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.

captouch05-15-2025 1:38am

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lemonhaze Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 442 posts 06-23-2025 at 06:40pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete @bugredmachine, I had computer problems and have only just resolved the issue. You have a lot of nice kit there and I had a look at your complaint about the 100Hz problem stubbornly remaining. I also noticed your REL subs. REL unfortunately only provides 0-180 phase flip so you are limited in your ability to dial them in. It appears obvious to me that a different phase setting is required and that is only achievable with a sub that has variable phase adjustment. My advice, and I'm sure you're not going to like it, is to get an additional sub that has variable phase. There are many on the market and if you do go for this then it should be a sealed box, not ported or with a passive radiator. You've seen me mention the little SVS SB1000 Pro. This is fun to use because you can dial it in from your listening position. It will allow you to flatten the 100Hz peak and provide a smoother response. Be prepared to move one of the REL subs if necessary. I do not get kickbacks from SVS You have a lot of energy higher up that could be tamed with a ceiling cloud. The beauty of the cloud is it does not get in the way and it deals with the worst reflections, those from above. As I'm sure you know, the further the absorption is away from the wall (ceiling) behind it the lower in frequency it absorbs so you can by adjusting that distance fine tune it while watching the results on the frequency graph. I assume you are making measurements using REW, if so call up the Waterfall plot (cumulative spectral decay) for info on Rt60 which would be about 300ms. A smooth decay is more important than absolutes.
lemonhaze Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 442 posts 06-23-2025 at 06:59pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete @captouch, that last frequency plot you posted is a huge improvement on the one before it where you have a 20dB null. That's a lot of music that you were missing in the important 50-70Hz range. Yes, of course the 35Hx peak is 'a room thing' so are all the other peaks and nulls/partial nulls. You don't mention what change you hear in the sound now with the one sub in place. You wonder if a second sub is needed? Will it help more? Sure it will help more but only you can decide if you need it. Personally I wouldn't hesitate
captouch OP Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 64 posts 06-23-2025 at 07:21pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete @lemonhaze Thanks. It sounds good to me, filling in the lower parts of vocals quite noticeably so it goes from thinner/slightly nasal to more substantial and better balanced. But here’s the thing: I’m having to set the SVS LPF all the way up to 200Hz. Because I’m trying to address the original 100-200Hz null from the mains: If I cut off where you would normally cut off with a sub, that null stays there. Is it a total disaster that I have to overlap the sub and mains by that much to fill out the null, even if the final curves look pretty good?
captouch OP Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 64 posts 07-29-2025 at 01:09am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Thread update: I ended up getting a second SVS SB-1000 Pro and set them up on the left and back of the room where space allowed. I also bought a miniDSP Flex and am now using that as my preamp. Between REW measurements and it's AutoEQ functionality, as well as a lot of experimentation on relative delays between subs, as well as between subs and mains, I was able to get what is an acceptable result for me. The vast majority of the EQ/correction is being done via the AutoEQ files biquad files being uploaded into the Flex for both subs (using the same correction file) and the mains (each having their own correction file). The SVS just have some very light tweaks (-0.5dB, +1dB) overlaid on top to further smooth the bass response. I ended up crossing over the subs and mains at 90Hz with no overlap. Final FR Curve: Impulse: RT60: Waterfall: Spectrogram: I know those early peaks on the Impulse graph should ideally be dealt with. To wrap up, this shows the subs, left main channel, and right main channel prior to correction and the all channel combined FR after correction (this is the same as the first graph in this post). Pretty significant improvement. In the end, at least so far, this was done with a minimally treated room and not using a paid package like Dirac Live. While the Flex supports Dirac as an upgrade, it doesn't support the Bass Control module of Dirac, so I opted to do things manually. I considered using MSO to integrate the two subs, but MSO only runs on Windows, and I'm on a MacBook, so again, did it manually.
mashif Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 378 posts 07-29-2025 at 02:22am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Below 5k looks good but that seems like a lot of high end rolloff. You may be missing a lot of detail and air. But if you're happy, so be it. Enjoy the music.