Room tuning or listen to as is condition?


*** I am not trying to create a debate or a quarrel with anyone. My discussions are purely having talks and to express one’s experiences. Also to learn fellow audio lovers passion. Please do not disrespect with hurtful words or expressions. Please be more forgiving and understanding in this discussion thread. Thank you." ***

 

Reading my discussion thread is one of my joyful audio life on Audiogon. I love people sharing their stories.

Today’s topic is simple. When you purchased a new pair of speakers, do you consider room tuning according to them? or just put the speakers as balanced as possible(e.g. same distance)?

I recently set up my personal Devore Fidelity 96/Orangutan speakers in my office listening room set up while I sent my demo unit SuperMon Isobaric to a friend. Yes I do own many different speakers other than Mon Acoustic Audio speakers as my audio life began before I met Mon Acoustic 😘

In my room, I have a square room (appr. 25ft x 15ft), when I first had this room set up, I could not hear the bass of SuperMon Isobaric as we have set up at AXPONA 2022. Since this is a new office in Artesia, CA, I decided to do some more thorough learning of my own space.

I need to learn how to post with an image here. I wanted to share my measurement graph from REW, not sure how to do this here.

Anyway, I found out I only needed one bass trap and an acoustic panel that reduced huge dip in my bass from right speaker. This side has a glass window that is causing weird cancelation of bass. Which I improved. Before the measurement, I had a bass trap for both speaker sides.

So please share your story on what procedures or what steps you go through when you set up your system.

 

 

 

128x128monacousticusa

I always say - unless you have an empty rectangular room with a hard wood floor and stone walls - DON'T SPEND TOO MUCH ON AUDIO COMPONENTS - it's money out the window.

Surely the reverberations in an empty rectangular room with a hard wood floor and stone walls would be horrendous.

" So please share your story on what procedures or what steps you go through when you set up your system. "

Here goes . . .

> the room accounts for at least 50 percent of our sound quality so don't ignore it,  Either sit near field to minimize needed acoustical treatments or be prepared to treat as much as is needed for far field listening

> you need measurements but use your ears for final tuning.  I go around and place tape on the floor for every possible spot where a sub could go and take about a 15 sample avg of its freq sweep response measurements per spot,  I then review all to find the best 2 spots for my pair of subs. Then I use the 1/3rd guidelines to place the main stereo speakers away from the front wall and I sit 1/3rd from the rear wall.  Again use measurements to find the most even freq response measuring just one main speaker at a time and be sure to mark the floor with tape and include the tape number in your file name so you can match the freq response chart with the positioning,  Look for the smoothest response above  about 100Hz as your subs will play below this mark,  

> play the left main and left sub only simultaneously to integrate the sub  Use an assistant to turn the sub's dials as your watch real time freq response, assuming you are not using an active digital crossover or FIR convolution files for digital room correction.  Personally I use a 8 channel DAC so I have the flexibility to control each speaker and sub individually via FIR correction filter.  Repeat for right channel

> use impulse response of only the main speakers to time align them at the mic position. If one speaker is slightly ahead of the other then you'll see two impulse response peaks, so move one speaker fwd and/or the other backward such that the two peaks become a single peak

> identify frequency response problem areas using at least 1/24th octave smoothing on your freq chart.  Play with acoustical treatment locations and take before and after measurements.  Very iterative and time consuming however.  Take RT60 decay measurements to see if your room is too alive or too dead and use absorption or diffusion accordingly.  Make sure you sit far enough away (i,e, 3 wavelengths from the lowest note it diffuses effectively to) from a diffuser and in smaller rooms use 2dimentional diffusors like Skylines as just about 50 percent of the diffused reflections will be scattered horizontally

> Use DSP parametric EQ to cut peaks and use as few filters as possible as it messes up the phase.  Better yet use a tool like Audiolense XO to generate a FIR correction filter for your digital sources as it really works wonders.

> work with music on time aligning subs with each other first then with main speakers.  I use reggae music with a very pronounced downbeat from the drum and equally strong upbeat from the guitars or other instruments.  Listen to just the closest sub first to familiarize yourself with the bass beat then add the second sub and when its delay is best they both sound like the single sub did.  The time aligned subs are your baseline to then introduce your mains and add delay to the mains such that their upbeat is in beat with the sub's downbeat. 

phew , , , that took a while to write,  Hope it's helpful to someone , , ,

@pedroeb an empty rectangular room - means nothing more ... extra furniture and other things that will interfere with the sound ... This is the starting point. Do not distort. Of course carpet (if needed) or heavy drapes are part of the setup...
Fanaticism (various special bass traps), in my opinion, poisons the hobby - everything should be in moderation ... everything should be as simple and convenient as possible for life.