Secrets Auto EQ article

I just read an interesting article at Secrets of Home Theater about Auto Equalization . I'm going to have to go through it a bit more to digest all the details, but it does a good job of describing the potential pitfalls of blindly trusting many of the automatic EQ packages available in receivers these days. It's worth a read.

That is a good article, though the advice given at the conclusion ("fiddle a little bit here and there") isn't very helpful. However, the article does help in understanding why some auto-EQ systems (Meridian, Audyssey, Lexicon, H/K) do not attempt to flatten the frequency response.

Good read Gonk! People need to realize there is no substitute for room treatment. They can EQ until they are blue in the face, but it isn't going to fix large issues. I wish I could easily take my panels off and put them back on again. I would invite people over to listen both ways.

The result of the panels is VERY dramatic. They take the room from reflective, washy, and sounds thrown together to sounding darn good and separated. I think WAF is in the way of things here as well. Ideally this should be done at the design stage of a dedicated room, but if you end up like me...you just have panels hanging all over the walls/ceiling.

I'll stick to acoustic panels and sub location and use EQ as the finishing touch. This article got things right on acoustics instead of clouding the issue.

I think the problem with room treatment is you don't know where to start. What do I do, buy a whole bunch of panels and start hanging them by educated guess work? Hire a Feng Shui guy to come over and tell me where to hang them. Hire a guy with $100,000 worth of equipement to measure my room and mark the exact spots where they go? Where do you start on a project like this? Of course a padded cell may be my best option at this point.

A good place to start is with bass traps in corners and absorbers at the first reflection points. Just that little bit will help smoothen out low frequencies and clarify imaging in the front soundstage.

Yes, but all the bass traps I have seen are ugly and would not pass the WAF test. First Reflection points? Where are they? The coffee table, the end tables, the back wall? And to add to the problem there are a lot of people selling these room mods, frames stuffed with fabric, for a lot of money. Which means that you have to do a DIY, which then complicates the problem further, which is why no one does it.

First reflection points are easy to find: just have someone slide a mirror along the side wall until you can see your front speakers. Mark that spot and place absorbtion there.

Bass traps are easy and cheap to make. There are recipes on various websites for everything from cylindrical traps to flat ones than can stradle corners (where pressure builds up the most).

However, if you can come up with all those excuses to not use treatments, then I can't fight them all. The excuses win. Room treatments aren't for you.

I couldn't agree with you more! Room treatments can also be more subtle, such as furniture, and soft wall coverings or objects in the right places that are also works of art, etc ...

If you can defeat the major acoustical challenges in a room through passive room correction techniques, the opportunity for using accurate analysis of a RTA and signal processing can bring you a long way to overall sonic balance, with more than a single seat sweet spot. and... not all reflected sound is bad.

There not just my execuses, there everyones execuses. My point was that this is why very few people, except those rare individual such as yourselves, attempt these types of projects.

To me, if I am going to go to the amount of trouble your talking about I might as well just remove all the dry wall and replace it will some QuietRock . Then EQ from there. I am not sure if I want various odd objects hanging around on the walls and corners that take up space and have little visual appeal.

I'm with you, MeanGene. I'd have to run it through my household architectural committee's (read: WAF) stringent regulations in order to implement any such treatments, and believe me, that's some tough stuff. While some folks I know can change room decor at will (and some of them have just thrown framed batting on the wall), I'd have to hire an interior designer to pass muster in my domicile.

Maybe when I have a dedicated HT in my home...

This is why you give up control of every other room in the house to get a dedicated HT room that you have final say in. My wife can make suggestions in the HT room, but I can overrule them as I see fit. I cower in the corner when it comes to any other room in the house and let out the "yes dear", but the foot comes down in the dedicated HT room.

Acoustic treatments done after a room is constructed (like mine) are not beautiful visually (at least mine aren't). However, I watch movies in the dark and close my eyes and veg when I listen to 2-channel, so once you get over the "holy crap" response when you first enter the room with the lights on, you're home free.

Yes, my wife thinks I'm insane (she may have ground to stand on here), but does she really need 100 pairs of shoes or 50 different purses. I leave her alone with these things, so expect to be left alone with my one remaining area and hobby within the house. It's about give and take...I give her control of ~93% of the house and demand I have full control of ~7% of the house.

A link to some pics of my messy room:

http://ht.dblattman.com/images/

Nice room Doug, but a lot maybe most of us do not have a dedicated HT room. Would your system sound better if you removed the coffee table setting in front of your center channel speaker, or does the treatments make that a nonissue?

To be honest, it's not just the wife. It's also a matter of worthwhile effort. I intend to have a theater in my home when it makes sense - in other words, when I can afford to do it right and make it a permanent feature of the home (including all wiring, acoustic treatments, decor and perhaps even some equipment). Otherwise, it'll just be some junk I'll have to take down when it's time to sell the house.

Moreover, my wife and I have the same friends, so I'd prefer to be able to invite them all over for a movie instead of just the guys who don't care about a "messy room." I know, I know, HT is about enjoying the movie, but I'm also very practical and I have to satisfy that side of myself as well.

Besides, in my area, a dedicated HT done right, and frugally produced (i.e., lots of sweat equity) can add double it's cost to a home's value. Always WAF in that!

Paratrooper,

I am ditching the coffee table when I get around to new seating. Eventually, a few years from now, I will build a larger room and plan it much better. I started with what I knew and what I had. I know much more now and will put it all to use. I'm going to take my time with it and think about everything so I do not box myself into certain restrictions as I did this time. Hindsight is 20/20.

Right now, what I have SOUNDS excellent. When I rebuild my HT room it will LOOK excellent as well. It will definately be much more modular than it is now. I don't plan on ever moving, so eventually my entire basement will end up with a HT room, lobby/snack bar, media room, equipment room, arcade room, and my wife and I have even talked about a bowling lane. Does anyone have about 50K I can borrow...no wait, have? I will probably get everything done about the time my hearing is shot and I can't enjoy anything. Hey, it will give me something to do for the next 10 years.