Room Analysis-How?


So I’ve seen a number of YouTube videos and the like where people have conducted an analysis of their listening room or home theater to help optimize speaker placement, room treatment and subwoofer settings. It appears that they use a variety of software and microphones. And then the result is a series of graphs that show high and low spots in the frequency range.  And the it helps them with placement and room treatment. I like my system and it sounds pretty good to me in my room. That said, I’ve always been a little intellectually curious as to what the charts and graphs would say about my room. And if I could make it sound better.  So are there companies that do this sort of analysis you can hire? Or is there downloadable apps that are relatively dummy proof and user friendly while doing a good job?  Other?

rjduncan

Showing 1 response by joeycastillo

OP,

As others have posted above, REW is all you need. It takes practice and time to understand its power. It's free and all you need is the UMIK (amazon)

At first, it's a pain to understand but after a while you will get used to it and will learn its features you need to tune your room,

I did that "tuning" my room and after months of learning my room, REW told me where the issues are. I consulted companies like ATS for solutions. I got what they recommended and did another REW analysis. problem solved. After my ears got used to the new room treatment, I heard major improvements, like better tighter bass, no more echoes/reverbs and importantly, I heard space between the instruments and vocals are clear and I can hear more into the music. Yes the room is so important that no matter how good your gear is, the Room acoustics can make or break the final sound.

I was so impressed that I suggested that to another audiophile friend of mine who claimed his room is good enough. After running REW, he found out that his room is messed up. Well months later he showed me what improments he made using REW and boy was it worth all the hard work. 

Understanding how REW works is a pain, but you need to know it. It is the essence of what you hear. NOW, if you don't have time for this, use a consultant and pay their skills.

In the end, Room acoustics is serious stuff.