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.

captouch

I'm a firm believer that bass trapping can solve a lot of issues for little money and effort. Taming that low end helps a bunch as Eric pointed out.

My room response before and after bass traps and treatments:

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/10635#&gid=1&pid=10

That resulted in a +- 4.5 db range for my sweeps. I was told years ago that +-5 is a reasonable target for room response. If true, then I've told my pea brain to just hold tight and enjoy.

My substantial bass traps were built as large as I could fit in the front corner spaces. As many have pointed out, corner traps like @lemonhaze are using are also employed in the rear. 

All of this is in my TN systems page photos. I failed at pasting in the graph photo here.

No matter what I do or how I measure I have not eliminated the 100 hz bump. I've considered a cheap equalizer to knock it down but really don't want another device in the chain. The room is like Mother Nature. It always prevails.

 

@bugredmachine Your system seems to have a little extra energy from 1-6kHz - does it seem a bit bright to you?

@captouch I don’t really feel that it is bright. I am a very analytical listener as well and like the air I get. Maybe that psyches me into a satisfaction level. My hearing is pretty decent to 14khz for an old man per the test 3 years ago.

You’ll notice that this region also attenuated 3 to 4 db just by taming the bass. At the time, new room, new speakers to me, and lots of first reflection treatments have helped the response. I’m not into tooting my own horn, but it sounds pretty awesome these days. 

Cables can have a great impact, of course, but I have no listening fatigue after spending 3 years evaluating cables and "choosing wisely" for synergy.

Happy listening.

@captouch just curious are your speakers isolated or coupled to the floor and is it concrete or a suspended wood floor?

@goose The floor is a suspended wood subfloor finished with engineered wood planks.

The speakers are on Monoprice Monolith 24” metal stands with the four columns filled with sand.  There are spikes on the bottom of the stands sitting on protective discs to protect the wood floor from the spikes.

There are currently very thin pads on the top of the stands, but I’m about to put some thicker (but not objectively thick) silicone pads on top mostly to provide some light resistance to sliding if the speakers are bumped.

I think blu tack could mar the bottom finish, which is what I wasn’t planning on going that route and will likely do the silicone pads instead.