George -- I respect that. IME, using the DEQX came down to weighing sonic benefits against sonic costs. I gotta believe that inserting the DEQX into the signal path has cost something in the sonic sense. But, there are clear sonic benefits that outweigh those costs.
Time coherence mumbo jumbo aside, the room EQ correction alone is a major positive. I thought my finished basement/ sound room provided a great sonic environment for my rig. Nice plush sofa, a guest bed, carpets, plants and so forth.
WRONG!!
The DEQXpert carefully measured each speaker's FR at my listening position. The separate and combined FR plots were a mess, especially in the all-important bass and midrange spectrum. That alone caused major image smearing.
Of course, time aligning the drivers helped a lot too. Much more coherent imaging and less congested presentation.
I think many of our fellow hobbyists would be really surprised at just how sonically toxic their sound rooms may be. After all, the better speakers brands are probably voiced in an anechoic chamber. But that's not how the real world is.
The DEQX did some major signal twisting and bending to smooth out my speakers. They are NOT ruler flat ... nor perfectly time coherent. But they are "tamed" for lack of a better way to describe them.
So what's worse? Twisting and bending the signal being fed into my speakers, or letting one's sound room to bend and twist what comes out of the front end of the speakers by the time the sound reaches the listening position. Distortion is distortion.
Of course, the alternative is that one could turn their sound room into a sonically dead anechoic chamber and buy time coherent speakers that look like one eyed insects or Dr. Who Daleks.
Just my humble opinion. LOL
Time coherence mumbo jumbo aside, the room EQ correction alone is a major positive. I thought my finished basement/ sound room provided a great sonic environment for my rig. Nice plush sofa, a guest bed, carpets, plants and so forth.
WRONG!!
The DEQXpert carefully measured each speaker's FR at my listening position. The separate and combined FR plots were a mess, especially in the all-important bass and midrange spectrum. That alone caused major image smearing.
Of course, time aligning the drivers helped a lot too. Much more coherent imaging and less congested presentation.
I think many of our fellow hobbyists would be really surprised at just how sonically toxic their sound rooms may be. After all, the better speakers brands are probably voiced in an anechoic chamber. But that's not how the real world is.
The DEQX did some major signal twisting and bending to smooth out my speakers. They are NOT ruler flat ... nor perfectly time coherent. But they are "tamed" for lack of a better way to describe them.
So what's worse? Twisting and bending the signal being fed into my speakers, or letting one's sound room to bend and twist what comes out of the front end of the speakers by the time the sound reaches the listening position. Distortion is distortion.
Of course, the alternative is that one could turn their sound room into a sonically dead anechoic chamber and buy time coherent speakers that look like one eyed insects or Dr. Who Daleks.
Just my humble opinion. LOL
