MRC01
Major Contributor
... A reason some people give for not liking any room equalisation is that ,even at bass frequencies, it messes up the direct sound which they believe they can hear as seperate from the room sound...
I agree, yet with an important reservation: if the EQ gets too strong it starts sounding wonky. For example boosting a bass frequency more than about 6 dB can make it sound bloated, and this shows in group delay and distortion. Room treatment doesn't have this issue, and I've seen it make big differences, sometimes 12 dB or more, without any negative side effects so that's plan A for fixing room modes with EQ as a last resort.I use EQ and have not noticed this effect. I've always found the benefits far outway any possible defects, ...
Question: when correcting higher frequencies, does the reasoning go like this: If the higher frequency rise is caused by certain reflections, use room treatment to reduce those reflections if you can, before resorting to EQ. Because that will address the root cause making the sound cleaner, where EQ just tames the rise yet still clouded by the reflections that are still causing it.