Thanks Mitch, this is by far the most insightful article I ever read on room/system optimization. I am challenged to get the best sound quality out of some very good hardware/software (Evolution Acoustics MM3 / Trinnov DRC), contrained by a less than optimal room. I have inquired with a few pro's for help, but your article inspired me to dust off my copy of REW and try to tackle this myself. The process you went through looks like something I can replicate in my system/room, and it will be a fun learning experience.
Speaker/Room calibration
- Thread starter Bruce B
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Thanks Mitch, this is by far the most insightful article I ever read on room/system optimization. I am challenged to get the best sound quality out of some very good hardware/software (Evolution Acoustics MM3 / Trinnov DRC), contrained by a less than optimal room. I have inquired with a few pro's for help, but your article inspired me to dust off my copy of REW and try to tackle this myself. The process you went through looks like something I can replicate in my system/room, and it will be a fun learning experience.
OK. So I got 6 crates (2000 lbs) in my basement and will soon be setting up the MM3's. Two quick questions on placement / measurement. I am planning to try some different placement options and measure which one gives me the flatest response. I don't have a good calibrated, mic for REW, so I was thinking of using the Trinnov room correction system's calibration measurements to figure out the best placement location. Only issue is, Trinnov measures one channel at a time while REW measures two. Should I just measure two channels indepently with the Trinnov, or should I set it up as one channel and split that channel across my left and right so I effectively measure both front channels? I would think yes, because this will acount for all interactions between the two channels in the room, but just checking if my assumption is correct.
Another question is this. To move the MM3s around it may be easier to initially not put the 2nd woofer unit on top. If I find the optimal location with just one woofer unit, can I reasonably assume this will be optimal with the two woofers as well, or should I do all my measurements with the complete MM3 set up?
Another question is this. To move the MM3s around it may be easier to initially not put the 2nd woofer unit on top. If I find the optimal location with just one woofer unit, can I reasonably assume this will be optimal with the two woofers as well, or should I do all my measurements with the complete MM3 set up?
First, measure the complete MM3. Put the on furniture sliders. My wife can even move them.
REW allows you to do one channel at a time as well. I did it for Kevin. He wanted the L channel, the R channel and then both. If your Trinnov can do room measurements, then fine. At least it will give you a good starting point. Also, start with all the controls at the 12 o'clock position on the speakers and the rumble filter off.
REW allows you to do one channel at a time as well. I did it for Kevin. He wanted the L channel, the R channel and then both. If your Trinnov can do room measurements, then fine. At least it will give you a good starting point. Also, start with all the controls at the 12 o'clock position on the speakers and the rumble filter off.
Thanks again. I'll get a second set of sliders and assemble the complete speakers. The Trinnov will measure uncorrected in room resonse and show the graphs. After the filters have been calculated and applied, you cannot measure in room response anymore.
My plan is to get the best achieveble (flattest) response without DRC using the Trinnov for measurement. Once I figured this out, I define the target curve and apply room correction.
At some later point I will get my REW back up and running with a good calibrate mic to measure in room response with DRC applied.
Bruce, I reread your advice and realized it does not tell me if I should measure L and R independently first to figure out optimal placement or if I should look at in room response for both speakers simultaneously. I want to initially do only one or the other approach, because switching between the two configuration involves using a different preset in the Trinnov and physically rewiring my system (to do L+R I need to setup the Trinnov as mono and split the output signal using a Y-splitter). Any recommendations?
I always do both L+R. I know Kevin and others do it differently. The way I figure it, if you do one at a time, once you get one speaker perfect, the other speaker may cancel out or exacerbate what you have already done. That's why I do both.
---...And makes perfect sense. :b
{That's how we listen to music; two speakers together (stereo), or unless we're into Mono.}
* Multichannel music?
{That's how we listen to music; two speakers together (stereo), or unless we're into Mono.}
* Multichannel music?
Sigh.---...And makes perfect sense. :b
{That's how we listen to music; two speakers together (stereo), or unless we're into Mono.}
* Multichannel music?
Bruce... based on the frequency response in post #208, were you able to tweak the area from about 124-200hz? I've got a 10db suck out at about 150hz that I'm trying to work out. Based on your recent experience, do you think the 150 hz range is more about speaker placement than treatment or both?
I would still say this has more to do with positioning. As the graph appears on post #40, I almost got rid of the 125Hz null just by moving my speakers/listening position.
Thanks Bruce! I also noticed as I browsed all 26 pages of posts that you had a placement of I think 44" from the side wall based on the Golden Progression on the EA website then after doing the 180 degree spin you ended up at 36" if I'm not mistaken. Was this based on a different width at that part of the room or was that chosen strictly by ear?
Also..... probably a stupid question but at what part of the speaker are you using for your distance measurement? Center of woofer or tweeter?
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I moved them out a little because 1. the measurements started getting better and 2. I could toe them in more to get a better center image.
The center of tweeter is where I measured from.
If he's still experimenting with placement, I hope sliders.
Tom
Since Bruce hadn't posted about any changes for awhile I thought he might have put something more permanent under.
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