How flat should my room response be?

We consider a room flat if it's within +/- 3 db in general--this varies somewhat depending on size because the smaller the room the harder it is to achieve that--larger rooms can be better than that. If you have bumps at 5 db or greater that is probably the time to consider equalization if you've already employed bass trapping. 4 db--maybe, but typically not--it's a grey area. If you can't do bass trapping for domestic reasons (most are not that pretty unless you build them in), then you may need eqalization more readily than others because bass trapping helps smooth out the entire response--not just bring down the peak, when it's used right.

If you want to learn more about these issues there are a variety of articles in the Rives Resource Section of our website.

If you don't have any room correction equipment, then I would say +/-5dB, since that is what I shot for.

I find that the biggest improvements (without electronic or digital correction) are from a combination of speaker and chair placement. Often we as audiophile put both (chair and speakers) too close to room boundaries.

As flat as possible. There`s ZERO room for equivocation in the word FLAT.