Are Room Acoustics for Me?

[Crook]

Hi,

long time lurker and objectivist, 1st time poster.
I'm looking for some assistance please.

I have a very modest set up with Wiim mini (Amazon HD) -> JDS Labs el dac ii+ -> Fosi V3 Stereo -> Revel F206 / SW150 Sub (only 1 free corner for the sub to go in).
I am therefore totally constrained on placement in a 38m2 multi-use family room. There is really only 1 place it can all go. I also have a relatively fixed listening position for the same reason.
I'm in my 50's and spent the1990's in extremely loud house music clubs, so it's fair to say I have age related and usage hearing loss.

Can any room acoustics analysis or treatment work for me?
Is there any software / microphone I can use to analyse and produce a parametric EQ for room correction for the WIIM?
I don't want to spend $ on new equipment.

Is this pointless for what I have, or can I achieve improvements?

Thanks in advance for any advice I can receive.

Mark.

 

[staticV3]

Hi @Crook! Welcome to ASR.

Can any room acoustics analysis or treatment work for me?

Yes.

Is there any software / microphone I can use to analyse and produce a parametric EQ for room correction for the WIIM?

From least to most expensive: HouseCurve App for iOS -> Micbooster EM258 -> miniDSP UMIK-1

Is this pointless for what I have, or can I achieve improvements?

You can definitely achieve improvements.

 

[Crook]

Hi, excuse my ignorance, is it the case that HouseCurve is the software, that can then be used with either internal mic on iphone, EM258 or UMIK1 external microphones?

Thanks.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

You can definitely achieve improvements.

Let me expand a bit on that.

You can clean up the bass, which should give you more clarity in the midrange. You can also be very specific in boosting treble, to compensate for hearing loss. You can of course boost treble with tone controls, but with measurements you can apply correction to where YOU have hearing loss in more specific ways.

While graphic eq can help with these, parametric eq lets you address problems more narrowly, leaving other frequencies alone.

I have also found better speaker placement. At one point I had a 20db null at 200hz... with a specific set up and listening position. That was unfixable. Moving things around... different problems but not unfixable ones.

UMIK-1 +REW is likely the most cost effective thing I have used to get the sound I want in my room... and at my office. And my wife's studio. Worth every penny and hour spent.

 

[staticV3]

Hi, excuse my ignorance, is it the case that HouseCurve is the software, that can then be used with either internal mic on iphone, EM258 or UMIK1 external microphones?

Thanks.

Correct.

If you do not have an iOS device, then you can use Room EQ Wizard to develop an EQ.

A laptop is handy since you can record directly in REW, otherwise you can export a measurement sweep as .WAV from REW, play it back on your system, record the output with your phone, then import the sweep and recording into REW to compute the result.

 

[Crook]

Hi Pareto, I looked a REW online, so another option for me. I do have speaker and sub wiggle room in terms of toe in, or placement from rear wall etc. So I should move and measure, move and measure? I think between you guys I have enough to make a start here. I can see the room acoustics for beginners thread below, so I should go read that also.

Many thanks to you both, most helpful.

 

[Multicore]

Hi, excuse my ignorance, is it the case that HouseCurve is the software, that can then be used with either internal mic on iphone, EM258 or UMIK1 external microphones?

I have used HouseCurve software on an iPad with a UMIK1 and USB cable and a calibration file from Cross-Spectrum Acoustics.

House curve is made for iPad and I'm not sure it works on a phone. It's author is a participant on this forum.

If you have a laptop you can use REW.

 

[Crook]

I have access to both, so would there be any major difference here, is one software considered better than the other? ipad is more convenient for me.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

So I should move and measure, move and measure?

A little knowledge and a lot of experimentation works for sure, and that describes me. I'm no expert that's for sure.

What I did was do some bracket measures at a few locations, then tried to think about what might happen in between those locations. For example...

Too close to the wall behind your main speakers will have too much bass, too far away not enough bass (general rule). So that's a good place to start. Three measures might do the trick, or might not, but three should give you some idea of where they should go for the bass you are looking for.

I would suggest you do 9 to start, three different distances from the front and side walls. That's a good starting point for knowing your room.

Have fun!

 

[Crook]

I just found the "Room Measurement Tutorial for Dummies Part 1" thread, with a REW walkthrough, so I'm going to start there. No point trying to work it out for myself, with such good resources here. Thanks again.

​

 

[staticV3]

I have access to both, so would there be any major difference here, is one software considered better than the other? ipad is more convenient for me.

REW is designed for manual work and powerful enough for very advanced, in-depth room correction. See e.g: https://www.youtube.com/@ocaudiophile

Most of this you can't make use of anyway, with just the WiiM's 6-band Parametric EQ.

HouseCurve OTOH is designed for beginners and as such automates most of the process.

Since you already have an iPad, I'd recommend you use that.

You can use HouseCurve with the iPad's built-in mic to get started, then upgrade to an external Mic later on if you want.

Hopefully, by that time @Greg Wilding will have implemented an RTA function to facilitate Moving Microphone Measurements

 

[Crook]

Understood. Wiim is 10-band now, but regardless I am certainly a beginner, so I need to start at that level. I will take your kind advice.