Digital Room Correction vs Room Treatments

OP, let me apologise for assuming your SVS sub could do what I mentioned. Looks like you’ve got one of those  early models. I’m using an SVS SB 1000 PRO which sells for about $600 and has a very useful feature. Download the App and you can adjust all the parameters I mentioned from your phone but forgot there is also a few bands of PEQ. Check out their site. This is the sort of sub you need. There are other good subs available but the SVS is great value and I prefer it to my REL which has 0 or 180 degree choice so means I have to keep trying different places to get it dialed in.

I am using OmniMic to measure and I am not familiar with REW which  essentially does the same thing. I play a CD with sweep tones and have the mic. at my listening position sampling the combined sound of the speakers and sub/subs and while changing settings on your phone you can watch the frequency response change. The second sub will smooth the response even more. REW will also display  RT60 as a waterfall plot (CSD), the time it takes for the sound to decay by 60dB. The average room will be about 300ms.

I have 2 large floor to ceiling bass traps, broad-band absorbers, extra heavy curtains plus 2 subs and the bass is dynamic, very detailed, informative, clean and powerful.

Sorry for contributing only infrequently.

A point that I may not have properly addressed earlier is that the benefit of a sub in a situation like this is not it’s bass output but the ability to move it to an ideal location.  However if you are severely space constrained, then a sub is almost useless. 

TO place the sub you’d put the sub in your listening location, then move the mic around potential locations until you find the best measuring place.  That’s where you put your sub.

My earlier advice to clip the peaks and lift up the entire bass region still stands.

If you can’t do this and your sub is generally where your main speakers are there’s no point.

I’ve posted pics of my room in other threads w.r.t. other questions/topics, but it might be helpful to show what I’m dealing with here.

Front of room:

Right side of room with entry door in middle of wall:

Back of room:

Left side of room:

I can remove things like the single speaker in the back, the beverage fridge, as well as the “side table” to the left of the chair.  But all the record racks and wall cabinets for CDs are my media storage and have to remain in the room.  The front cabinets both hold gear (active and spare) and I really prefer not to replace them.

So it’s a crowded room filled with “stuff”.  The sub is currently within 6” of the back wall firing toward the left wall is the room with records in rack about 42” away.  The speaker front baffles are about 3ft from the front wall and near the cabinets, which prevents the inside doors from swinging open without moving the speakers.  Which is fine, I can deal with that.

But my options for placing a sub are limited to the remaining periphery of the room, which means to the right of the record rack on the left wall near the window, anywhere on the back wall, or I could use it as a side table in place of the 1x2 cubby I’m currently using as a side table.  I suppose also on the front of the room between the main speakers as well.

I’m already somewhat having to step around things in certain places to access the records.  I’d prefer not to place the sub somewhere in the middle of the room and have something else to step around.

So this is what I’m working with. No complaints as I’m trying to do a lot with this room and the agreement with my wife was to store all my media and audio gear in my room to avoid clutter in the rest of the house.

But there are somewhat limited options left for placing the existing sub or adding a second one.

Sorry for the possible distortion in the pics.  They’re 1.33:1 aspect ratio and I’ve tried to plug in the numbers to preserve the right proportions, but it posts them distorted once I actually post and view in portrait mode on my phone.  When I turn my phone into landscape mode, the pics look like right and undistorted.

Ok, I need to add one more important thing.  In the past couple of days, I’ve decided to at least try bookshelf speakers in place of the Monitor Audio Gold 20’s.

Part of this is because I am wondering if the Monitors are still too big for the room and the bass output qty is still too much.  And part of this is just me being curious about whether bookshelf speakers can satisfy me as main speakers - I’ve been resistant to this in the past because I’ve always seen bookshelf speakers as “too small”.

But the reality is my room and free volume in this room is also small, so a bookshelf may be the most appropriate sized speaker for my situation.

While it’s by no means a given I’ll like the bookshelves and that they’ll become my main speakers over the Monitors, it’s very possible.  I anticipate the FR curve and overall interaction between a different speaker and my room will be different as well so wanted to give the thread a heads up so I’m not exercising people to help me find a solution for a problem that may possibly change.