For Room Correction DSP/Software- How often do you use it?

The room correction software can help smooth out FR in the final step of room tuning your system. You still have to do speaker placement, room treatments, component matching, etc. Yes, I think it a good investment. As for what is achieved you can see the FR before and after graphs in my system profile.

I have used both Audyssey Pro and ARC and have achieved good results with both as long as you use a calibrated mic.

I use it all the time.

OTOH, I recalibrate it only when something in the system or room is changed or replaced.

I've used room analysis tools (calibrated microphone and REW) and adjusted PEQ in Roon. This can be very useful in doing what I did set your own filters as well as analysis of room if you want to use traditional style room treatments and speaker,  listening position placement. Full use programs like DIRAC and ARC are easier but I've never been a huge fan of either. I've gotten better results using REW. 

With that said the one quick use full program that in my opinion and use case  outperforms Dirac or ARC  by far and REW is GLM but it is proprietary to Genelec smart monitors. As for getting an excellent FR with minimal room treatments and incorporating subwoofers I've used nothing to beat GLM it is that good.

So what changes in your room that you need to use it very often?

For those that own such devices how frequently do you actually use it and what drives the need for its use? 

Um, every day?? I mean, I have configured it once, but I listen to it whenever my stereo is on.  I wrote about it extensively here:

What is achieved from its use that is outside of more traditional approaches such as speaker placement, room treatment and/or component matching?

It’s a tool. In most rooms, a balance of room treatment and EQ, especially in the bass regions can really improve transparency.  When you can't control placement or room treatments EQ is the only option you have left.

Okay.

@erik_squires 

I think it’s cool that you’ve built your own speakers- I’ve known a couple of people that have pursued that path and have given in. You stated “when you can’t control position or treatments”- are you dealing with mostly with room geometry and/or functionality? (multi purpose room).

Hey @designsfx 

I was speaking in broad, general terms.  Many of us aspire to purpose built rooms with perfect sound fields in them, but very few of us have them. 

So, if you are forced to put your speakers in less than ideal locations and/or can't treat the room DSP / EQ in general may be the only way you can make things better.

Even with a purpose built room, we are usually limited in size and that has consequences as well. Having DSP /EQ in your toolbox is a really great thing.  Besides the sub, another place where it becomes supremely useful is say with center channel speakers or speakers you have to place too close to a wall.

I should also point out that while many subs have some sort of dials, my experience has been the best, absolute best, sub integrations have happened using DSP controls. The combination of digital delay, phase adjustment, slope and EQ is just outstanding and makes the work of integrating a sub to the main speakers AND to the room much quicker.

@erik_squires 

I get it! I’ve been there when it comes to working in circles with equipment setup. In my case I had a 18’w x 25’d room. We decided that we needed an office so I split that space into 2 separate rooms with a hallway and closet space. Once finished I was left with a 10’w x 16’ room to use for my 2 channel setup. I consider that to be pretty small- some might say intimate but optimizing the gear was taking a lot of time.

I brought in a professional with Meyer Sound Labs tools and we moved, measured, moved and measured for hours before he was satisfied that phase/coherence and freqs/reflections were not going to get any better. I have one section of absorption panels (4’x4’ on each wall and one 3’x6’ on ceiling) set about a third of the way into the room. Once it was all finished it was great and I haven’t had to change since.

I understand the power of tools like this but I strived for a setup that allowed me to run without. Honestly, if I had that equipment for my system I’d spend more of my time tweaking than I would listening. For me it would be unavoidable!

@djones51 
Interesting comment about using the eq within Roon. Do you find that to be satisfactory across all music playback or do you find the need to adjust depending upon the quality of recording? 

I’ve experimented with eq during playback from my MacBook (pre-dac) but found it to require constant adjustment. This was eq within the Amarra music player.