Do you let Audyssey correct the frequency from 20Hz to 20kHz or do you limit the range? I see a lot of people online saying they limit the frequency correction to 200 to 500 Hz, but I don't see much empirical evidence or a full length explanation on why? For one, I don't think Audyssey will taper off the highs (above 10kHz) without allowing the frequency range correction to 20kHz. Any thoughts? Thanks!
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Audyssey MultEQ Frequency Range
- Thread starter luft262
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I do full range correction with Audyssey and Dirac because in all cases I had my highs elevated without it. It's mostly due to the speakers I use and their positioning - for example KEF R3 near-field is a bit bright (although it probably won't be in mid to far field) and my Infinity R263 are bright by design (seen on measurements).
If the measured FR is closely matching the target I would try both and pick whichever I like. Room correction is a powerful tool for customizing the sound to personal taste and preference.
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I have Audyssey MultEQ XT32 on my AVR-X4300H, and I limit the correction to about 900 Hz in my room. I do this because when I tested with my Focal Aria's, I preferred the way this sounded for music (not having the correction applied to mid/upper frequencies).
See my post further down for graphs of how my system responds.
Note that when limiting the correction range, Audyssey does still control the roll off over the entire range, so Audyssey Flat and Audyssey Reference will still have a different high freq response even if you limit the correction. It's easy to measure with REW and see the difference. I wish it didn't do this, but it does. For 2 channel music I use Flat because I feel Reference rolls the highs off more than I like for music. For multi-channel (video sources) I do prefer the high freq roll off, so I use Reference.
See my post further down for graphs of how my system responds.
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- Thread Starter
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Wow! That's really good info. Thanks! I assumed if you didn't correct all the way to 20kHz there was no roll off. Glad to know that's not the case!
The general argument for not using room correction above a certain frequency is that it can change the direct sound to compensate for measured reflections, which sometimes sounds worse, because humans don't hear like mics do. We don't hear the sum of the FR at higher frequencies, instead we hear reflections and direct sound separately.
Limiting Audyssey's range is weird because as mentioned above, it will still modify the upper frequencies under some conditions and it's very confusing what the end result will actually be. So I prefer to just leave it on and then modify the target curve with the app if I don't like what it's doing.
Limiting Audyssey's range is weird because as mentioned above, it will still modify the upper frequencies under some conditions and it's very confusing what the end result will actually be. So I prefer to just leave it on and then modify the target curve with the app if I don't like what it's doing.
The frequency limit is not taken into account by the Flat curve (i.e., it is always full range), while it is taken into account by the Reference curve (e.g., no roll-off). That is with the mobile app. I do not know with the new PC-based application.
The confusion goes away reminding that the corrections applied using the mobile app are valid only for the Reference curve.
My experience with limiting the frequency range is more related to the "border" between the corrected and not-corrected ranges: sometimes the link between the two areas is not "perfect".
I am currently limiting the range to 1 kHz, just because in my conditions Audyssey does not correct too much above that frequency, hence I prefer to keep the sound of my speakers untouched.
Unfortunately, there's more to it than that. If you use dynamic EQ, Audyssey will apply its alterations to your full curve no matter what you have selected in terms of correction range.
There may be other gotchas. In general, you can't rely on the frequency limiting to prevent Audyssey from making changes above the threshold frequency so I just don't consider it useful.
That is true indeed, DEQ will boost the high frequencies in any situation, with or without frequency limit and regardless of the Reference or Flat curve.
At the same time, there no infinite combinations: MultEQ, DEQ, DV
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I just did 5 quick sweeps of my system that has Audyssey and confirmed my earlier beliefs weren't exactly correct. I am limiting Audyssey to 900 Hz on my front speakers. My volume was set to -30 dB so that DynEQ measurements would be dramatic. My 5 measurements were:
- Audyssey turned off
- Audyssey Reference
- Audyssey Flat
- Audyssey Reference w/ DynEQ
- Audyssey Flat w/ DynEQ
- Audyssey Reference follows the same response as Audyssey Off above 900 Hz, as configured in the app.
- Audyssey Flat lifts the frequency response above 500 Hz compared to Reference (does not respect the cut off set in the app)
- Dynamic EQ applied to either Flat or Reference appears to simply boost the bass frequencies from the very bottom up to about 300 Hz (on a declining curve) and then boots the high frequencies starting around 8 kHz. Other than the simple boost, DynEQ does not appear to mess with the room response.
- Thread Starter
- #11
Very informative. Thank you!
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You're welcome! As to why I limit the frequency range, it's because my room stops having a big influence in the response somewhere between 800 and 900 Hz and Audyssey doesn't do much past that (same as @Sancus), so I just prefer to let my Focal's be themselves after that.
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As previous posts suggest, if you are using a separate audio analyzer program like Room Eq Wizard (REW), you can compare your system's frequency response with Audyssey on (full range correction) and Audyssey off. That will show whether Audyssey is solving any problems at higher frequencies. If the Audyssey on and off curves are almost parallel above 500 Hz then Audyssey isn't needed above 500 Hz.
BTW, I typically use 1/12 octave smoothing when plotting full-range frequency response curves. I think more smoothing (1/6 or 1/3 octave) obscures details too much, while with too little smoothing the curves become too noisy for visual comparison.
BTW, I typically use 1/12 octave smoothing when plotting full-range frequency response curves. I think more smoothing (1/6 or 1/3 octave) obscures details too much, while with too little smoothing the curves become too noisy for visual comparison.
This is *EXACTLY* the issue I am sitting over here right now. I limited its frequency in the app to 350hz, assuming it would only alter the lows (and also playing with OCA's script), yet I can clearly hear that the mids are more present with Audyssey entirely off in the AVR. (This has nothing to do with MRC, by the way).
Audyssey does something to the mid-range, softens it, despite me having limited its range to 350, I feel like its "neutering" my speakers.
I can try to set limiting range even lower, but I am afraid I don't know what it actually does without measuring...otherwise one could possibly compensate with a house curve...
Audyssey does something to the mid-range, softens it, despite me having limited its range to 350, I feel like its "neutering" my speakers.
I can try to set limiting range even lower, but I am afraid I don't know what it actually does without measuring...otherwise one could possibly compensate with a house curve...
