Active Room Treatment (ART) by Dirac

[Frage]

Who wrote that doc?

DIRAC Live Guide 2025-10.docx

Contents Introduction / ReadMe 4 Dirac Live® Information 4 Dirac Live® History 5 Dirac Live® Frequency Resolution Implementation 7 Dirac Live® Bass Control Information 8 Overview 8 Theory 8 Dirac Live® Bass Control Tiers 9 Time-align and level match multiple subwoofers to the MLP prior to calibr...

docs.google.com

 

[dziemian]

Superb news today regarding ART for Denon and Marantz. Looking forward to Dirac ART for PC suite. I have 6 subs waiting

 

[sahzed]

I'm a bit of a noob here, but trying to understand what some of these ART parameters are that I don't see referenced in any of the guides I've seen so far.

Does anyone know what "LFE Reference" is for? I only see it when I select my subwoofer group, and it's defaulted to "Center".

Likewise, I don't understand what the dots are on the support groups listed at the bottom of the screen - they differ from one to four on various support groups, and it's different for each ART group I select. I haven't been able to correlate it to anything:

 

[jtatknox]

I'm a bit of a noob here, but trying to understand what some of these ART parameters are that I don't see referenced in any of the guides I've seen so far.

Does anyone know what "LFE Reference" is for? I only see it when I select my subwoofer group, and it's defaulted to "Center".
View attachment 479864

Likewise, I don't understand what the dots are on the support groups listed at the bottom of the screen - they differ from one to four on various support groups, and it's different for each ART group I select. I haven't been able to correlate it to anything:
View attachment 479866

It is sparsley documented, but from what I understand it's a timing reference so it will try to make the bass sound like it's coming from the center speaker.

 

[sahzed]

It is sparsley documented, but from what I understand it's a timing reference so it will try to make the bass sound like it's coming from the center speaker.

Thanks! that makes sense - it's kinda what I thought it might be but wanted to make sure.

 

[Goodfellas27]

It's available for the Marantz AV10

 

[Curvature]

I updated the firmware on my AV20 and re-used the same Dirac measurements except with ART enabled. I used all default ART settings aside from setting the target curve. So, in one Dirac preset I have the target curve with DLBC only (what I've been using for the last few months), and then in another Dirac preset I have the same target curve with ART. ART took quite a while longer on my computer to calculate filters than with just DLBC.

The defaults for ART have the support level at -18 dB with F-support High set to 150 Hz and Low set to 50-53 Hz for all channels, except subs down to 20 Hz. I was surprised that even the surround and Atmos channels were set that low since I'm running pretty small speakers (KEF Q4 and Q8 Meta).

My initial (10 minute) subjective impressions were really interesting. The first thing I noticed with ART is that the bass now sounds like it's coming locked in from the center channel. Swapping back to DLBC only, the bass feels spread out and slightly uneven. This was surprising because I was already quite satisfied with DLBC's integration of my 3 sub setup (versus what I could tweak with MSO/Audyssey previously), but ART is producing a bass image that reminds me of listening through headphones. Outside of imaging, the bass sounds less flabby and, again, more headphone-like.

I need to try this out more with music and movies, but I'm pretty excited so far that even with smaller Atmos/surround speakers, I can tell a subjective improvement. Maybe the number of support channels helps more than the size of each channel? And I wonder, would ART correction run out of steam if the volume increases beyond what the support channels can handle without distortion?

Anyways, I will have to do the wife listening test later to see if even she can tell. I'd also be curious to try measuring the ART changes with REW/UMIK-2, but I'm not sure what the easiest way would be to run measurements through the AV20.

I would be interested in your impressions of lower or greater support.

 

[davidc]

I mean... if you have a subwoofer in your system, then you still need to buy Bass Control before ART. Read the official FAQ first
View attachment 479798

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. I'm an OG audiophile, and my main L/R speakers are capable of good bass reproduction. (It's interesting to note that Dirac had plans to develop Bass Control for main speakers capable of deep loud bass, but didn't go any further).

VMPS Supertower III/SE

 

[scotchrocks]

I'm a bit of a noob here, but trying to understand what some of these ART parameters are that I don't see referenced in any of the guides I've seen so far.

Does anyone know what "LFE Reference" is for? I only see it when I select my subwoofer group, and it's defaulted to "Center".
View attachment 479864

Likewise, I don't understand what the dots are on the support groups listed at the bottom of the screen - they differ from one to four on various support groups, and it's different for each ART group I select. I haven't been able to correlate it to anything:
View attachment 479866

I’m not sure, but the dots might indicate how many filters are being used for each support group? I think there is a budget of filters that is indicated in the bottom right (98 out of 98 used). When I remove support groups, it drops down. I’m thinking this may vary depending on the DSP capacity of the hardware, and StormAudio might have many more available than D&M hardware. If anyone knows, it would be great to get confirmation since the documentation isn’t updated to reflect the newest version of the software.

