Room correction, DSP for dummies.


I have not paid a lot of attention to audio for some time, almost 15 years and as a result I am trying to catch up on some of the innovation and tech developments that have been popping up in that time. 

One of the more interesting to me is the advent of electronically guided digital signal manipulation to help quell small system issues and room reflections. It seems wildly promising but  the few systems that I have read about that seem to work well look to be  painfully expensive. 

Reports have seemed to indicate that this technology was making its way into other, more affordable formats but I guess I just don't understand or grasp where the field is going well enough to know where the bulk of the technology is and how its manifesting in our hobby. 

Who can help shed some light on where this tech is, how  its being applied and how can I make use of it without selling a kidney? Maybe that last part is not possible yet? 

Thanks in advance! 
128x128dsycks

Showing 3 responses by erik_squires

The only advice I have left is this:

Listen to the system in store with room correction. Make sure you like the room correction’s choices before you commit.

Be aware that when you commit to this you are usually committing to an entire chain of devices. A/D, DSP, DSP Software, and DACs. Very few use digital only DSP units, though they do exist.

The issue here is if you are a DAC and speaker snob (and who isn’t? :) ) you are probably going to give up your choices in sound quality to the room correction.

Personally, I use room acoustic treatments along with DSP (not room correction) based EQ in the sub and center channels only. I leave the Surround, L and R alone. I have no problem getting seamless great sounding movies and music this way.  I do sometimes think about toying with time/impulse correction, but meh. 


Best,

E
craigl : 

Thanks, I don't need more room measurement/microphones or DSP toys. :) 

I built the correct EQ into my speakers instead. I use DSP modestly. On the sub and on the center channel (depends where the center is). 

Best,

E
I love DSP, but it is no panacea, and no magic computer that gives us the right answers.

I agree with most of what @grannyring said, but I feel this needs more discussion:


Room Perfect room correction takes the room out the equation and
deals with these room sound degrading realities. The speaker is now able to sound as it should without room editorializing and degrading.

The problem here is that we are honestly dealing with a number of personal choices that make it into software. There is NO room correction software that uses a purely objectively neutral curve. None. They all pick among possible good target curves and make choices about the detail level of the correction. This is a reason why I prefer to do my own EQ, and really like JL audio. They use the same curves I do, but cost about $15k more per sub than I pay. :)  

Further, there is no room correction software that works as well as it would with bass traps. So, yes, in a bad room EQ is better than nothing at all, but not nearly as good as EQ + bass traps and proper sub placement.

Also, let's face it, a lot of highly touted "high end" speakers are not objectively neutral nor are they smooth to begin with. If you buy a speaker for the sound, and you DSP it, your speaker selection and room correction can really be at cross purposes.  The point is, not all room correction software is the same, or moving to the same goals you are. You should absolutely listen to a variety and see which suits your needs, or which can bet tweaked best for you. 


Best,

E