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Room correction - what device works best?

Looking at room correction and all the threads I found seem old. What are the current options for excellent 2 channel sound. Comments on DSpeaker, Lyndorf, DEQX, Audessy, Rives and others welcome. I have option for using in digital domain or putting between pre and amps. Would of course prefer great sound at lower price. Also prefer something that does not take a year of obsessive fiddling to get right. Have a very large family room, so room treatment options limited. Current system is Ayon Cd5s (transport, DAC and pre combined), Nuforce Ref 20 mono amps and Von Schweikert VR55 speakers. Is most of the bang for buck in correcting for room modes or is speaker phase issues also necessary? Eventually in may have subs but not now.
Thnaks
128x128gammajo
plato
1,543 posts
 
RW, nevermind the research... have you actually used the product in your own system and if so what was your experience? If not, well, maybe you shouldn't be touting it...
beewax
173 posts
 
I completely agree with Plato and RW is correct. Audio is technology and must be corrected them with electronic engineering. The last thing I want is to tweak and install Pads on my wall because it just telling people that my system needs help.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,654 posts
 
As far as I can tell, I have used all of the devices so far mentioned (as well as some others) and, honestly, they all work. The variables are:
1. Bass only or full range.
2. Analog only, analog in/out DSP or digital in/out DSP
3. Automatic implementation of filters from measurements or independent measurement and implementation (more hands on).
4. Single measurement point or multiple measurement points.
5. Single pass listening area measurement/correction or separate near-field correction followed by room correction.
6. Fixed or variable target curves.
7. Stereo or multichannel.
8. Hardware or software.

What device works best? Depends on your choices and your room acoustics.
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lewinskih01
907 posts
 
I grew interested in acoustics and having a technical background and DIY inclinations, studied quite a bit, got a measurement mic, mic amp, REW software, and built a number of tube traps, Helmholtz resomators, etc. also worked a fair bit on layout. The benefit was very apparent, although my wife wasn't as happy with the ugly stuff in the living room. But proved room treatments are worth the effort.

My only source these days is a very optimized PC with hardware and software optimizations, feeding an Audiophilleo and Metrum Octave DAC, a Lamm LL2 pre, a McIntosh Mc275 amp, 3-way speakers and a pair of subs.

Recently I incorporated Acourate software. Along the lines of Dirac, but less automatic and more powerful. So far I have been using it for room correction only and it works wonderfully. Miles' Tutu playing now, sounding as real as ever before in my system. Imaging has improved a lot.

I guess purist is in the eye of the beholder. My purist plan is to go fully active 4-ways and enable Acourate ability to run digital crossovers, driver linearization, and time-alignment. An amp driving directly a speaker driver is as purist as it gets in my view.

A couple of good articles for those who might be interested in learning more, at computeraudiophile.com, by Mitchco:
Introduction to Acourate: explains the basics for a 2-channel system. What I'm doing.
Advanced Acourate: explains how he implemented his 3-way active system, linearized drivers, time-aligned.
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