I have a true need for a automatic room correcting parametric equalizer if such a beast exists. Let me explain. I live in a condo which is built with the "Great Room" concept. The Living room, dining, entry area is all one big room with celings that run to a very high peak of 30' (and provide a nightmare for changing lights) The Kitchen was sort of a box with walls that ran to 10' or so, we had the walls taken down for the kitchen and now that whole part of the house is wide open.

The Home Theatre set up is over in one corner with the HD Tv, and the audio rack next to it. I have an Outlaw 990 connected to Rotel RM-1050 and RMB-1066 amps, the speakers are unimportant for now as I hope to replace over the next year or so.

For HT purposes the set up is fairly good, as I have set all the 990's adjustable parameters for that prime listening position. The problem is listening to two channel or 2.1 audio. The CD player, the Sirius receiver, music in other words. When I'm in the Kitchen, or on the other side of the room paying the bills on the computer, or other stuff, I'm no longer in the prime listening position, and the room dynamics greatly come into play.

So I've been hunting for a room correcting parametric equalizer. My guide line has been the Velodyne SMS-1. Particularly the ability to use the microphone,the automatic set up it provides, and the ability to have presents and all conroled by a remote.

What I'm looking for is a parametric equalizer that preforms the same functions as the Velodyne SMS-1 accross a broader spectrum Subwoofer to Tweeter. I hope what I'm looking for makes sense. Does anyone know of such an item? Preferably one that could take on all the channels in a 7.1 set up, but if not at least the fronts and the sub. I've found some decent parametric equalizers and even some that can be used sort of the way I want but they'll handle only two channels. I suppose I could defeat the equalizer for HT purposes, have it on for 2 channel audio and seperatley adjust the sub. But if there is something out there that can do it all, I'd love to find it. I've posted this question on another forum and found that there are such devices out there and Audyseey and a Neptune, with the starting price at $2,000 going up to $5,000 (a little rich for my blood).

The Outlaw forum users tend to be a bit more practical, anyone know of a less expensive device, or a work around. Iknow about the Room EQ Wizard software, and I can purchase a SPL meter at Radio Shack. I suppose I could go that route and get a more simple parametric equalizer adjust by hand and defeat for for HT purposes. Just looking for any advice that you may have.

Thanks for the help

That function is what the Audyssey and Trinnov gizmos do.

To expand a little on Altec's reply,the new 997 will have equalization capabilities built in.As a current 990 owner, you should be able to pick one of these up for around $1200 when they are released. That makes your 990 redundant, but it's cheaper than going for free standing equalization.

I've done some rather lengthy hunting on line and yes there are some very impressive room correcting devices out there than can do most if not all of what I was looking for but they are very expensive. The least expensive is in the $2,500 range. Unfortunatley I don't have $2,500 to burn. There are some less expensive paramaetric equalizers that perform some of these functions, such as the Behrningers. But none totally fit the bill without spending a whole lot. I'm wondering how much difference the SMS-1 itself would make? It really does everything I'm looking for but it's just limited to the sub-woofer freq's. I know proper managment at those levels can make a significant difference, and it's pratically a steal right now at $399.

You can get into the measurement business pretty cheaply. Mic and preamp are about $100. True RTA measurement software base version is free and the best version is $100. A laptop and a few cables and you're all set. If it turns out the problem is with your sub you can get an SMS or just get the Behringer feedback destroyer (for another $100). If you were sure the problem is with the sub freq's, the SMS would be the way to go. The Behringer works but is not nearly as easy to program.

Calman and the Room EQ Wizard are also free options available online. Both have a pretty good rep. with those who have used them. I have yet to try them myself but plan to in the near future.

I don't think room eq is going to help you because they optimize for the measured response in the prime listening position. So if you eq for prime listening position that is not going to be the eq that would be needed for the rest of the house.

I think you only option is room treatments. GIK acoustics has some nice furniture looking treatments. I suggest that you fill out their form and upload pictures. They will help you out for free and the their advice is invaluable. They helped me rearrange my room to get much better sound.
http://www.gikacoustics.com/

To get started on measurements, see my newbie thread here:
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/s...versus-spl.html

I don't see a success path for the whole house/condo. Any prime position you come up with would have to be a large area to satisfy your needs. Any room correcting device is going to be a position specific correction. Even room treatments are directed at correcting for a specific area, as the prime listening position doesn't normally change.

This is going to be the real problem. It's one I live with in my den, as well - I have the family PC in the back left corner of the room, so the desk is completely outside the optimal listening position. There's only so much that can be done while obeying the laws of physics, and being too far outside the physical bounds of the "sweet spot" imposes some limits on what can be done.

I appreciate all the input and suggestions. While I understand there is only so much that can be done (and only so much my wife will let me do) in an effort to at least to intergrate the sub freq's as best as possible I think the SMS-1 will function. From my reading of the SMS-1 manual and the Outlaw guide on line it allows a number of presets correct? Can't I take measurements for the prime listening position in HT mode, make the adjustments, and have that as a present. Then chose another location as a listening position, for 2.1 channel audio for example, then take those measurements, and store that as a preset? The prime listening position is the couch which is where I am when watching the T.V., but I'm not in that position when I'm listening to music, I'm almost always doing something else, cooking, paying bills, bringing work home from the office, etc. So I'm not sitting on the couch. I don't mean to suggest that would make the system perfect, there's no way to create anechoic listening room in my home, but wouldn't it help? (Ok, I'm really thinking about getting the SMS-1, I'm trying to justify my expense)

You are correct that the SMS-1 can store up to five separate EQ adjustments. From that standpoint it would be possible to have different presets for the different locations. If you're thinking about getting an SMS-1, this would be an interesting experiment.

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on the SMS-1 before the end of the month. I'll let you know how the experiment goes with adjusting for different listening locations. I'm sure it'll keep me busy for a while.

It would seem impossible for any device to move the "sweet spot" outside the boundaries of the speaker system itself. What I mean is if you drew a line between each of the speakers in your system, the "sweet spot" has to fall somewhere in those lines or not very far from the boundary at best. There is a limit to the amount of correction that can be applied.

Manipulation of phase can place images outside the boundries of the physical speakers. One of the first albums to exploit this was "Days of Future Past". It is routinely done today.

I'm not suggesting, nor am I going to be attempting to correct all problems electronically with the SMS-1. It's limited to I think 120 Hz and below anyway. What I'm trying to do is improve the situation. Yes the speakers are pointed in a particular direction in general so that the "sweet spot" is where I sit while in a HT setup. So yes the speakers will not be pointed "exactly" where I want them while in other parts of that very large room. But they wont' be terribly far off in most of the places I'll be. What I am trying to do is make the best out of the situation that I have. The room is huge, it has 30 ft celings in places, and 8 ft in others. It runs from living room, into the harder surfaces of a kitchen, it has a lot of open space, etc, etc. Frankly, the Outlaw 990 along with the Rotel amps actually sound pretty good in 2.1 audio mode now. I'm just trying to make it sound even better. So the goal is using the SMS-1 to correct for those alternate listening positions to the best of its ability. I can almost gurantee the measuements taken at the prime listening position for HT will be very different from the other positions I tend to be in while listening to music. Nonetheless, in a few weeks I'll give you all an update on what I find.