At long last, my SMS-1 is on its way to my office today and should be in place this weekend (yeehaw).

I have looked over the Outlaw Guide to the SMS-1 as well as user comments, and it looks like the unit's full potential cannot be realized unless you EQ it manually.

That understood, I think I'll start with a simple auto-EQ and see how things measure up before taking the plunge into full SMS-1 geekdom.

How many satisfied customers are out there who just left things at the auto EQ level? Steve at Outlaw seemed to think tinkering much beyond that point would not be necessary.

It's not that I'm unwilling to play around with the unit, but there's a certain appeal to just letting the SMS-1 do its thing and leave it at that.

The auto EQ does a decent job, but it won't do things like move EQ's and adjust Q values. The example in the Outlaw guide is pretty reminiscent of what my setup looked like when I was through: none of the EQ's were at their default positions, and most had different Q's. Run the auto setup and try a few movies (toggling between presets 5 and 6 to compare EQ to no EQ) and see what you think. After that, though, I'd still try some manual adjustments. It's a little iterative, but it's not really all that hard. I really think the results will be better.

Videodrome,
You are asking a loaded question....
In my setup or should i say my room boundries play major havic on the sound.

While the auto-eq was very interesting. I really learned bunches about my envirnment by moving the mic around and seeing the real time response. Basicaly - manual. I also found the best location for the sub using the sms-1. very cool.

I have semi-vaulted ceiling (top out at ~15ft) and a semi-open living room/dining room.

I could get radically different responses just moving the mic 2 ft forward or backwards from the sweet spot. Even w/ Bass traps, i have null spots - live spots.... fun fun fun.

when the wife and i expand the family - I get to address the room situation w/ a new listening envirnment. YES....

So, depending on the room size/dimensions and the interaction from the speakers will dictate the amount of interaction w/ the sms-1. Some users will only need the auto-eq.

How you use the sms-1 is up to and your personal test.
Have fun...

Also Videodrome,sometimes the auto-Eq will boost the lower frequencies up {the 20 and 25 hz]. when I first used the auto-eq it boosted the 20 to plus 5 and the 25 to plus 4. so you have to watch it, most subs won't handle that kind of boost. just my two cents.

Okay... sounds like manual is the way to go. And speaking of manual, I've been looking again at Outlaw's. I think I understand what to do once I get everything hooked up, but I can't figure how you know how much Q to apply. Apart from the basic tenet you need to narrow the range for stacked frequencies, what value do you enter? Is it just trial and error, or is there some formula?

I used trial and error, which with the way the SMS-1 refreshes the frequency response curve continuously actually ends up being no big deal.