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What's more important in a difficult room, room correction or higher, clean, power?

My listening space is a 13 x 10 former spare bedroom that is used as my hobby space and office and is a really difficult space because of the contents in the room. My speakers are parallel to the long wall.

My current rig includes a Peachtree Nova 150 integrated, Elac Debut B6.2 speakers, U-Turn Orbit turntable with Ortofon red cartridge running through the Peachtree's phono input, Music Hall C-DAC 15.3 and a Furman Elite 15 power conditioner.

I have an Elac subwoofer on order that I purchased during what must have been an unadvertised flash sale on their website at a great price and it includes room correction. I purchased this particular sub because of the room correction feature in the hopes that it will result in a better, smoother, fuller, sound.

The sub got me thinking that perhaps an amp that also supports room correction might be helpful in my space and one that I'm considering in the Elac EA101EQ-G integrated amp. However, the specs on this amp aren't as good as my Peachtree and, frankly, I like the Peachtree but I'm thinking that there could be something better out there.

I'd be interested to hear from those of you that have take the room correction plunge and what you think. Also, given the choice between more power/better specs or room correction with less power, is there a preferred path?
rfross
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I should have clarified my reference to 'power' in that I'm not looking for cleaner AC power but whether my 150 WPC Nova 150, for example, is a better amp/integrated solution than say an amp/integrated that is rated at a lower WPC but has room correction built-in.


Yes, you should have been a lot more clear.

Now the answer is easy. Anything with room correction, don't even consider it. 

The one thing you are onto is that a lower powered amp might well be better. The guiding principle was best stated by the great Robert Harley many years ago, "If the first watt isn't any good, why would you want 200 more of them?"
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,657 posts
 
I'm not a fan of room correction. The reason is most often what is going on is a standing wave which no amount of correction will fix.

You can kill a standing wave by using a distributed bass array. The best example of this is the Swarm made by Audiokinesis. The Swarm is four subs designed to sit right against the walls. You place them asymmetrically about the room; in this way they produce consistent bass across the spectrum regardless of where you are in the room.


mesch
3,421 posts
 
I usually think of room treatment not room correction. It might be of help on the sub, if not don't use the correction feature. If you like the Peachtree you should keep it. 


pragmasi
212 posts
 

The problem with room treatment is the amount of it you need to treat low frequencies, that's where I think DSP can be useful. For example 1/4 wavelength of 80Hz is over a metre... it's going to take a big bass trap to deal with that. The multiple sub approach seems like the best solution in a small room but you need to have space in the right places in the room.

If you take a 'no compromise' approach then I guess you'd go for plenty of absorption and diffraction and an array of subs. This is unrealistic for many people so DSP (with its limitations) is a useful tool but not a panacea.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,657 posts
 
The problem with room treatment is the amount of it you need to treat low frequencies, that's where I think DSP can be useful.
This is also where a distributed bass array like the Swarm is helpful.
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