I just ordered one today from my local dealer. The owner of the store claimed it worked great and he purchased one for himself. His shop specializes in tubed gear and he stated the DRC205 was very transparent and once accustomed to having it in the system you would not want to go without. I also noted on the divertech website the price has already increased to 2995.00. I'll report my impressions when I receive the unit. |
A question for you guys that already have one, since the filter is set from just one microphone position, has it improved or degraded sound from other listening spots? I have my prime spot and two other chairs/sofa that I sometimes use. The useful listening areas all suffer from a 63hz suckout so I'm hoping the correction I apply from my prime spot will improve the sound overall. Have you found that to be the case?
Is the maximum boost you can apply to any one band limited to 6db or is that just the recommended amount to not exceed?
Has anyone run the setup twice to see if the filter setting is repeatable or maybe slightly different? |
Bigcahuna2000, I have the same problem. I received my DRC205 on Saturday. During installation of the software, right before the "finalize" screen it comes up with a page stating something to the effect of USB driver not found. The Copland software installed on my laptop (windows 98) but I have no communication with the DRC205. The instruction page showed a diagram about trying different com ports but that was not successful for me either. Perhaps there is a software problem or internal problem with a certain batch. I don't know the serial number of mine without going home and looking. Of course the store I purchased it from is closed as everyone went to CES.
So far, I prefer the basic flat filter. The bass definition is much improved. It has a range of brightness through the lower treble/upper mids that I would like to alter but can't, due to the computer problem.
jla, the current retail is 2995.00. |
Wazmoh, I do believe I had the DRC connected when I installed the program but I will try the "un-install" and attempt to install it again and see what happens. The manual states it is Windows 98 compatable, but who knows.
Another quibble, the instructions for making the microphone measurements are severly lacking with regards to orientation. They say to position the mic at your listening position at ear level and that's it. When I first made the measurement, I had the mic facing forward and that was wrong. The mic doesn't appear to be an omni but it must be. I ran the measurement again holding the mic vertically and obtained far better results.
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I borrowed a laptop from my dealer and finally got to see what my room graph looked like. It is very interesting to see how the individual channels measure differently. I made my own P1 curve last night which will require a couple of days of listening to fully assess. I plan to make a P2 curve also so I have some variation to play with. I think the bass balance from the flat A1 curve is fine but it needs to be dialed in differently for the mids and treble. This is an exciting tool to learn and use. |
It has been a steep learning curve so far. The flat frequency response into the room in the treble freqencies does not sound right. Looking at the in-room frequency graphs of the more highly regarded speakers measured by Stereophile, all show a decreasing response in the top end, usually ending up around -5 to -10 db at 10000 hz. The thing to remember, when adjusting the filters is that you are manipulating the measured room response and not the speaker response.
My basic setting for P1 after 6 days of trial and error has resulted in using the "shelving high" filter set at 4000 hz with the level set at -3.0 db and a Q of .6. The other filter I used was the "low pass" filter set to 12500 hz with a Q of .5. I left the bass and midrange frequencies set to flat. So far this has resulted in the most natural balance. With this setting, I have a -7 db point at 10000 hz for an in-room setting.
The supplied manual isn't very helpful with instructions at "how to" achieve an acceptable in-room response. Perhaps some other users can relate their experience as well. |
Tbg, I know what you mean. I still have reservations about another box and cables in the signal path. However, most of my listening is using cd as a source so I figured another D/A conversion in the chain would not be sacrilige. Right now I have the DRC205 installed between my backup preamp (Manley Shrimp) which doesn't have a tape monitor loop, and the Linn Numerik DAC. The Manley does not have the resolution of my VAC Renaissance so if and when it ever returns from VAC I will have a better understanding of any signal degradation. Right now, I would say it is minimal. The VAC has a tape monitor loop so it would be easy to switch the DRC205 totally out of the system if signal purity was deemed paramount. |
I sure wish I could specify the range I wanted to change. It would really be useful if you could set parameters to cover a frequency range like the bass, say 200hz down. I am not thrilled with what it does through the mids and treble. The gundry dip filter sounds artificial. I've heard speakers that are engineered that way and this filter does not produce that effect to my ears. I still find it educational. Factory support is non existent which is another problem. |
This morning I received a response from Copland to my question of microphone orientaion during analysis. The instruction manual is not clear as to how the mic is to be oriented during the analysis measurement. I assumed it to be an omni mic and held it in the verticle position. Copland states it should be held/placed so the mic is pointed directly at the stereo center of the speaker system. I will repeat my measurements using this setup and report on the difference. |
Smeyers, I find that the corrected response does have a hollow sound. I think the problem is due to the extended flat response at the top end that does not have a balancing increase at the bottom end. One of the filters I made slopes the top end response to closely approximate the curves depicted in Stereophiles more favorable speaker reviews and measurements. I left the rest of the spectrum untouched. I think this curve sounds better than the totally flat curve and does not have the hollow sound. Most of the highly rated speakers have a decreasing "in room" response at the top. Those that do not, have an elevated/exaggerated bottom end to compensate for the extension at the top.
I used the DRC205 quite a bit this weekend measuring results for different speaker positions. New speakers are sometimes difficult to get just right. I also hooked up the REL sub and found the curves from the DRC205 made setting the crossover to the sub very easy. I don't have a lot of hours on it and one set of cables (Nordost Blue Heaven) were new and not broken in. The remainder of my cabling is Audio Magic so the difference in cabling may have some effect also. I'm planning to use the DRC205 more and see if it opens up a bit and becomes more transparent. I will also experiment a bit more with another different filter and hear what happens. |
I have the program loaded on an old Dell Inspiron laptop running XP. I was getting ready to dispose of the laptop.
You can have the whole thing for free. You will need to cover shipping or send a call tag for pickup.
The laptop won’t run on its battery so must be plugged into the 120V outlet. I just turned it on. It works and the DRC 205 program is there.
The cd went with the unit when I sold it, so the whole computer is all I have.
Let me know if this will help you.
Roy
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Lucky you. It is an interesting device to learn from. From my memory, I always wished that the program would not have affected frequency above 300hz. |
