Hilde45 “Posts on this site have convinced me that I'm done thinking about gear. (And I just put a system together.). So now I'm looking for a correctly treated room, or at least the path which leads there”
I am at the same juncture, Hilde45. While I have been interested in utilizing REW for a few years, the perceived learning curve has kept me from even attempting it. Hopefully that changes now, thanks to your thread and some of the very helpful posts from many including Lemonhaze, Tomic601, Shalommorgan.
Like many in the hobby, I have been working on my tweaking my room set-up for years. Implementing several tips in Jim Smith’s book, Get Better Sound, improved my SQ. Then I paid Jim a very reasonable consultation fee for room-specific guidance aimed at finding the all-important (according to Jim and others) ideal place for one’s chair. Called the anchor spot or chair, IIRC. I sent photos and dimensions of my room. Using the RTA app on my phone I took readings of white or pink noise (forget which it was right now) playing as I moved my chair further from the front wall. Did 6 readings. He identified the two best spots and my chair has been at one of them for close to 2 years now.
Why my interest in REW, then? Because we took no readings of corners, center of front wall (between speakers) or anything else. And, I also wonder how much better REW and a microphone may be compared with an RTA phone app.
My room sounds more than “quite good”. It really does. However, I have felt that way many times and then found ways to make it better. There is sheetrock bump-out that houses an HVAC chase that has discouraged me from moving my speakers further into the room because the left speaker will eventually be so close to it the SQ will suffer—I presume. The other “deterrent” is that my speakers are on DIY adjustable platforms that make moving the speakers and resetting them with OCD symmetry a bit “involved”. However, last nite I DID move my speakers further into the room by almost 3 inches and thus also reduced the distance to my ears by the same. I fine-tuned toe-in and assessed the closer triangle. While I do believe in assessing over at least multiple sessions over time, Wow. I should have done this sooner. One key improvement seems to be dynamics, but there are others. Doing the “ears cupped by hands” test, the impact of my hands is vastly decreased. Does anyone know if that is an indication of improved dynamics, per se?
I like my equipment, believe it is well engineered and have even improved it by employing the services of a very gifted mod-er here on AG. Like the OP and others who’ve posted, I wish to address my room’s SQ-robbing deficiencies a bit more methodically now because I suspect I’ve still not heard my rig at its best.
