Active Room Treatment (ART) by Dirac

[Frage]

2 months old recommendation for Dirac ART in a big setup, can be applied in smaller I guess.

Spoiler

 

[jtatknox]

I'm still learning how ART works, but in my current setup:

• Group 8 (the subwoofer group) is supported by L, C, R, SL, and SR.
• All other groups (1–7) are supported only by the subwoofer group.

There are four subwoofers, each placed in a corner of the room.
View attachment 479989

View attachment 479990

Predicted curve looks nice but I really want to emphasize that I don't think that ART is a frequency response optimizing product. I think it is a time domain product and if they were smart they would show waterfall graphs in their interface as a tab next to the impulse response so you could see the predicted improvement in decay. We should all be learning how to generate and interpret waterfall plots.

I also find less seat to seat variation and less build up of energy close to walls. Looking at the corrected "spread" vs DLBCL should be informative about that.

 

[kawauso]

Predicted curve looks nice but I really want to emphasize that I don't think that ART is a frequency response optimizing product. I think it is a time domain product and if they were smart they would show waterfall graphs in their interface as a tab next to the impulse response so you could see the predicted improvement in decay. We should all be learning how to generate and interpret waterfall plots.

I also find less seat to seat variation and less build up of energy close to walls. Looking at the corrected "spread" vs DLBCL should be informative about that.

Even with fewer support speakers, I’m seeing strong standing wave cancellation.
From a frequency response perspective, avoiding unnecessary dips seems ideal,
and with just a bit of adjustment, the sound I'm getting is noticeably better than with the default configuration.
This has also been confirmed through RT60 measurements and waterfall plots, which show clear improvements in decay behavior.

 

[Tafelberg]

Does anyone have a Discount Coupon code for Dirac ART?

Or when do we expect the next promo to run?

Thanks!

@Flak

 

[Firewalk61]

Hi all, a bit of a neeb to Dirac ART. I have a few questions which id be ever so happy if someone could clarify.

I have run the calibration and ART has put my speakers into the following groups:

Left and Right Front
Centre
Left and right surround
Front L and Right height
Rear Left and Right Height
Subs

I have adjusted the frequency range for each support group to match the speakers lower range spec

i wanted to know (as i am hearing conflicting reports/articles) in regards to the Sub group, am i right in saying that there should not be any other speaker groups supporting this? my front left and right, centre, surrounds and atmos all have an extension range down to 50Hz

Also in regard to each one of the other groups is it best to have each group being supported by the other groups

Should the atmos groups be supporting the other groups?

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[EWL5]

Does anyone have a Discount Coupon code for Dirac ART?

Or when do we expect the next promo to run?

Thanks!

@Flak

Most likely Black Friday or closer to the holidays.

 

[jtatknox]

Hi all, a bit of a neeb to Dirac ART. I have a few questions which id be ever so happy if someone could clarify.

I have run the calibration and ART has put my speakers into the following groups:

Left and Right Front
Centre
Left and right surround
Front L and Right height
Rear Left and Right Height
Subs

I have adjusted the frequency range for each support group to match the speakers lower range spec

i wanted to know (as i am hearing conflicting reports/articles) in regards to the Sub group, am i right in saying that there should not be any other speaker groups supporting this? my front left and right, centre, surrounds and atmos all have an extension range down to 50Hz

Also in regard to each one of the other groups is it best to have each group being supported by the other groups

Should the atmos groups be supporting the other groups?

Thanks for the help in advance

You can support the sub group, it will just support the range that your support speakers can handle up to 150 hz

 

[Tanquen]

I got an email from them today, advertising ART for Denon receivers. I know it's a difficult question to answer, but is it worth it? Are you going to need a golden ear and have to repeat stuff back to back with a an A/B switch between two receivers to tell any difference or does it genuinely make a difference?

I tried their non-ART stuff on the Denon 6700H last year but I ended up returning it. I was unable to tell any difference in audio quality and because they removed QMS, (for some reason your $2k to $5k HDMI switch can't do a good job at HDMI switching or support all/basic HDMI functionality) it kept going to a black screen that required a power cycle and it broke PC HDMI audio to the receiver. At the time, Denon refused to acknowledge any of it and told me I needed to send in the brand new receiver for service. So they could scratch it up and send it back telling me there's nothing wrong with it, no thanks.

 

[jtatknox]

I got an email from them today, advertising ART for Denon receivers. I know it's a difficult question to answer, but is it worth it? Are you going to need a golden ear and have to repeat stuff back to back with a an A/B switch between two receivers to tell any difference or does it genuinely make a difference?

I tried their non-ART stuff on the Denon 6700H last year but I ended up returning it. I was unable to tell any difference in audio quality and because they removed QMS, (for some reason your $2k to $5k HDMI switch can't do a good job at HDMI switching or support all/basic HDMI functionality) it kept going to a black screen that required a power cycle and it broke PC HDMI audio to the receiver. At the time, Denon refused to acknowledge any of it and told me I needed to send in the brand new receiver for service. So they could scratch it up and send it back telling me there's nothing wrong with it, no thanks.

