Digital Room Correction vs Room Treatments
I finally got a mic and used REW to analyze my room. Attached is the freq response for 3 different speakers (Monitor Audio Gold Reference 20, Sonus Faber Electa Amator II, and Sonus Faber Concerto Domus).
They all show similar characteristics - at least the most prominent ones. I did play around with the Amators trying them closer together and more forward in the room, but the major characteristics you see were mostly unchanged.
With this magnitude and number of deviations from a more ideal frequency response curve, am I better off biting the bullet and just doing digital room correction, or can these issues be addressed with room treatments without going crazy and having the room look like Frankenstein’s lab.
Cost is a consideration, but doing it right/better is the most important factor.
If digital room correction is a viable way to address this, what are the best solutions today? My system is largely analog (80’s/90’s Mcintosh preamp/amp, tube phono stage), and streaming isn’t a priority (though I’m not against it).
If the better digital correction solutions come in the form of a streaming HW solution, that’s fine, I’d do that.
Just looking for guidance on the best way to deal with the room, as both serious room treatments and digital EQ room correction are both areas I haven’t delved into before.
Thanks all. If more info is needed, let me know. My room is 11.5’ wide and 15.5’ long with the speakers on the short wall. Backs of speakers are 3-3.5’ off the front wall and they’re at least 2ft from either side wall. Some placement flexibility is there, but not a huge amount.
@lemonhaze Here's an alternate FR curve at 48" (bolded line) vs 60" (which was what was previously recommended to me as best of my alternatives). 48" reduces the 60Hz -11.5dB dip to -4.5dB, but the 180Hz dip is increased from -1dB to -3dB, a 300Hz +3dB peak is created, and 550Hz goes from +3dB to +5dB. Overall, 48" seems a little more peaky, but the benefit is filling in that 60Hz trough pretty substantially.
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@captouch have you tried as close to the front wall as possible to see how that looks? Close enough that your speaker cables may touch the wall but not be deformed |
@kofibaffour while the front baffles are 37” from the front wall, I have cabinets in the front that gear is set on/in. So there’s very little space between cabinet front and speaker back as seen in pic. This means I can only open one side of cabinet without moving the speaker, which I’m okay with as I don’t have frequently used items in there. But it’s pretty much a non-starter to move these cabinets off the front wall as there’s no other place to put them in the room and I need the storage space. |
@captouch oh then I guess you gotta use the best fit that gives the least dip in the below 60Hz region. I thought it was just the front wall bare behind your speakers |
@captouch, yes I'm talking about bass traps which because of the long wavelengths involved need to be large. Mine run floor to ceiling and are 3ft. across the width. It's a standard 600mm x 1200mm x 50mm rockwool or glassfibre board cut in half = 2 off 600mm x600mm squares then cut across the diagonal. If you are handy these things are simple to build inexpensively especially if you have demolishers nearby. I have picked up a truckload for 20% normal price and even some for free. Google DIY superchunk bass traps. These are to be placed in corners, any corners where walls meet including the floor/wall and ceiling/wall corners but is usefull just about anywhere. I helped a friend with a difficult room that had a deep recess that was used as an office and tunk receptacle which housed the vacuum cleaner, some suitcases and kids toys including bikes. I suggested filling with rockwool and made a framed rattan panel which looked very smart. A ceiling cloud acts as broad-band absorption and is useful down to mid bass frequencies. You have a SVS ported sub with variable phase, great. I have the sealed box version. Two subs work well and will provide a much smoother response than just one. I suggest you position it where it is not an inconvenience, anywhere really and using REW dial it in to give the smoothest response, then plug the port and notice the change, now tweak the settings somemore. With the 2nd sub, again place it where it is the least intrusive perhaps even using it as a side table. Tweak again for smoothest response which will mean returning to the first sub for a little adjustment. By now you should have a plot that is vastly better to look at and to listen to. You will begin to understand why I avoid ported subs. Of course plugging the port on the SVS may produce a smoother result but that then is sheer luck. Bass traps are hated by most who don't understand what is at play feeling they want all the bass they can get which is antithetical to trapping bass. Well looking at your frequency response you are missing a fair amount of bass. The bass traps absorb some of the low frequencies that build up particularly in corners but not exclusively. They help reduce the severity of room modes and standing waves. There is a paradox here in so far as bass is being absorbed but more bass is heard. Prior to obtaining a smooth response the nulls apparent in your plots is revealing the frequency and the amount of bass absent from the performance. Using Bass Traps and multi-subs together is a revelation. You have now effectively removed the room's acoustics from the performance, like listening to headphones, and are hearing the musical event. No new component nor DSP can achieve this. Please report back and tell us what you saw and heard by plugging the port.
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