 

[Daka]

DIRAC Live Guide 2025-10.docx

Contents Introduction / ReadMe 4 Dirac Live® Information 4 Dirac Live® History 5 Dirac Live® Frequency Resolution Implementation 7 Dirac Live® Bass Control Information 8 Overview 8 Theory 8 Dirac Live® Bass Control Tiers 9 Time-align and level match multiple subwoofers to the MLP prior to calibr...

docs.google.com

Don’t think that applies. By default all groups are selected for support if Dirac would think otherwise it would not do that - simple.

 

[Frage]

Don’t think that applies. By default all groups are selected for support if Dirac would think otherwise it would not do that - simple.

You can test your self and you will see.

For example I added -18dB from my subwoofer to my surround group, result ? When a bass heavy sound is coming from the back, like a car coming from the rear, I will ear my subwoofer sound in front trying to compensate my surround, braking the entire surround / sound localization effect.

Same as default lower hz, Dirac by default put all my groups to 50Hz, while my speakers F3 spec are 66 LCR and 59 SR. Is the default settings correct ? I don't think so.
------------------------

Here my first note about my Dirac Art I posted somewhere else too :

My setup is pretty simple, a 5.1 system with Arendal 1723S speakers, and the subwoofer placed near the right channel.
Most of the online resources I’ve found focus on big 7.4.4 systems with Atmos, which is great, but many of us just run 5.1 or 7.1 setups without 1000€ speakers in the ceiling and multi row of seats. So I thought I’d share my notes for a more “casual” home theater.

Grouping

• Group 1 → Left & Right
• Group 2 → Center
• Group 3 → Surround Left & Surround Right
• Group 4 → Subwoofer

I used the default 9-point measurements with the recommended Storm Audio positions.

Target Curve
Enable ART, then apply your target curve. I personally like the Storm Audio curves for LCR / SR / SW (they’re available on their website).

General Rules

• Rule #1: Never include the center channel (Group 2) in any ART filter. We need to keep the center channel as clean as possible since it is the main speaker in most movies.
• Rule #2: Don’t enable infra bass unless you have a very capable subwoofer and a well-treated room.
• Rule #3: Set the F-support low point to the manufacturer’s F3 spec. If that’s not available, use the ±3 dB roll-off frequency with a few Hz margin (increase).

Group Settings
Group 1 (L/R):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 3 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 4 → –20 dB (I tested between –18 and –22 dB; more than that can also affect directivity)

Group 2 (Center):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 4 → –20 dB (I tested between –18 and –22 dB; more than that can also affect directivity)

Group 3 (Surrounds):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 3 → –12 dB (a bit more than L/R since the surrounds are further from the sub, need more help)
• Group 4 → –18 dB (sometimes +12 dB can work better, for example with bass-heavy content like cars, coming from the rear, you might ear engine noise from the back surround but also from the front subwoofer which is destroying the localization and unwanted)

Group 4 (Subwoofer):

• Group 1 → –18 dB

I’m not an audio expert, just experimenting and sharing what seems to work for me. ART is still new for most people, so hopefully this helps others with more “basic” setups. Feedback and other experiences are welcome!

 

[Ciobi69]

Thanks for the input! My L/C/R speakers are active, and the other six speakers are all Kef LS50 Meta. I'm curious but also a bit unsure how these little speakers will perform with ART.

I would not drive the kef ls50 with the denon , they are power hungry and with art you could need even more juice

 

[Daka]

You can test your self and you will see.

For example I added -18dB from my subwoofer to my surround group, result ? When a bass heavy sound is coming from the back, like a car coming from the rear, I will ear my subwoofer sound in front trying to compensate my surround, braking the entire surround / sound localization effect.

Same as default lower hz, Dirac by default put all my groups to 50Hz, while my speakers F3 spec are 66 LCR and 59 SR. Is the default settings correct ? I don't think so.
------------------------

Here my first note about my Dirac Art I posted somewhere else too :

My setup is pretty simple, a 5.1 system with Arendal 1723S speakers, and the subwoofer placed near the right channel.
Most of the online resources I’ve found focus on big 7.4.4 systems with Atmos, which is great, but many of us just run 5.1 or 7.1 setups without 1000€ speakers in the ceiling and multi row of seats. So I thought I’d share my notes for a more “casual” home theater.

