Using RTA To Get A Curve

jcmusic

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2010
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Just Outside New Orleans, La.
Anyone here ever try using the RTA feature of REW to get a nice sounding curve? If so what settings did you use and how does the curve look when measured using the sweep measurement?
 
I have used an RTA but not REV. Typical curve elevated below 100Hz or so and a roll-off above about 7-8K. That's an old shot from the listening position with both channels with pink noise.

Rob:)
 

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Anyone here ever try using the RTA feature of REW to get a nice sounding curve? If so what settings did you use and how does the curve look when measured using the sweep measurement?
The RTA in REW will measure the same as a sweep measurement. I've done it many times and so have others. The RTA doesn't give you the depth of information about your sweep (no waterfall, impulse response, etc.). The RTA is useful for finding the best spot for subwoofers and can help confirm EQ settings done based on the sweep measurements.
 
Well I have all the measurements I could ever use I just tried the RTA as a quick way to get a good sounding curve. I have enough info already waterfalls. Ir, etc. Just wanted to compare the measurements to the RTA curve and see how much of a difference there was.
 
Anyone here ever try using the RTA feature of REW to get a nice sounding curve? If so what settings did you use and how does the curve look when measured using the sweep measurement?

IMHO you do not use REW to get nice sounding curves. You use it to diagnose your room and speaker placement. The settings depend on what you are looking at that exact moment and IMHO there is no standard good looking curve - it depends a lot on speaker, system and user preference.
 
IMHO you do not use REW to get nice sounding curves. You use it to diagnose your room and speaker placement. The settings depend on what you are looking at that exact moment and IMHO there is no standard good looking curve - it depends a lot on speaker, system and user preference.

Ok I have already placed the speakers and treatment and subs and got all the useful info I need on the room and the system, so why not use the RTA feature to get a good sounding curve???
 
Ok I have already placed the speakers and treatment and subs and got all the useful info I need on the room and the system, so why not use the RTA feature to get a good sounding curve???

How are you going to adjust the measured curve?? DSP, conventional EQ??

Rob:)
 
So what have you tried? You are not happy with your present sound? How are your measurements? You should look pretty flat with 1/3 octave smoothing. How many bands of parametric do you have and is it digital or analog?

Rob:)
 
Ok I have already placed the speakers and treatment and subs and got all the useful info I need on the room and the system, so why not use the RTA feature to get a good sounding curve???

The RTA will be nice to control, but you will probably find that the best sounding curve (meaning your preferred one) is not the nicest looking one. But if you need something to guide yourself you can always download the manuals of some existing room correction systems and use their target curves.
 
So what have you tried? You are not happy with your present sound? How are your measurements? You should look pretty flat with 1/3 octave smoothing. How many bands of parametric do you have and is it digital or analog?

Rob:)
I am using 2 Yamaha YDP 2006's one for the mains and one for the subs. They convert analog-digital-analog, I am very happy with the sound the curves look fine. I just wanted to try using the rta instead of sweeps and compare the two curves visually and note the difference in sound. The eq's can be adjusted from 20hz to 20khz +- 12db and 0-10 Q.
 
I just wanted to try using the rta instead of sweeps and compare the two curves visually and note the difference in sound.

There may not be a significant change in sound. The sweeps are much more accurate depending on the smoothing used. I have compared measurements that were changed from 1/12 octave to 1/3 and then to a 1/3 octave RTA measurement. What I found using my software was that the 1/3 smoothed measurement compared very closely to a 1/3 octave RTA measurement. The only obvious difference was the instability in the lower frequencies because of the gate time chosen. I would be careful changing things if you are happy. If you got it nailed don't fix what's not broken.

Rob:)
 
You can set custom curves in REW. REW will spit out several PEQ filters. You can then add those filters to Jriver or similar and then remeasure to verify. I think you can even add all the filters to Jriver in the form of a .wav file so you don't have to manually add them, although I've never done that.

RTA isn't really designed to set a custom curve. I think most folks use the RTA function when moving subs around to avoid big modes and/or deep nulls at certain frequencies in different parts of the room.

I haven't set a curve in REW in a while so I can't advise but I know Hometheatershack is your friend.
 
There may not be a significant change in sound. The sweeps are much more accurate depending on the smoothing used. I have compared measurements that were changed from 1/12 octave to 1/3 and then to a 1/3 octave RTA measurement. What I found using my software was that the 1/3 smoothed measurement compared very closely to a 1/3 octave RTA measurement. The only obvious difference was the instability in the lower frequencies because of the gate time chosen. I would be careful changing things if you are happy. If you got it nailed don't fix what's not broken.

Rob:)
I have a few storage channels so I can save curves and go back to them with a push of a button, so no harm in trying different settings.
 
You can set custom curves in REW. REW will spit out several PEQ filters. You can then add those filters to Jriver or similar and then remeasure to verify. I think you can even add all the filters to Jriver in the form of a .wav file so you don't have to manually add them, although I've never done that.

RTA isn't really designed to set a custom curve. I think most folks use the RTA function when moving subs around to avoid big modes and/or deep nulls at certain frequencies in different parts of the room.

I haven't set a curve in REW in a while so I can't advise but I know Hometheatershack is your friend.
Using the RTA feature was just a quick idea and expirement so it's not in stone just thought I'd try it.
 

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