Article: A New Listening Room Part Two: Acoustics, Speakers, DSP

[firedog]

Chris, sounds fantastic. Would love to hear your room. 

 

In my room I installed room treatments and bass traps with advice from GIK. Worked very well. Got rid of all kinds of echo I had in the room and made the sound more focused. 

 

I'd had some earlier experience with DRC (via TACT and Lyngorf units), so I used the basic version of Auidiolense to get rid of a bass node and further smooth response (which was already pretty good). 

 

I also just played with a few target curves till I made one I liked. Ended up with flat response till 3000hz and then a gently downward sloping curve after that of a few db till 20khz. Taking off more db (like the -10db slope from 20-20000hz often talked about) sounded "dead" to me. I also used DSP to add in a 0.5db boost from 100-400hz, just because my personal taste says adding in a upper bass - lower mids bump sounds better than perfectly flat response in that area. 

 

The final result sounds good to me, although I'm sure professional help would improve my results even more. I also haven't been able to figure out how to use the Room Shaper program, although I'd like to see what it would add to the mix.  

 

I think a lot of audiophiles could do a reasonable job of this on their own. There are also units like Lyngdorf and DEQX which will do it for you (and also replace DACs and/or preamps) if you don't want to fool around with software. 

[firedog]

1 hour ago, yyz said:

What a pleasant surprise reading this article. For the past year I have been toying with the idea of buying a little too large speaker for my office (already acoustically treated with GIK panels). I embarked on researching (and hearing) various hardware based DSP solutions, Anthem STR preamp, Linn Selekt DSM, Lyngdorf 2170, and Deqx (not heard). However, none of them really moved me like a non-DSP based preamp and amp combo that I heard and had to get.

 

Not sure how I got to this stage but I came across the Acourate DSP Software and the following book 

Barnett, Mitch. Accurate Sound Reproduction Using DSP. Kindle Edition.

 

I was excited to learn that I could use Roon, my computer, a rendu, and the non-dsp preamp and amp I preferred to tailor the speaker to fit into my smallish room. Now I come to this web site and read that the heavy hitters here are also touting the same path as me. This gives me a lot of confidence on what I am embarking on.

 

I have started to read this excellent book and a novice like me understands it so far. I need to buy some measuring tools next.

 

I will add the following info for the next guy/gal thinking of doing this:

 

My next step is to buy the following items to run the Acourate software. This will cost me $4K new.  There are other options to substantially lower the cost, I will spend a little more.

 

1) Earthworks M30 Omni Measurement Mic 
2) Millennia HV35P 1-ch Mic Preamp 
3) Lynx HiloUSB 12x16 A/D D/A Converter 
4) On-Stage Stands Mic Std Rnd
5) 3' Studio Mic Cable XLRF-XLRM 
6) 50' Studio Mic Cable XLRF-XLRM 

 

 

Sounds like a great plan. But I have a suggestion that you might be happy with and will save LOTS of money:

Try the UMIK-1 USB mic first and see what you think of the results.

 

It's simple, doesn't need a preamp, and is cheap. 

 

Most people - even with high end systems -  find it more than adequate. I had an Earthworks mic and didn't really feel the results using it were any better than with a simpler mic that had an individual calibration filter (the UMIK does). You can always add in the more expensive HW later, and the UMIK is very moderately priced, so the cost is trivial if you are playing in this arena. 

 

[firedog]

1 hour ago, Mercman said:

Congratulations on achieving a wonderful setup for the Alexia 2s.  I have a question; what is the sample rate limit for the filter you are using?

The sound staging capabilities of the Alexia 2 are damn impressive!

 

 

 

I'm not answering for Chris if you are asking him, but Audiolense gave me the option of up to 5 filters - one for each of the common PCM rates digital music is found in: 44.1-192. I'm using Roon to do the DRC and one of the advantages of Roon is that it will automatically match the SR of the incoming file to the proper filter. If I happen to play something at 8X rates, Roon will also upsample a filter to match that rate. 

 

On a moderately powerful server the DRC/DSP is not challenging: at the moment I'm listening to a 24/44.1 source and with DRC + added digital EQ Roon is converting it at a 60X speed. If you are trying to do the same thing with DSD it is obviously more resource intensive (my server will do the same thing in DSD at about a 3X speed) - but still not an issue. That's one of the advantages of doing it in software over a unit like a Lyngdorf or a DEQX - those used to only work internally at 96k rates (I think they still do), as they don't have the computing power to go higher. Of course, you could make the argument that DRC at 4X rates etc, is superflous.

[firedog]

6 hours ago, buffalobill said:

Comical. Spend a lot of money on a speaker with conventional ordinary direct radiating mid-range cone which will spray frequencies all around walls, floor, ceiling and then install acoustics to absorb the resulting distorted frequencies. The distorted frequencies are still there and dynamics are now reduced.   

 

What's comincal is your smug response. Or should I say sad.

 

Did you see the measurements? Did you read Chris' description? Have you ever done something similar in a room? Or are you just talking based on all sorts of doubtful "audiophile" assumptions without any actual knowledge of how using room treatments and measurements in this way can improve sound? 

[firedog]

Okay, dumb question, but I can't figure this out:

How do I get a "live" (not simulated) measurement of my room sound with the DRC/convolution applied? I can't figure out how to apply the DRC to the test sweep in any of the measurement programs, and measure the result in real time. 

Sorry if this is obvious and I'm just not seeing it.