Grouping

• Group 1 → Left & Right
• Group 2 → Center
• Group 3 → Surround Left & Surround Right
• Group 4 → Subwoofer

I used the default 9-point measurements with the recommended Storm Audio positions.

Target Curve
Enable ART, then apply your target curve. I personally like the Storm Audio curves for LCR / SR / SW (they’re available on their website).

General Rules

• Rule #1: Never include the center channel (Group 2) in any ART filter. We need to keep the center channel as clean as possible since it is the main speaker in most movies.
• Rule #2: Don’t enable infra bass unless you have a very capable subwoofer and a well-treated room.
• Rule #3: Set the F-support low point to the manufacturer’s F3 spec. If that’s not available, use the ±3 dB roll-off frequency with a few Hz margin (increase).

Group Settings
Group 1 (L/R):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 3 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 4 → –20 dB (I tested between –18 and –22 dB; more than that can also affect directivity)

Group 2 (Center):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 4 → –20 dB (I tested between –18 and –22 dB; more than that can also affect directivity)

Group 3 (Surrounds):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 3 → –12 dB (a bit more than L/R since the surrounds are further from the sub, need more help)
• Group 4 → –18 dB (sometimes +12 dB can work better, for example with bass-heavy content like cars, coming from the rear, you might ear engine noise from the back surround but also from the front subwoofer which is destroying the localization and unwanted)

Group 4 (Subwoofer):

• Group 1 → –18 dB

I’m not an audio expert, just experimenting and sharing what seems to work for me. ART is still new for most people, so hopefully this helps others with more “basic” setups. Feedback and other experiences are welcome!

I’m running it with pretty much default and sounds all good I can’t hear support speakers at all. Dunno how you localise frequencies below 100hz ? Anyways it’s lower energy cancel waves so you should not hear anything - maybe you have some rattling nearby issue. Before all subs would produce base so dunno if you’re coming from Audy with “directional” base or what you mean.

 

[Frage]

I don't wanna be rude, but if you can't localize frequency from 80 to 150Hz when a single speaker (or a single speaker + LFE) is playing you might have issues.

 

[Daka]

I don't wanna be rude, but if you can't localize frequency from 80 to 150Hz when a single speaker (or a single speaker + LFE) is playing you might have issues.

You start localising from 120 up. Under that it’s nonsense. But that’s besides the point - it’s inverted phase so it cancels other waves. It’s like ANC in a headphones - you’re being bombarded with waves but of opposite phase so you hear absolutely nothing. So if you hear something - something is wrong with your setup or Dirac Art sucks ass as this should not happen.
I have it on default - and haven’t heard anything out of place yet - none of the localisation issues you mention.

 

[Laika2]

Just got art today. Once I run ART I get ...
dirac art group 1 has no supported speakers
to
dirac art group 7 has no supported speakers

I read vague mentions of applying speaker groups but basically it's telling me (I think) it can't do anything and will not let me transfer it to a 6800'
All speakers are using 300 watt monoblocks

Front Arendal 1723s (4 6.5 inch woofers)
Center Arendal 1723 2 8 inch woofers
Far rears Arendal 1723 Monitors (4 8 inch woofers)
Sub Arendal 1723 (Vented and has two opposing 15 inch woofers (I only have one sub)

Other speakers are smaller atmos and such that I expect would not be useable

6 - 8" Woofers
4 - 6.5 inch woofers
Sub with 2 15 inch opposing woofers.

All woofers are flat to at least 40.

I'm lost, I've tried two readings from a month ago. It's seems at least one of these woofers should be doing something and let me upload the preset to the receiver.

Worked great till I purchased ART. It seems like a setting turned off or something, did notice my receiver got a update last night. The room is medium on the smaller size.

I don't care about about best practices in art yet, I see words of sliders, support range and level. I don't see those yet ...

But I just want to get it to support a speaker group and upload it to the receiver. No reason to start new reading, doing the serious tweeking or spending a ton of time adjusting unless it does me some good ...... like uploading to a slot.

Thanks in advance experts.


What am I doing wrong?

 

[jtatknox]

My center is just a Q150 so I also opted not to use it in a support role. I'm trying -20 for subs and -12 for LR.

You can test your self and you will see.

For example I added -18dB from my subwoofer to my surround group, result ? When a bass heavy sound is coming from the back, like a car coming from the rear, I will ear my subwoofer sound in front trying to compensate my surround, braking the entire surround / sound localization effect.

