Room correction, DSP for dummies.

@whart   Thanks, Bill. Your post is really helpful. I've used room correction software for my home theater system in the past, and it was helpful... like you I applied it to the lower frequencies and for assisting with subwoofer performance.

And yes, I was addressing Bill = grannyring  : )

Interesting conversation and one I have some feelings about. I have this terrible personality defect that tends to make me dive way too far down the rabbit hole on most of my hobbies. I grab something and squeeze the crap out of it until I get a pretty good grasp of its ins and outs. 

Doing this in a number of different areas has been somewhat enlightening in that I have learned that some lessons and traits are applicable to more than one displine. 

So here we go with my guess as to what dsp is likely to be offering me, for what I want. I want economy. I want to know what the state of the art is. I want to be able to know where the mountain top is and then I want to see how close I can get by using my wits, cunning and personal style can get me to that exalted peak. 

If 100% costs eleventy million then maybe 95% is only $100k? Maybe i can snag 92% for $20k? 90% for $5000? 

We all know that most every product we consider is flawed. There are very few products at any price that do not deal with compromise. Even when you can find them the nature of this hobby is such that the product you chose still has to be compatible with every other part. It's a puzzle but the peices need to fit every piece, not just the one it touches directly. 

The fact that DSP offers me a tool to help minimize and correct some of those compromises I'd appealing to me. 

I desire to get as close as possible without it then use it as little as possible to get a result that would simply not be possible without it. 

Suddenly 95% may cost half as much as it did a decade ago. 

Too much contemplating the navel here folks in my humble opinion.  I think my earlier post said it well and I really have nothing to add.  Big fan of removing the room’s impact as much as possible so speakers sound as designed, not perverted by room and speaker placement compromises.  Not all room correction designs are created equal and some do a much better job of doing no harm. Lyngdorf nailed it as proven through use.  

@david_ten The contemplating comment was in regard to your post with many more questions. I just don’t know how to say it any clearer or more simply? No, outside of the builder’s written or verbal comments on sonic design goals I don’t know exactly what they are shooting for. I don’t need to. Remove the room’s impact as much as possible and the speaker is free to be what it was intended to be....a high fidelity instrument.

The only advice I have left is this:

Listen to the system in store with room correction. Make sure you like the room correction’s choices before you commit.

Be aware that when you commit to this you are usually committing to an entire chain of devices. A/D, DSP, DSP Software, and DACs. Very few use digital only DSP units, though they do exist.

The issue here is if you are a DAC and speaker snob (and who isn’t? :) ) you are probably going to give up your choices in sound quality to the room correction.

Personally, I use room acoustic treatments along with DSP (not room correction) based EQ in the sub and center channels only. I leave the Surround, L and R alone. I have no problem getting seamless great sounding movies and music this way.  I do sometimes think about toying with time/impulse correction, but meh. 


Best,

E