If your system has enough speakers that can play 20-150Hz and you don't already have a perfect acoustic environment it is very audible. For me it was worth it, for others maybe not so.

 

[javajaws]

If your system has enough speakers that can play 20-150Hz and you don't already have a perfect acoustic environment it is very audible. For me it was worth it, for others maybe not so.

Due to location constraints my 2 subs are right next to my front L/R towers, which are the only full range speakers in my 7.2.4 setup. Do you think ART would do anything in this case? I think I cutoff the lows to all other speakers around 80 or so (maybe lower on some). I run all Revels: C208, F208, S16 rears, M106 sides, and M80XC on the ceiling.

 

[jtatknox]

Maybe? You basically have only two points in space that can support each other.

 

[scotchrocks]

Due to location constraints my 2 subs are right next to my front L/R towers, which are the only full range speakers in my 7.2.4 setup. Do you think ART would do anything in this case? I think I cutoff the lows to all other speakers around 80 or so (maybe lower on some). I run all Revels: C208, F208, S16 rears, M106 sides, and M80XC on the ceiling.

I would bet that you'd see an improvement. In the past, when I had a traditional Audyssey or DLBC set up, I would set the crossover at 60-80 Hz, and the remaining speakers did very little below the crossover. With ART, I think the support signal range is much more complex than that. In addition to your F208s providing the bulk of the support, the surrounds/ceiling speakers should also be able to provide some ART support in a limited frequency range and level as well.

While I have a third sub, the front two subs are also right next to my towers, and my surrounds/ceiling speakers are also quite small. Even so, the bass is noticeably improved over DLBC. I'd say that if you have always had challenges with bass in your room, ART is very much worth trying.

Anyways, I'm still learning and experimenting with ART settings to determine the best support range and levels in my room. One of my concerns is whether issues will appear at high playback levels and also whether there will be noticeable localization issues with support signals coming from different groups, particularly in movies.

 

[JRR]

I tried it today briefly in my 7.2.4 setup. Despite my room being treated it seems to be making a noticeable difference for the better.

 

[Gadgety]

I would bet that you'd see an improvement. In the past, when I had a traditional Audyssey or DLBC set up, I would set the crossover at 60-80 Hz, and the remaining sapeakers did very little below the crossover. With ART, I think the support signal range is much more complex than that. In addition to your F208s providing the bulk of the support, the surrounds/ceiling speakers should also be able to provide some ART support in a limited frequency range and level as well.

While I have a third sub, the front two subs are also right next to my towers, and my surrounds/ceiling speakers are also quite small. Even so, the bass is noticeably improved over DLBC. I'd say that if you have always had challenges with bass in your room, ART is very much worth trying.

Anyways, I'm still learning and experimenting with ART settings to determine the best support range and levels in my room. One of my concerns is whether issues will appear at high playback levels and also whether there will be noticeable localization issues with support signals coming from different groups, particularly in movies.

ART should give you some additional headroom before distortion appears, since the speakers receive assistance. Eventually it will of course distort. Looking forward to hearing more about your experience once you've tried really high playback levels, and whether you can then localize from where the support signals are coming. If I remember correctly it may occur if you sit near a support loudspeaker.

 

[Daka]

Another thing I found: I can watch at higher volumes and so does my very sensitive to high volume other half. We could easily watch at ref or -5dB without fatigue, whereas before I would not go higher than -10dB and when watching together even -15dB

 

[dlaloum]

Another thing I found: I can watch at higher volumes and so does my very sensitive to high volume other half. We could easily watch at ref or -5dB without fatigue, whereas before I would not go higher than -10dB and when watching together even -15dB

I noticed on some of the graphs people have posted that the distortion levels of the system with ART appear lower than the setup without ART.... this may be what is happening and what has been driving listening fatigue!

 

[EWL5]

Another thing I found: I can watch at higher volumes and so does my very sensitive to high volume other half. We could easily watch at ref or -5dB without fatigue, whereas before I would not go higher than -10dB and when watching together even -15dB

Interesting benefit for ART as my better half is constantly complaining that the volume from the AVR is too loud.

 

[Blueprint]

Another thing I found: I can watch at higher volumes and so does my very sensitive to high volume other half. We could easily watch at ref or -5dB without fatigue, whereas before I would not go higher than -10dB and when watching together even -15dB

I wonder if this is due to the ‘dynamic range’ of comb filtering being reduced. I’ve observed the same with actual room treatment.

 

[jtatknox]

Check out the impulse response correction for the subwoofer channel.

 

[ThELiZ]

Is anyone with ART able to post some before and after spectrogram and waterfall plots?