Audio Processor needed: Multi channel to 2.0 (Large Speakers)

[zakazak]

@sigbergaudio can I simply use a tape to mount the mix e.g. on my couch/sofa at my listening position? Or any other "easy home-made" solution since I don't have a tripod?
I guess the mic should face my TV? Or should it face upwards or does it not matter at all?

Thanks!

 

[sigbergaudio]

@sigbergaudio can I simply use a tape to mount the mix e.g. on my couch/sofa at my listening position? Or any other "easy home-made" solution since I don't have a tripod?
I guess the mic should face my TV? Or should it face upwards or does it not matter at all?

Thanks!

You should not place it too close to the wall, and it should be at ear height roughly, so you probably can't tape it directly to your couch, but perhaps put something temporarily in your couch, and the tape it to that, or if you use something like a broomstick or whatever you can perhaps just twist / loop the cable around it. At least 40-50cm from the backwall, in the listening position and ear height. Point the mic roughly towards your TV. It primarily corrects low/mid frequencies so the direction of the mic is not critical.

 

[zakazak]

You should not place it too close to the wall, and it should be at ear height roughly, so you probably can't tape it directly to your coach, but perhaps put something temporarily in your couch, and the tape it to that, or if you use something like a broomstick or whatever you can perhaps just twist / loop the cable around it. At least 40-50cm from the backwall, in the listening position and ear height. Point the mic roughly towards your TV. It primarily corrects low/mid frequencies so the direction of the mic is not critical.

Okay I tried to make a drawing of my seating position Explanation for the drawing in the attachment:

• My couch has a variable/folding head rest with the lowest position in green and the highest position in blue
• Usually it is in the blue position which means my head will be about 40cm away from the wall
• Since the headrest is higher than my head, should the mic be 40-50cm away from my headrest or from the actual wall?

Measurements are approximately & from what I could find in the datasheet of my couch, since I am not at home right now.

 

[sigbergaudio]

@zakazak Nice drawing.

Then you can probably fasten the mic on the couch headrest somehow so that the mic sticks out a bit from the couch (5-10cm) and directed towards the speakers.

 

[zakazak]

@zakazak Nice drawing.

Then you can probably fasten the mic on the couch headrest somehow so that the mic sticks out a bit from the couch (5-10cm) and directed towards the speakers.

Alright, a small stick to create the 5-10cm distance and tons of tape to mount & stabilize it
And I guess with the headrest at the "high position" while the mic is at ear height? See the "pink" addition to my drawing below ;-P

 

[sigbergaudio]

@zakazak I take it you haven't received the X2 yet? The microphone cable is actually quite stiff, and the mic is small and just sticks out of the end of the cable - so if you loop it once into itself (like you're starting a knot), it will stay straight for at least 5cm by itself. So you could tie it in a loop and then tape it (and it's not very heavy so you don't need tons of tape)

Here is an official and professional drawing indicating how that would look (red line is the couch, black wiggly line is the microphone cable and mic in the end).

And here's a pic of the microphone cable and mic at the end:

 

[zakazak]

@zakazak I take it you haven't received the X2 yet? The microphone cable is actually quite stiff, and the mic is small and just sticks out of the end of the cable - so if you loop it once into itself (like you're starting a knot), it will stay straight for at least 5cm by itself. So you could tie it in a loop and then tape it (and it's not very heavy so you don't need tons of tape)

Here is an official and professional drawing indicating how that would look (red line is the couch, black wiggly line is the microphone cable and mic in the end).


View attachment 260337


And here's a pic of the microphone cable and mic at the end:

It was delivered today but I am not home yet Thanks for the info regarding the stiffness of the cable. That will make it easier!

Oh and that drawing.. my god.. you are better than Picasso! Thank you a lot. I will report back on how the results are ;-)

 

[zakazak]

@sigbergaudio so I did a quick first calibration. The results are interesting but I have mixed feelings:

There seems to be a lot less drone in my room.
How ever, the bass it self is a lot lower as well.
I changed the bass range to +9 on the DSPeaker X2 (which is maximum) to get back some "effects" in movies but I guess it is just nonesense to put it that high?

My unit is pre-used so I am not sure if all my settings are resetted after calibration or are adjusted by the person who used it previously?
Bass range +9
Bass Filter: 320 Hz (4 of 5 bars)
Mid range: 0
Mid Filter: 1 (-|-----|-)
Mid Fc: 1,5
High range: 0
High Filter: -----|.| (so the most right setting, that should be 1,5kHz?)

Also regarding firmware update:
It is hard to know if my firmware update failed (because the usb stick is not supported) or because the latest firmware is already installed. I tried it several times but not much is happening.

