Room eq

[vinyljunky]

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on room eq

[Barry]

If you are fortunate to have a dedicated music room, then it can pay dividends.

Unfortunately for many, the music system is in the lounge or other common area. The presence of items such as bass traps, or wall coverings designed to dissipate and/or diffuse reflected sound, may be found objectionable by other members of the family.

[Macca]

If you are fortunate to have a dedicated music room, then it can pay dividends.

Unfortunately for many, the music system is in the lounge or other common area. The presence of items such as bass traps, or wall coverings designed to dissipate and/or diffuse reflected sound, may be found objectionable by other members of the family.

That's room treatment, I'm assuming we're talking electronic eq, presumably digital?

I think it can be very useful but those systems that calculate it all by themselves are only likely to give good results by chance.

[Barry]

Don't you have to measure the in-room response so as to know what eq correction is needed?

I tried measuring the response in my room from the listening position using a sound level meter. Regardless of weighting, the response was all over the place, compounded by the fact the meter's low-frequency response was negligible below around 250Hz.

[Macca]

Don't you have to measure the in-room response so as to know what eq correction is needed?

I tried measuring the response in my room from the listening position using a sound level meter. Regardless of weighting, the response was all over the place, compounded by the fact the meter's low-frequency response was negligible below around 250Hz.

The more expensive A/V receivers come with a mic that you put in the listening spot and then it does its thing and calibrates itself. Probably this should only be used as a starting point but a lot of people seem to think that's all done even if it doesn't sound too great. Then decide DSP is the tool of the devil. :)

Really you need a proper measurement mic like a Umik-1 and software like REW. That lets you see room issues below the transition frequency, which you can then try to EQ down any bass peaks.

Can be effective but quite a bit of effort involved.

I've experimented with parametric EQ but only for higher frequencies and I set it by ear. In room measurements are not that useful for predicating audibility of dips and peaks above the transition frequency.

[vinyljunky]

I've just purchased a wiim ultra it has room eq
Just wondering if using it to say bump up the bass would ruin the sound it works on the wiim by you sitting in your listening position and using the mike on your phone the software is on the wiim app i know this is a crude way of measuring sound waves in your room but would it be worth
Experimenting

[Macca]

Ideally you should only cut in the bass, not boost. Boosting doesn't tend to work as it takes insane amounts of power - thousands of watts - to fill a null in the response.

Use the app to see if you have any peaks that you can cut to get better quality bass. Unless you have a room with a very long axis or use speakers that don't really have any bass it's likely that there will be one or two.

[ianlenco]

I've just purchased a wiim ultra it has room eq
Just wondering if using it to say bump up the bass would ruin the sound it works on the wiim by you sitting in your listening position and using the mike on your phone the software is on the wiim app i know this is a crude way of measuring sound waves in your room but would it be worth
Experimenting

After the demise of my Auralic Altair I bought a Wiim Ultra and despite the huge price difference I think the Ultra is a great streamer DAC. I did have a play with the room eq when I first got it but decided its effect was not positive. Of course it all depends on your listening room. I sit about 19ft away from my Jordan TL3 speakers and the bass is huge and controlled on tracks that produce it but girl and guitar stuff is beautifully airy.

[Macca]

After the demise of my Auralic Altair I bought a Wiim Ultra and despite the huge price difference I think the Ultra is a great streamer DAC. I did have a play with the room eq when I first got it but decided its effect was not positive. Of course it all depends on your listening room. I sit about 19ft away from my Jordan TL3 speakers and the bass is huge and controlled on tracks that produce it but girl and guitar stuff is beautifully airy.

In general the bigger the room the less problems with bass, and your room would seem to be pretty large if you can sit 19 foot back.

[Desmo]

After the demise of my Auralic Altair I bought a Wiim Ultra and despite the huge price difference I think the Ultra is a great streamer DAC. I did have a play with the room eq when I first got it but decided its effect was not positive. Of course it all depends on your listening room. I sit about 19ft away from my Jordan TL3 speakers and the bass is huge and controlled on tracks that produce it but girl and guitar stuff is beautifully airy.

I just did the same with my Eversolo DMP A10, and I found the same result - not positive! I'm sure that it may be possible to get good results, but it's not a trivial exercise, and I find the sound of the A10 to be excellent out of the box. I quickly switched off the room correction, and returned to standard settings.

[Macca]

Use a room mode calculator, see where the bass modes are, adjust those frequencies only. Live with it for a bit, then decide if it's any better.

That's not the best way to do it but it does skip all the measuring faff.

Never use the auto calibration!

[vinyljunky]

Right guys I'll let you know when I'm setup and I've experimented

[Swann36]

Right guys I'll let you know when I'm setup and I've experimented

Looking forward to hearing about the journey

[LittleTone]

I use the HouseCurve app on my iPhone; interesting app that may or not be that accurate; but seems to work well enough and better than nothing.
Gonna need a software/hardware equaliser though.

[sailor]

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on room eq

All rooms regardless of shape or size have a lumpy response with large peaks and nulls which fortunately can be sorted out by either adding acoustic treatments or by introducing additional bass sources aka subwoofers. Employing both methods is by far the best. EQ unfortunately can't solve this issue for the simple reason that no matter how much power you drive into a null it will just cancel with the same power. The stubborn null will remain because you have done nothing but endanger your tweeters and this is presupposing you know the offending frequency. A null is due to bass waves combining destructively meaning they are out of or partially out of phase and cancel accordingly. This I think of as a black hole for music and if it's a low Q null then there is a fair bit of your precious music absent from the performance. :(




Really you need a proper measurement mic like a Umik-1 and software like REW. That lets you see room issues below the transition frequency,
.

Yes, this will take the guesswork out and provide a plot of where the peaks and nulls lie revealing the frequency and the amplitude. Expect to see peaks and nulls 15 to 20dB above and below the average. It is not constrained to below the Schroeder frequency only but will also provide a waterfall plot of the frequencies above where it transitions to a reverberant field giving decay times out to the top octave. Getting the RT60 to decay smoothly across the spectrum is not to be underestimated in how it seems to magically clean up detail and provide stable imaging.

Most members are familiar with the advice to absorb some frequencies supposedly to improve sound. Once again using REW will remove guesswork and let you know when the target RT60 is reached. This may sound daunting but it's not, once you get started. The decay time recommended for music can be found online and is dependent on the volume of your room which is usually about 300ms. Absolutes are not as important as a smooth response.

Adding subs to tame peaks and nulls is not intuitive. Perhaps think of them as tuning devices whereby when correctly positioned and phase adjusted can tame a peak and fill in a null. Say there is a large peak at 60Hz and you are able to position a small sub (even a tiny 6.5" driver can produce 60Hz) and adjust the phase. As you dial from 0 to 180 degrees there will be somewhere that will nicely fit the phase that is causing that peak and flatten it. It may be apparent now that another sub can be used in a similar manner to fill in that nasty null at 40Hz and also that more than one sub is better. If anyone considers trying this use sealed subs and make sure they have adjustable phase. The more subs the easier it is to get a smooth in-room response They do not need to be the same brand nor size. It would be remiss of me not to now point out that you will be getting clean, detailed and room filling effortless bass.

It is an indisputable fact that where the main speakers are positioned will compromise the bass performance. Subs provide the answer. High passing the mains is worth considering