The Absurdity of it All

mahgister, how much experience do you have actually measuring room acoustics and correcting defects with both acoustic management and digital EQ? Do not tell me you can do it with your hearing because no one can even well trained mastering engineers can not EQ an environment by ear. They pull out the measurement microphone. I suggest you buy one. What you will see when you measure your system is a mess.
If there is an exception to my generalization I have not seen or heard it. 
When someone tells me they have "clear" bass that usually means they have almost no bass below 80 Hz. Because if you did without digital EQ the bass would be muddy and confused. 

mahgister, how much experience do you have actually measuring room acoustics and correcting defects with both acoustic management and digital EQ?

How much experience do you have actually "listening" to the same room acoustic with both passive materials treatment and active mechanical controls with a grid of 32 Helmholtz resonators finely tunable each one?

it is exactly like piano tuning by human ears but it takes some time because it was not my professional job...

When someone tells me they have "clear" bass that usually means they have almost no bass below 80 Hz. Because if you did without digital EQ the bass would be muddy and confused.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to have the tuba melodic line clearly with only 80 hertz bass...

I have it then my bass is clear to a point around at least 50 hertz and even under, but less so clear .... If i choose to disconnect my sub there is a reason....I am limited by the specs of my speakers even if they are spectacular with bass....

This cd contain one hour of tuba notes.... A very fine cd i recommend it....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olIrf-uioD8

They pull out the measurement microphone. I suggest you buy one. What you will see when you measure your system is a mess.

I dont doubt what you say here.... Are you surprized?

But what you dont catch is that this "mess" is the result of my fine tuning for my EARS first...This measured mess is the speakers design response in my uncontrolled room...But after the finetuning of my grid relatively to my specific speakers response, it is no more an absolute mess, it is a "mess" correlated to my specific ears desire .... It is the way i hear timbre voices and instrument that is my rule for ALL THE ROOM .... Not a very selected range of frequencies for a very narrow location in millimeter out of which all your measures are a real mess... I will remind you that i listen from 2 positions in my room....Not just one....  



And it is not an absolute mess at all sorry.....I am sure that your "clean" acoustic will not be so good for me...But will sound artificial....

I think you dont understand that my speakers specs are not modified by the electronic equalization like in your case, my mechanical equalisation is carried out continuously by devices which are now part of my room and they modify the room without modifying the speakers responses even if i used in my own way with my H.R. grid the speakers responses ....And the fine tuning by ears use the relatively large band of voice timbre coming from the speakers and is very "finely" tunable at any time....

No electronical equalization can replace a room acoustic treatment ....NONE...An E.E. is not a room treatment at all...

But my mechanical equalization is a ROOM tretament ALSO, and not only an equalizer on his own right also, adapted exactly to my speakers timbre response (not frequencies response) without modifying their natural original design colored response....Like your equalization....

@mijostyn: many thanks for the detailed response. I've grown to accept my system's limited bass response (monitors without a sub). If I had a dedicated room, I'd treat it, but that's not an option at this point. 

@tonywinga: " Making decisions about what gear to buy or changes to make is exhausting and stressful- like a building project".

I gave up buying gear I couldn't demo at home with a return policy a long time ago. While this does somewhat limit my choices, it also eliminates the risk of costly mistakes and therefore, reduces, to some degree, the level of stress. 

stuartk ...

• "If I had a dedicated room, I'd treat it, but that's not an option at this point."

Try a ten-pack of SR HFT's and install them around the room as directed. They are so small that no one will know they are there. Plus, they are easily removable if you live in a rental and decide to move. In addition, there is a 30-day return policy if you're not happy with them.  

https://highend-electronics.com/products/sr-hft-high-frequency-transformer

They transformed my room and finally got the bass under control. 

Frank

@stuartk,

I guess what I’m suggesting is that it’s a matter of mental discipline to manage the part of us that craves novelty and try to keep ourselves (mostly) focused upon that "child-like" pleasure, if in fact, that’s one’s top priority. I recognize it’s not this way for everyone.

No, but it probably should be. With so many conflicting priorities and demands and only so much money and time it’s far from easy. Demands can come thick and fast and from surprising directions.

Audiophiles I think tend to be the cerebrotonic ectomorphs that Eric Berne wrote about. I’m guessing that we are prone to getting mentally overloaded from time to time and thus it’s extremely important for us to have our place to retreat to.

We also need understanding people around us who can also appreciate the level of support that we tend to provide.

@mijostyn,
"what is going on is we are being screwed, all of us, every last one of us.

Our money is being forcibly removed from our pockets and spent on maintaining political power and accumulating wealth usually to make corporations and certain voting blocks happy.

We should all be fighting together to stop this.

They are getting us to fight instead with each other.

We need term limits and campaign finance reform fast before we become a police state.

Humans need a reason to perform. Without that reason they devolve into apathy. The second amendment is not about guns. It is about keeping our government at bay.

Watch what happens when they are not scared of us any more."

Very wise words indeed.

But what to do?
The ancient tactic of divide and conquer still seems to be working remarkably well in 2021.
Don’t get disheartened, the sun will still shine. Everything else will come and go.
Look after yourself, your loved ones and spread the word where you can.

Everyone must discover and learn for themselves.
That means being able to focus, to asses and understand, and then be able to later recall and explain to others - nothing less than the Feynman technique in a nutshell.

Sadly it’s not for everyone.

All of Freud’s warnings about the death instinct being a subversion of libido seemed ridiculous when I read them 30 years ago. I always thought the old man was too pessimistic.
Ha, but I don’t now!

Is this really 2021 or is it 1921?

The terrible shock of WW2 seems to have totally worn off now and who knows where we’re heading now?

Some of us might still want to live in a civilized world where equality of opportunity is available for all, but sadly all human beings are not like this.
Any car driver will tell you that.

All the best.