VXi review after a year

[Pb82 Ronin]

I recently (well over a year ago now) installed the JL VXi series of amplifier with built in DSP. I wrote this review in a simple Pro/Con context to make it make sense to someone potentially interested in going this route. It's more of a hybrid review of JL's TuN software and the VXi amp. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

JL Audio VXi (TuN) DSP Review

Pro's:
Navigation of software
- The main screens are very easy to navigate between. Single mouse click gets you there.
- The full page of information on each screen. You can adjust the entire system setup on just two screens.
- The main tuning screen is all encompassing. Every adjustment can be made (TA, X-overs, polarity, EQ, Q's, gains, everything...no hunting or pulling up different tabs) on one screen.

Packaging/Ease of install
- The amp is SUPER SMALL and the DSP is internal. No additional wiring or power supply is needed.
- If you can install an amp, you’re good.

Presets
- You can program almost an infinite amount of tunes, and have 6 active at any given time.
- The switching speed between presets happens instantly. No delays. This makes demo'ing and explaining sound functions much easier to a novice.
- The color assignment feature is really nice. It helps you remember what preset you're on, and which is next. Awesome when using/comparing groups of tunes.

Usefulness
- It very user friendly and it gives the user FULL control of additional amplifiers. So you can daisy chain every amp (called slaving) to the VXi and the DSP will control their output as well.
- The additions make it super friendly to use. The DRC-205 (external amp control) is really versatile with 2 independently turning knobs with a 3rd "push-down" the cycles through presets. And the wireless bluetooth dongle makes wireless connections possible for the guys that have their amps buried in enclosures. (I’ve never got a chance to use this since I just plug the cord in directly)
- It is about as sophisticated as any DSP available including the highest end units. There isn't any parameter you can't control or adjust. The grouping features are super handy and allow you to make large or system wide changes instantly.
- Crossover options are endless. Every crossover type is available for use, and they’re asymmetric. Meaning you can have a butterworth on the hi-pass, and a linkwitz on the low-pass, and the slopes are independently adjustable…on EVERY driver or channel.
- Grouping functions are great. You can pair your tweeters, for instance, and tune them both as a pair, at the same time. Definitely useful when tuning systems with multiple subs.

Con's:
Price
- The amp itself is not cheap. While it's not a $3K handmade from solid gold audiophile amp, at almost $1500 a pop, they're not cheap.
- The fact that it's not an external DSP and you have to plan to use it. If you already have a good selection of amps, this will make most people steer clear because why re-do a whole functioning system...why not just add one of the many other external DSP's?
- The fact that this price is across the board, so say you want to run matching amps (some folks are picky like that, I am too)... You're having to spend VXi money for another DSP equipped amp where the DSP becomes a useless feature.
- No non-DSP VXi amps. Kind of going off the above bullet. I want to run a MATCHING amp...but why spend that much just to have matching amps? Not practical.
- Supporting gear is pretty expensive as well. It was almost $400 for the DRC-205 and the BT dongle. With everything, you're almost at $2K bucks…and that doesn’t include tuning time. ​​​​​​​

Can be overwhelming/Complexity
- After over a year using it, we still find little hidden gems that we didn’t know were there. For instance, the knob control has 3 settings. You can control gain, groups, or volume with it. This whole time it was on the default “gain” setting. This is why we had trouble getting it to sound right at high volume with the knob…because we were turning up the GAIN, not the volume. :/ Lesson learned.
- Because the main screen has so much information and so many functions on it, it’s easy to get lost in it, or forget what you needed to do. This adds tuning time.
- Even a professional audio shop would likely spend a few hours having to learn the software and its many functions which could add to the expense of the system.

Lack of EQ
- I know, shouldn’t be a thing right? Well, you get 10 bands of EQ per channel. So on my 800/8, that’s 80 bands of EQ. That sounds like a lot, I know. But here’s why it’s not .If you have a cheaper set of drivers that don’t play very flat out of the box, and they’re not broken in, you can quickly run out of EQ bands trying to get them flat. This happened when I ran my Focal 6.5s (when new). We managed to get them flat, but we used every one of the 10 bands doing it. Some of the other DSPs, RF 360.3 for instance, offer up to 31 bands of EQ per channel. While I don’t think I would EVER need that many bands…it would be nice to have them available if and when I did need them.

Not being able to label EQ channels
- So this is one of the biggest gripes. EQ’s 1-8 are labeled just that. EQ 1-8. You can’t change the names. What this means is that you have to always have a reference up of which driver is on which EQ. You could think that your driver’s side tweeter is EQ1 and begin changing stuff, and not seeing anything happen on the RTA. Then you realize that man…my driver tweet is EQ2. Now you have to remember what you changed and undo it. It’s a really big PITA. Why not just let me name or associate an EQ with a driver. It would make life so much easier and tuning MUCH faster. To fix this, we have a sticky note labeling each EQ and we have to reference it every time we tune.

Final thoughts
So I believe I captured everything that has been good and bad with this DSP. Overall, I still think it’s a GREAT DSP, with tons of adjustability and options galore. And if they could fix even one of the cons I listed, I think it would be a contender for the best DSP available. But that’s a stretch and my bias is clearly showing…but it’s not without reason. I’ve been around several DSPs (certainly not with the hours and hours I have with VXi) and they all have their pros/cons as well. And of those, I truly believe that I would pick VXi every time. It’s just a damn good software.

[Stycker]

I might be wrong, but I believe it lacks input EQ. I used a JL FiX along with a VXi 800/8. That added even more expense. Even though most tuning takes place on a single screen, the boxes are very small and hard to click on with a small laptop and bad eyes Lol. Overall its a very solid contender. I switched to a Helix V8. I like everything about the V8 better except the channels can not be bridged. Some of the DSP's I've used include RF 360.3, JBL MS-8, Audio Control DM-608, JL Twk and VXi, and Helix V8. In the end, they all give similar results. The Helix is more useful and intuitive for advanced tuning. The JL is my second favorite DSP. It's software is very easy to control and master. I would have no problem using a VXi amplifier in another install.

[nadams5755]

i helped someone over the summer tune their twk88, same software. layout was a bit weird. output eq only, no input eq, limited channel linking abilities, no well written-down output levels.

it got the job done. 10 bands of peq is enough to get it mostly shaped up, especially with a 3-way+sub.

[Pb82 Ronin]

i helped someone over the summer tune their twk88, same software. layout was a bit weird. output eq only, no input eq, limited channel linking abilities, no well written-down output levels.

it got the job done. 10 bands of peq is enough to get it mostly shaped up, especially with a 3-way+sub.

You can absolutely adjust input signal. Might not be an input "EQ"...but you still have adjustability. Direct from JL literature - "Flexible input mixer allows input channels to be combined with full control over each input’s level and polarity."

I think that layout was easier than most others I've played with (IE Helix, Mosconi) way less "tabs." Once you get some real seat time with it, you start to appreciate how nice it is to use. Like I mentioned earlier in the write up, the complete functionality is slowly discovered unless you're looking for it. (IE the DRC-205 having 3 modes was completely unknown) The linking ability I agree can be limited by only being allowed to group 2 drivers at a time. But, overall it's still really nice to use.

[nadams5755]

yeah, input mixing works along with levels. it's been a few months but i remember navigating between settings for each output channel a little annoying