The LED is way to bright. I wished there was a way to dim them.
I like it that even after removing the power source (master switch on my audio system) it still remembers volume / settings / input.

 

[sigbergaudio]

@sigbergaudio so I did a quick first calibration. The results are interesting but I have mixed feelings:

There seems to be a lot less drone in my room.
How ever, the bass it self is a lot lower as well.
I changed the bass range to +9 on the DSPeaker X2 (which is maximum) to get back some "effects" in movies but I guess it is just nonesense to put it that high?

My unit is pre-used so I am not sure if all my settings are resetted after calibration or are adjusted by the person who used it previously?
Bass range +9
Bass Filter: 320 Hz (4 of 5 bars)
Mid range: 0
Mid Filter: 1 (-|-----|-)
Mid Fc: 1,5
High range: 0
High Filter: -----|.| (so the most right setting, that should be 1,5kHz?)

Also regarding firmware update:
It is hard to know if my firmware update failed (because the usb stick is not supported) or because the latest firmware is already installed. I tried it several times but not much is happening.

The LED is way to bright. I wished there was a way to dim them.
I like it that even after removing the power source (master switch on my audio system) it still remembers volume / settings / input.

You can dim the LED, check the manual.

To experience less bass is very normal. Often takes a few days to get used to. That you need to set the bass range to +9 sounds a bit strange. Perhaps you should at least dial back on the range (to 2 or 3 bars instead of 4) in that case. Which speakers did you have again?

With regards to firmware I'm not sure how to assist. There's a new firmware around the corner, so when that comes out you'll at least know that it's not that you already have it if it fails. There's only been one update I think since it came out so perhaps you already have it.

 

[sigbergaudio]

@zakazak BTW: Are you sure you selected 2.0 and not 2.1 when you did the calibration? If you select 2.1 it will filter out everything below 80hz (you don't want that).

 

[zakazak]

@zakazak BTW: Are you sure you selected 2.0 and not 2.1 when you did the calibration? If you select 2.1 it will filter out everything below 80hz (you don't want that).

I selected 2.0

I use 2x Magnat Zero 8
Specs in german: https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Magnat_Zero_8
Specs in dutch: http://www.magnat.tv/o5.shtml
Does that give any information on which range I should select with those?

Subsonic FIlter probably off?

Btw, should I set the range and filters before or after calibration (as in, do the settings take effect during the calibration? Or will it calibrate with "0" settings and then after the calibration the settings will be taken into concern?)?

Another thing I noticed: The input signal on the display of the DSPeaker X2 usually hits the top/max when using my PC as source. That means I should lower the volume on my PC?

Thanks regarding the display brightness lol. I read the manual 10 times but always skipped it. Now I also found out how to reset the device, which I will probably do.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I selected 2.0

I use 2x Magnat Zero 8
Specs in german: https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Magnat_Zero_8
Specs in dutch: http://www.magnat.tv/o5.shtml
Does that give any information on which range I should select with those?

Subsonic FIlter probably off?

Btw, should I set the range and filters before or after calibration (as in, do the settings take effect during the calibration? Or will it calibrate with "0" settings and then after the calibration the settings will be taken into concern?)?

Another thing I noticed: The input signal on the display of the DSPeaker X2 usually hits the top/max when using my PC as source. That means I should lower the volume on my PC?

Thanks regarding the display brightness lol. I read the manual 10 times but always skipped it. Now I also found out how to reset the device, which I will probably do.

You can set subsonic filter off, but you won't hear a difference it's set so low anyway. The range and filters can be adjusted after calibration. You can probably lower the volume on the pc then, not sure if it's a concern. not sure how that display thing works.

 

[zakazak]

Alright I did a complete reset because I was unsure how much the settings (range & filters) have been altered already.
This is the graph right after reset + calibration.
I guess brown = before calibration and green = after calibration.

Doesn't look tooooo flat to me but it also only shows 0-250Hz?

With stock settings + calibration it takes out all the drone but also all the "boom" effects in movies.
Additionally I kinda like my music with a bit more bass (e.g. Harman 2018 Target).
So for now I only changed one thing: bass range +2dB

 

[sigbergaudio]

Alright I did a complete reset because I was unsure how much the settings (range & filters) have been altered already.
This is the graph right after reset + calibration.
I guess brown = before calibration and green = after calibration.

Doesn't look tooooo flat to me but it also only shows 0-250Hz?

With stock settings + calibration it takes out all the drone but also all the "boom" effects in movies.
Additionally I kinda like my music with a bit more bass (e.g. Harman 2018 Target).
So for now I only changed one thing: bass range +2dB

How did you get those graphs?

 

[zakazak]

How did you get those graphs?

