New loudspeakers & room digital correction service

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Hi all,

 

I took benefit of the new lock down in France to update Room Shaper with a simple visualization of frequencies where the algorithm is active.

The updated versions are available here

 

Stay safe !

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Hi all,

 

I am happy to announce upgrades and new stuff on the plugins side :

• Room Shaper : I have continued my quest for the perfect tool to solve low&mid frequencies room issues. While the original version was focused on the resonances decay time issues, the new version is adding a correction for the onset side. I call it "impact" correction as it brings back the controlled punch we can have in very good listening conditions. I have added a new graph to show how much your room has perceptual issues. The plugin is available here

• Soundstage Shaper : the beta testing phase discussed in this thread came to a positive end and the new plugin and its configuration tool are available here

 

And finally, a new tool to smartly compensate for hearing loss (linked to age or specific disease) Discussed in this thread and available here

 

Cheers,

Thierry

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Hello @LarryMagoo Yes you can use plugins separately or combined (the only limitation can be processing power)

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As Roon is not accepting third party plugins, you still need to use one of the workarounds I have listed here

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You need to do all processing in your Mac mini and use one of the options listed in the "My DAC is connected to my computer via USB" chapter

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Hello @Bill Brown

 

The configuration file you get with the configuration tool has a specific format as it can only be used by Soundstage Shaper.

 

I don't fully understand why you can't use any plugin with Audirvana ? don't hesitate to email me ([email protected]) if I can support you for the standalone version

 

 

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12 hours ago, Bill Brown said:

Thank you for responding.  If the configuration tool produces a specific format, how is the calibration put into the AU plugin in an AU host?

You have a "load" button on the user interface

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On 6/19/2021 at 6:36 PM, Bill Brown said:

Forgot a question.  EQ after the plugin.  I use it for headphone EQ (HD650s).  Minimum phase.  I also do minimum phase upsampling.  My suspicion, especially after working with the configurator, is that phase is an important part of what you are doing(?).

Phase plays in important role for the "ambience" generation. The sources re-positioning part of the process is linear phase.

 

You can keep a post EQ as long as it is common for left & right channels. I like the iso loudness approach (match headphones vs loudspeaker) promoted by David Griesinger. You can try it using his plugin or my own tool available here (my tool gives the option to correct your loudspeaker to have a fully flat frequency response when determining your iso loudness curve)

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Hi all,

 

I have made further developments for my filters generation service. Check out my new blog page.... You can test new stuff even if you don't have performed acoustics measurements.

Cheers,

Thierry

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Hello,

 

Some new things on the plugin side, more details available here !

Thierry

PS: all plugins can be tested w/o registration

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As there are some discussions regarding target curves, I'd like to share my thoughts and how I proceed when I generate filters for my customers.

 

It might be worth reminding that a measurement at listening position is impacted by the loudspeaker on-axis and off-axis response (directivity) and the room itself. The ideal case of flat on-axis response, controlled directivity and well behaved room gives the famous slightly declining response curve. This is because the room and air damping increases with frequency, and loudspeakers generally have narrower radiation at high frequencies.

 

Reality is different and the 2 main usual deviations are loudspeaker off axis response and room uneven damping.

As most of the speakers have non coincident drivers there is always a polar response error in the crossover region : for a 2 way speaker it is very common to have a dip in the 2-3 kHz region when measuring in a room even if the on-axis response is flat.

 

The other common issue is the lack of room damping in treble range which gives a non declining frequency response.

 

The next question is how to handle those cases ?  The easy way is to go with a target curve and generate related filters. This is not what I do, nor recommend.

When the issue is related to room damping for high frequencies range, it is always better to add some passive treatment : addressing low range with passive treatment is a challenge but correcting a too bright room can easily be done with curtains, carpets, sofa, furniture. Reducing treble level by filters should be the last resort.

 

For the main other issue which is non even off axis response, I already explained my approach on my website here 
Handling separately the direct sound and reverberated one is unique to my processing and helps with soundstaging.

This was confirmed by an experiment done at B&O : they compared 2 configurations giving the same measurement at listening position for a 2 ways speaker : one configuration where the direct sound was corrected to compensate for the lack of energy in the crossover region and the other one with a flat direct sound and the off axis error corrected by addition of a dipole speaker (description and conclusions available here

 

Finally, the direct sound can be equalized to implement loudness correction or personal preferences.

 

Stay tuned, something new is coming...

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Hi @Sangster

Thanks for you advice, would be good for me to understand what issues you are facing with my website... To not pollute this thread, please contact me at [email protected]

 

I am still exploring the potential of signal processing and found a new solution to improve reproduction for "flat sounding" tracks or systems. Without changing the tonal balance and using some principles of analog reproduction, I created filters that give more relief to the reproduction. Instead of changing DAC you can now easily tune your system with such filters. 

As usual don't hesitate to contact me for a demo.

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Hi,

 

You can read a new article on my blog here, it is about crossover filters with steep slopes.

I am still looking for beta testers, so don't hesitate to contact me if you have an active system with FIR convolution capability !

 

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Hi all,

I have added a new blog post & demo clip on phase correction here

I remind that I have a permanent Christmas gift with this free headphones equalization tool

Seasons greetings to all of you !