CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hi,

I recently upgraded my AVR to a model that would accept HDMI Audio from my PS3 and as I bonus It also came with Audyssey equilization/calibration.

Basically the AVR ships with a mic that's designed to mount to a tri-pod. You put this mic in 1 to 8 places thoughout you room and the AVR walks you through whatever calibrations are available.

So,.. I got a chance to do this the other day and I was pretty happy with how it went and what it found and SQ after setup.

The calibration listens to each speaker and sets up speaker type (small, large), distance, polarity, and volume. It sets up balance for you and also tries to optimize the speakers for the flattest frequency response.

I bet I could get a lot more Audio goodness out of some room treatments (as I currently have zip in that dept.) but whenever I install some acoustical panels.. I'll just run the calibration again.

For those wanting to read up on the Audyssey technology and calibration the website is here...

http://www.audyssey.com/

=Brian

**kal** · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:38 pm Post subject:

Cool. One of the features I want in my next preamp is parametric roomEQ. Not to try and fix everything, but so that I can do as much as I can myself with room treatment and then apply some roomEQ to even out some of the problem spots (which usually happen in the longer wavelengths, ie: low end).

Maybe then I'll start a "RoomEQ for Dummies" thread. Wink

Kal

ecrabb · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject:

It depends on the model of receiver, your room, your speakers, etc. but definitely try using it with and without the automatic EQ for a few weeks and make sure you like the results. A review of one of the receivers I'm looking at - the Onkyo TX-SR875 - had mixed reviews on the automatic setup stuff. It nailed the speaker distances perfectly, but set the EQ wrong and goofed up a couple of other things like speaker size (and therefore crossover point.)

I've always wanted to play with room EQ, but haven't ever really felt like spending the money to do it. So I'm kind of excited to get a new receiver with EQ even if I don't do the automatic stuff. I can use pink noise and a spectrum analyzer to do the room myself.

I need to do a little more research, but I'm looking seriously at the TX-SR875 right now. An alternative is the Denon 3808CI, but I'm still hunting and probably won't buy for a couple more months. I tend to research stuff to death. EQ is definitely on the list.

SC

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

ecrabb,

You can always examine the results of the calibration and check the values being set. I read about one person who looked at response curves and noticed one speaker was very different from the rest. Looking more into it there was a common problem with that model speaker having a "frozen" driver and he had it repaired under warranty.

Anyway,... Onkyo is very popular and seems to provide great value. I had a Denon before so I went with a Denon again just becuase I liked my old AVR. I got my Denon refurbished from DakMart which is an autherized refurb dealer. Ubid also has refurbished Denon's and Onkyo's and stuff just FYI when you get closer to making a move. (That is unless you don't consider refurb which is also a possibility.)

-Brian

ecrabb · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 7:32 pm Post subject:

GEBrown · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 729 Location: Denver

Hmmm . . .

Back in this thread: http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=97975&highlight=#97975

I basically got my wrists slapped for suggesting EQ'ing my room - that I should treat the room and then "good" speakers and a "good" amplifier would take care of the rest.

It was stated in that thread that EQ'ing the room would introduce more noise than it would correct.

So I'm confused!!

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Ge,

I think most people, including me, would say it's better to start with acoustical treatments and the solve remaining problems with equilization.

I can't do the treatments right now but since the Audyssey is built into the AVR and does the balance and other settings for you I just went ahead and ran through it.

Someday... I'll improve the acoustics of the room and then just repeat which will likely work better.

-Brian

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

GEBrown · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 729 Location: Denver

ecrabb · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject:

Gary,

Nobody was slapping your wrists. Looking back at that thread, all anybody was really saying was that you can't take a cheap set of speakers with a cheap amplifier, put them in an untreated room - and then EQ it all to sound good. That's it. That's my take on the thread, anyway.

Here's the deal... Start with decent speakers. A $250 HTIB doesn't qualify and just won't sound good. It just won't. I'm not saying you have to spend $2500 either, but you just can't make a tiny speaker and a tiny amplifier properly reproduce anything faithfully at practically any volume - save for crickets, maybe.

Next - and this is important - treat the room. You don't have to go crazy - just a little broadband absorption - especially at first reflections. Finally, if you have a couple of small valleys or humps to tame, you MAY be able to use the EQ to take the edge off and get a flatter response. If you have a large room null, EQ isn't going to fix it. If you have a bad room node - especially in the sub range, EQ will NOT fix it. Room size and narrow-band absorption are the only things that will effectively deal with nodes.

EQ's have their down-sides. They can introduce noise and non-linear phase distortion, but a good digital parametric EQ inside an AVR or prepro should be very quiet. Used carefully and sparingly and EQ simply offers the opportunity to nudge the frequency response of your speakers in-room and hopefully improve the sound. Now, it may or may not be an improvement OVERALL, so it's up to each person to listen to the effects of equalization and decide whether to use it - or not.

An EQ will not make a crappy pair of speakers in a crappy room sound like a million bucks, but it may make less-than-stellar speakers in a less-than-stellar room sound BETTER. And wouldn't that be great?

SC