Interesting. Seems to be the exact opposite of doing pro sound.

In a concert hall situation trying to eq is pointless unless the levels and time alignment are at least close. Everything will require adjustment along the way.

I have not made it very far into the REW site but what I have read has a section regarding time alignment. Looking at the screens there is detail shown that did not exist to us back then so can see minute adjustments to levels and distances as part of the process.

Thanks Sanjay. I was thinking more along the lines of adjusting the response of each channel first, before matching all the channel levels/distances.
I don't have experience with setting up pro sound. Not much I've done with PEQ in my own system either.

Can't wait to get this piece and use REW to fix some of the issues in my listening room. It will be interesting to see where the channel adjustments are needed. I know I probably need room treatments, but my area is dual purpose and I can't do everything needed as far as treatments go.

If you think about it, distance settings can't be affected by frequency response because you're setting delays for each channel independently. Not like you're setting delays based on the interaction of two or more channels, where incorrect delays can result in constructive and destructive interference. So you can do distance settings before or after the EQ step.

It's different when setting levels. As mentioned before, frequency response can affect levels setting: e.g., a large peak can throw off a SPL meter, making the channel seem louder than it really is, resulting in the level being set to low. Smoothening out the response for each channel first (to whatever extent you can) will subsequently make for more closely matched levels.

"If you think about it, distance settings can't be affected by frequency response because you're setting delays for each channel independently."
@Sanjay, I see your point. I've been accustomed to setting the levels and delays together. Not so much with the EQ process. Looking forward to that.

I pray no one tries to EQ a small bookshelf flat to below 30hz.

Anyone boosting 5-6 dB below 100hz; 3dB below 50hz can & likely will get themselves in deep doodoo. Either blown woofers, tweeters or both.

Yup

Avoid getting "too tasty" especially in the bass. Otherwise you may be a frequent new tweeter buyer.

A pro sound tech will tell you: use the EQ to "carve the sound" as in wood or stone, remove what you don't want. At the same time, a Body shop guy will tell you: a little putty is ok here & there, but a lot in any one place is bad. Same applies to boosting more than a little.

The Destroyer

After running REW will I be able to use it when listening to multi channel music(sacd for example) through the analog outs of my Oppo 205? I hope this is not a stupid question. I realize REW is not a room correction software like Dirac but as I understand it, REW is a tool for measuring the acoustics in your room and then use the PEQ of the 976 prepro to smooth things out. Thanks for any input.

It will likely depend on where it is in the analog domain. I would think that all analog output will go through REW before the amps. As long as the multichannel input to the 976 is part of that domain all should be well.

Thanks for the informatuon.

Yuuup...

You set distance BEFORE messing w/levels or eq. You made clear why in the latter part of your post.

Yes!