Help needed with choosing the optimal Dirac curve

[jaaptina]

I'm new to Dirac. I've got a MiniDSP SHD Studio with Dirac 1.2 for two weeks now and tried several curves. Started with the automatic curve and than added points up to a 30 point curve to follow the measured curve more closely. I like the reduced bass at 55Hz. But I like to know if I can get more from it. So I would like to know what you think is the optimal curve. I have added printscreens and the matching projects. If you've got Dirac 1.2 I think you can even optimise a curve and send ik back with your reply. Thanks!

 

9 points curve.dprj 20 points curve.dprj 30 points curve.dprj left right up to 400Hz.dprj

[jaaptina]

@hellblau and @STC thanks for your responses. They help with further fine tuning and experimenting. 

[jaaptina]

I tried a lot of different curves. Also OliveToole and EBU. After a bit of listening EBU sounds good. But when I turn Dirac off the music livens up a lot and I get more air. So for me the EBU curve is to severe. I want to keep more of the caracter of the speakers. 

The other extreme is to use Dirac only to get the bass around 50Hz in check. Suppressing the bass around 50Hz really helps a lot and is the reason I will continue using Dirac. 

But Dirac can do more. In my setup with Dirac I get a better sound scape between the speakers. With Dirac off the music is focussed slightly to the right. So I've been looking for a curve that keeps the bass in check and centers the music but preserves the sense of air. 

I think I found this by a curve that reduces the bass than follows the measured response up to 5kHz and no correction above 5kHz. 

[jaaptina]

Having settled for two weeks with my best curve I began noticing some artifacts in certain songs. For example in the track "The lighthouse and the cabin" from Third coast Percussion there is a lot of resonation at 1:05. At that point I get a sudden distortion. The rest of the track is okay. Used my phone to find it's a distortion on a 100Hz sound. With other tracks I did not hear any distortion. But with Dirac off the distortion disappeared. When I found another track with distortion it was time to take action.

 

First I lowered the total curve by 2dB. That made a difference but did not totally remove the distortion. So I made a dip in the curve at 100Hz where the original response got clearly below the target curve. Now the distortions are completely gone. 

[jaaptina]

1 hour ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Hmmm.  I can hear that distortion without DL and on several tracks on that recording.   Correction entailed lowering internal volume in JRMC.

Good to hear it's not only due to the choosen target curve. The other track I experienced the one below (Tidal).