Clive, good question. IMO what the audio engineers said is just common sense. I agree it is much better to treat the room to fix the bass problems.
One issue is that DRC or EQ (and I realise they are different) don't fix the problem properly except in one area of the room. Room treatments can also be like that, but they have more of a chance of creating a general improvement. Plus I believe the less processing the better. The bass response is one important reason (of many) to move speakers away from wall boundaries as much as possible. The bass response tends to be cleaner, quicker and less boomy in space for most speakers IME. The issue becomes room treatments in domestic environments. It's not just the furnishings and so on, it's the construction of domestic walls, floors etc. It's not like a studio and it will never be. The same issue applies above the bass: domestic environments aren't studios. However, the acoustic theory I have read including that from Linkwitz argues that if loudspeakers are sufficiently far from wall boundaries (and other conditions are met) then an anechoically flat loudspeaker should be left alone in terms of FR even if the room appears to change the FR as measured by a calibrated mic. In short, the brain is able to process the reflections so as to hear through them to the source sound in all its aspects This probably deserves a thread of its own, there are lots of ifs and buts. Suffice to say, I've heard the Linkwitz Orion in a -totally untreated- living room with no DSP and the physical walls were not impinging on the soundstage at all, they just dissolved. So I have had "an" experience which backs up Linkwitz's claims. As for my set up, it doesn't necessarily equate to that (for one thing the speakers are a bit too near the side walls and they are box speakers) but it's enough to make me think the reflections idea is right. At least, I have found that leaving the FR alone above the bass leads to a better experience. The brain is able to 'process out' higher frequencies better because they have recognisable reflections, and bass frequencies don't. Bass wavelengths are long enough so that reflections create standing waves consistently at certain frequencies. These bass modes are perceived as colorations within significant regions of the room. So bass reflections aren't perceived as such - they manifest as modes - and the brain can't process them out. This is why (in theory) it is valid to correct the in-room FR in the bass. But not the higher frequencies. IME anyway, it works. Finally, you will notice I use EQ and not DRC. Actually I believe that DRC just cannot do everything it is intended to do above the bass region. You can't manipulate a stereo signal so that the effect of reflections in the listening room is cancelled. It's a mathematical impossibility AFAI understand it. Nothing to do with technology per se, it is the endeavor itself which is impossible. However, that's not dissing people's DRC set ups, I am sure they sound great but perhaps not for exactly the reasons they think they do. However, I believe that DRC would have an advantage over just EQ in the bass so I would like that. However what holds me back is finding a well calibrated microphone and a way of guaranteeing that higher frequencies are going to be completely untouched by the DRC filter. If anyone could point me to those please do. Darren -- darrenyeats SB3 / Inguz -> Krell KAV-300i (pre bypass) -> PMC AB-1 Dell laptop -> JVC UX-C30 mini system ------------------------------------------------------------------------ darrenyeats's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10799 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=46903 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
