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Automatic Room Correction has won the Subwoofer Wars

Just thought of something while perusing the chats, and finding yet another "help me, I bought a subwoofer and it sounds bad" threads. 

You know what we rarely if ever see?  "Help me, I used ARC to set up my subwoofer and it sounds bad."

I think this is a strong testament to how effective these systems are to integrating a sub into an existing system, and why I'm no longer trying to help others improve as much as pointing them towards ARC as better options.

While ARC does a lot more than subwoofer integration, I think we have to admit that for most it's pretty much been a panacea.
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,363 posts
 
I also should have said that how the ARC (generic) treats the rest of the bands is not what I mean to bring up, and this behavior is a lot more varied and subjective.

It is in the subwoofer integration though that almost all ARC systems are better and easier than your average music-phile with nice speakers.
avanti1960
1,500 posts
 
not for me. it is a band aid at best and robs your subwoofer of power at worst.
It is no substitute for optimized subwoofer placement (within reason). 
erik_squires OP
16,363 posts
 
not for me. it is a band aid at best and robs your subwoofer of power at worst.
It is no substitute for optimized subwoofer placement (within reason).


I will argue that these are not either or but instead of. One really interesting thing I’m reading here is how many are only looking at ARC as EQ.

ARC subwoofer integration is in addition to EQ. It sets up the crossover slopes and delays and this is where most have the biggest problems.  The point of the EQ choices not necessarily being great varies with ARC vendor.  Some make better choices than others.  JL Audio and Dirac are two of the one's I tend to like the results of, but all will properly set the crossover settings.

Optimum placement of a sub is always a good idea.

Post removed 
erik_squires OP
16,363 posts
 
If you are robbing your subwoofer of power with DSP, then there must be frequency aberrations at the listening position that need to be fixed.

Kind of sort of.  Sorry to introduce nuance here.

Not all ARC is the same, not by a long shot.  Early ARC attempted a flat response and it sounds awful, so I can completely see why if you heard that you'd be of the opinion it steals power.  JL Audio and Dirac are examples of ARC that no longer make these fatal flaws. I encourage you to listen to them if you can.

Still, we don't have the luxury of doing everything right.  We can't all have 2 subs, room treatment, and a choice of anywhere in the room to place them.

In my mind, for each listener and their home there's some combination of this that will be ideal.  If you can't do all, do 2 of them.  If not, resort to EQ alone.

For instance, I can't have 2 subs, and I can't pick a location.  It's really 1 place or no sub.  What I can do is add room treatment and EQ.  Result is marvelous and much better than doing nothing.

Despite all of this nuance, ARC is still the best fastest way for a new sub user to configure the crossover, delays and levels.
Best,

Erik

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