Same as default lower hz, Dirac by default put all my groups to 50Hz, while my speakers F3 spec are 66 LCR and 59 SR. Is the default settings correct ? I don't think so.
------------------------

Here my first note about my Dirac Art I posted somewhere else too :

My setup is pretty simple, a 5.1 system with Arendal 1723S speakers, and the subwoofer placed near the right channel.
Most of the online resources I’ve found focus on big 7.4.4 systems with Atmos, which is great, but many of us just run 5.1 or 7.1 setups without 1000€ speakers in the ceiling and multi row of seats. So I thought I’d share my notes for a more “casual” home theater.

Grouping

• Group 1 → Left & Right
• Group 2 → Center
• Group 3 → Surround Left & Surround Right
• Group 4 → Subwoofer

I used the default 9-point measurements with the recommended Storm Audio positions.

Target Curve
Enable ART, then apply your target curve. I personally like the Storm Audio curves for LCR / SR / SW (they’re available on their website).

General Rules

• Rule #1: Never include the center channel (Group 2) in any ART filter. We need to keep the center channel as clean as possible since it is the main speaker in most movies.
• Rule #2: Don’t enable infra bass unless you have a very capable subwoofer and a well-treated room.
• Rule #3: Set the F-support low point to the manufacturer’s F3 spec. If that’s not available, use the ±3 dB roll-off frequency with a few Hz margin (increase).

Group Settings
Group 1 (L/R):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 3 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 4 → –20 dB (I tested between –18 and –22 dB; more than that can also affect directivity)

Group 2 (Center):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 4 → –20 dB (I tested between –18 and –22 dB; more than that can also affect directivity)

Group 3 (Surrounds):

• Group 1 → –6 dB (going higher can cause directivity issues)
• Group 3 → –12 dB (a bit more than L/R since the surrounds are further from the sub, need more help)
• Group 4 → –18 dB (sometimes +12 dB can work better, for example with bass-heavy content like cars, coming from the rear, you might ear engine noise from the back surround but also from the front subwoofer which is destroying the localization and unwanted)

Group 4 (Subwoofer):

• Group 1 → –18 dB

I’m not an audio expert, just experimenting and sharing what seems to work for me. ART is still new for most people, so hopefully this helps others with more “basic” setups. Feedback and other experiences are welcome!

For what's it's worth I turned off the amp to my LR so I could hear how much support -18dB is from the center when playing 2 channel music and it was a lot quite audible. I chose to not allow center to support any groups and to reduce LR support to -12dB to other groups. I kept sub support levels at -18 or -20 dB.

 

[jtatknox]

Just got art today. Once I run ART I get ...
dirac art group 1 has no supported speakers
to
dirac art group 7 has no supported speakers

I read vague mentions of applying speaker groups but basically it's telling me (I think) it can't do anything and will not let me transfer it to a 6800'
All speakers are using 300 watt monoblocks

Front Arendal 1723s (4 6.5 inch woofers)
Center Arendal 1723 2 8 inch woofers
Far rears Arendal 1723 Monitors (4 8 inch woofers)
Sub Arendal 1723 (Vented and has two opposing 15 inch woofers (I only have one sub)

Other speakers are smaller atmos and such that I expect would not be useable

6 - 8" Woofers
4 - 6.5 inch woofers
Sub with 2 15 inch opposing woofers.

All woofers are flat to at least 40.

I'm lost, I've tried two readings from a month ago. It's seems at least one of these woofers should be doing something and let me upload the preset to the receiver.

Worked great till I purchased ART. It seems like a setting turned off or something, did notice my receiver got a update last night. The room is medium on the smaller size.

I don't care about about best practices in art yet, I see words of sliders, support range and level. I don't see those yet ...

But I just want to get it to support a speaker group and upload it to the receiver. No reason to start new reading, doing the serious tweeking or spending a ton of time adjusting unless it does me some good ...... like uploading to a slot.

Thanks in advance experts.


What am I doing wrong?

You can make your own groups by dragging speakers around, I believe. Maybe it is just confused about your layout.

 

[dlaloum]

I’ve heard it said that StormAudio models use a far more powerful DSP than other brands, capable of handling higher‑precision and more complex ART filter calculations. As a result, even though the license fee is the same at USD 299, with the same speaker configuration the ART results calculated by StormAudio will differ from those of D&M—the former being noticeably superior.

Can anyone confirm this claim? If it’s true, then shouldn’t the pricing of ART be differentiated according to the performance of different AVRs

The other side of that coin is that depending on the room and speakers, as well as number of channels, there could be greater or lesser processing requirements - how much processing power do most of us need?

 

[Laika2]

You can make your own groups by dragging speakers around, I believe. Maybe it is just confused about your layout.

Got it, you are right, notes I read were all were on by default, nope all off Denon 6800, Thanks again.