Just attach a USB drive to the device and then start it.
The LED display will show a short "Loading bar" from left to right.
After that it will start up completely and the .svg files will be written onto the USB drive.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Just attach a USB drive to the device and then start it.
The LED display will show a short "Loading bar" from left to right.
After that it will start up completely and the .svg files will be written onto the USB drive.

Interesting, didn't know that.

Well, it looks pretty flat below 100hz except dips, which EQ typically can't fix. In general you seem to have some pretty significant dips, that needs to be fixed by placement and/or subs (if you want them to be fixed).

The large peak at 40hz is probably the reason why movies feel quite different now. I suggest you stick with your +2/+3 lift in the bass for a few days and see if you can get used to how this sounds, for music especially.

 

[zakazak]

Interesting, didn't know that.

Well, it looks pretty flat below 100hz except dips, which EQ typically can't fix. In general you seem to have some pretty significant dips, that needs to be fixed by placement and/or subs (if you want them to be fixed).

The large peak at 40hz is probably the reason why movies feel quite different now. I suggest you stick with your +2/+3 lift in the bass for a few days and see if you can get used to how this sounds, for music especially.

Ye but tbh if I raise the bass with +2/3dB, then the freuency response will look pretty much the same as without the calibration?
Basically it didn't do anything for me besides lowering the 40Hz peak (according to the graph).
At the same time I could just reduce the bass on my amplifier by a few dB.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Ye but tbh if I raise the bass with +2/3dB, then the freuency response will look pretty much the same as without the calibration?
Basically it didn't do anything for me besides lowering the 40Hz peak (according to the graph).
At the same time I could just reduce the bass on my amplifier by a few dB.

You got rid of two significant peaks at 20hz and 40hz, as well as a few smaller ones. Unfortunately the graphs don't have a Y-axis, but your room is typical that 40hz peak is likely 6-10dB, not 2-3. So that's a quite significant change (as you can hear in your movies). If you increase the bass the response will stay the same, so it will still be flatter and without the peaks. But yes, your response is still far from perfect, you will need a sub for that.

The bass tilt feature also gives you more control over the bass by allowing you to fill in some of the missing bass from 100hz. Based on the response you should probably change the tilt-feature to just 1 or 2 stripes (starting the tilt at around 80-120hz), and then try adding perhaps 3-5dB.

 

[zakazak]

You got rid of two significant peaks at 20hz and 40hz, as well as a few smaller ones. Unfortunately the graphs don't have a Y-axis, but your room is typical that 40hz peak is likely 6-10dB, not 2-3. So that's a quite significant change (as you can hear in your movies). If you increase the bass the response will stay the same, so it will still be flatter and without the peaks. But yes, your response is still far from perfect, you will need a sub for that.

The bass tilt feature also gives you more control over the bass by allowing you to fill in some of the missing bass from 100hz. Based on the response you should probably change the tilt-feature to just 1 or 2 stripes (starting the tilt at around 80-120hz), and then try adding perhaps 3-5dB.

Hey, thanks for the suggestions.

So the X2 Bass Filter (it has the following steps: 80 / 120 / 200 /320 /500 Hz) regulates the starting point at which the filter starts to increase low frequencies when dips are present. It doesn't effect the decrease of peaks?

Currently it is at 200Hz.
Reducing it to e.g. 80Hz would mean that it could increase the frequency response on big dips to make it more flat with 80Hz being the starting point?
e.g. the dips at 60Hz, 110Hz, 160Hz, 170Hz

But there is no way to see on the graph how the new response looks like after applying those changes?
I guess I could connect the mic to my laptop and run e.g. REW with it?

 

[sigbergaudio]

Hey, thanks for the suggestions.

So the X2 Bass Filter (it has the following steps: 80 / 120 / 200 /320 /500 Hz) regulates the starting point at which the filter starts to increase low frequencies when dips are present. It doesn't effect the decrease of peaks?

Currently it is at 200Hz.
Reducing it to e.g. 80Hz would mean that it could increase the frequency response on big dips to make it more flat with 80Hz being the starting point?
e.g. the dips at 60Hz, 110Hz, 160Hz, 170Hz

But there is no way to see on the graph how the new response looks like after applying those changes?
I guess I could connect the mic to my laptop and run e.g. REW with it?

It doesn't do anything with the correction, it tilts the current frequency response. So say you set it at 100hz and +2dB, then the response below 100hz would look exactly the same only 2dB higher (gradually increasing to 2dB from 100hz). The shape of the curve/response would not change.

So it will not really reduce the dips, but will make the entire bass area louder. The reason I'm saying start at say 120hz, is that you have a wide dip at 90-120hz, so you'd want to increase that in relation to the higher frequencies. So you don't want to start the tilt at 300hz, because then all the midbass is lifted too.


You would need a calibrated mic (UMIK-1 for instance) to use REW.