Subs with room correction DSP?

@macg19  I'm interested in your comment on the Paradigm and Martin Logan subs. I've read some pretty good reviews on them, even here on Audiogon, saying they offered clean tight bass and that the room correction gave a smooth response in the listening position. Have you had a bad experience? Thanks.

@doctors11 My experience was with a single ML Dynamo 1100X and the Perfect Bass Kit. I have a very difficult room to deal with - 60 ft wide, 20 ft deep, 8ft ceiling, open floor plan, lots of glass.

I tried front and downward firing, and had the wireless kit so I could try any location in the room. I had the iOS app which provides a lot of control - perhaps too much, and you can toggle the ARC setting on an off to hear exactly what ARC does (or doesn't do in my case).

The Perfect Bass Kit is a joke. The hardware and cables are cheap, I had to tape the connection to the mic and hold the USB connector in the PC just right to get it to recognize the mic. 

When I finally did get it to work and loaded the ARC file to the sub, it made zero difference. I tried ARC with the sub in multiple locations on the room. Total waste of time.

I sold the ML and replaced it with 2 REL T/9x which are shared with my 2 channel and 5.2 channel HT system. Set phase to 0, played with gain and crossover until I was happy and I'm done. Bass sounds rich, full, controlled, and there is no longer a massive overload of bass in one corner of the room (not sure what you call that but there is a term for it)

btw I did a video consult with an acoustic treatment "expert" and he basically said he wouldn't touch my room because it would be both expensive and ugly and not pass WAF (think panels on wheels). I've done a lot with rugs, furniture and panels on walls though. He told me that room correction software in general, and especially dialing in subwoofer phase, really only works in rooms with decent acoustics & dimensions. Basically he told me that I was wasting my time with ARC, which I already knew at that point.    

Note the T/9x is slightly cheaper than ML 1100X and IMO are much better if 2 channel is your priority. I'm a firm believer in using 2. 1 just doesn't make sense for 2 channel audio - you are summing L and R output into one speaker. 

Note I just replaced the high-level speakon connectors supplied with the RELs with a pair from designacable dot com. I was surprised at how much these improved the sound. $190 for the pair - I wish I'd done this sooner. The stock cables are clearly crap. I'll write up more on this in a separate post later.  

Hope that helps.

@macg19 Thanks for that detailed response. I guess it's really room dependent. One of the reviews I read showed REW measurements with ARC on and off and there was an obvious smoothing in the bass response at the listening position. He only used his phone mic and still got pretty good measurements. I'm guessing his room was considerably smaller than yours and I seem to remember he had some treatments in it. I'll keep reading, again, thanks.

@doctors11 You're welcome. Personally, I've never bought anything primarily based on a professional review. I do read them though. Sometimes after the purchase.

Reading commentary from actual users and asking questions, mostly here, has served me well - Zavfino cables and my Rogers amp are 2 examples.

I bought a 15’’ sub from paradigm, the most affordable line and it had ARC built in. If I remember correctly it had me use my tablet mic and took measurements from several specific spots in the room.