Automatic Room Correction has won the Subwoofer Wars

I’m a very slow typist so I missed some of the action. Manually shifting a car is fun. Manually programming correction filters is not. I encourage people to look at my system page where I go over this with screenshots. What I see here is long on theorizing and short on experience. 

Configuring a sub with digital bass management is not all that hard. Choosing the right crossover points and slopes is probably the hardest part. It helps if you can see them on a screen. Then it is all trial and error. Everyone has a theory but there is no single right answer. It depends on the speakers and set up. After this the subs have to be equalized so their response is flat at the listening position and finally delays set so that the sound of the subs and satellites gets to your ear exactly at the same time in phase. This require a full 2 way digital crossover. In my system the computer measures each speaker and automatically computes correction filters and delays. They are more accurate than what you can do manually.

Erik, measuring and creating correction filters manually is all but impossible. Check out my system’s page and I think you will get the picture. Designing target curves is easy to do manually as I demonstrated. Measurement curves are very complex. The computer can calculate a correction filter instantly where I do not think anyone could do it that accurately in days if at all. You are talking about thousands of corners each one having to be set manually. Just doing subs is a lot easier but you miss out on a world of incredible imaging as well as other advantages by not going full range.

Digital room control is not an excuse to neglect sensible acoustic treatments like damping early reflection points and using multiple subwoofer systems to control nodal behavior. The better your room is designed the better digital room control works.

Duke, you a obviously have not spent much time with one of the better digital management systems. You are making assumptions that may not be correct. I posted my system with details that help understand it. It works, Not just a little either. You can not tell there are subs in the system until a real low note comes along. The tonal balance doesn’t change with volume. Imaging is superior to anything you have ever heard because the frequency response of both sides is exactly the same.
Once you use a system like this there is no going back, it is that extreme.

Mike