Audyssey Room EQ Review

[thewas]

Hmm is there any recommendations settings/options when using the app though that should work well?

This is my first time doing room EQ so I have no idea what's most "accurate" vs most"pleasing"

Which loudspeakers do you have?

 

[Yviena]

Which loudspeakers do you have?

Both fronts/surrounds are dynavoice definition DM-6 on speaker stands with their definition center speaker, and a dynavoice thunder t-12 sub.

My room doesn't sound particularly reverberating,as I have a 6 seater corner couch in the back of the room.

 

[thewas]

https://www.av-online.hu/hangfal/dynavoice-definition-dm-6-allvanyos-hangfal-teszt_936/2
The DM-6 seem to be quite neutral except some 3-4 dB too hot highs, maybe you can orientate your target curve there, namely follow it till the upper mids and then continue its trend being few dB lower than the measured response without EQ, unless you like it voicing as it is, then you can limit the correction till approximately 1000 Hz.

 

[Yviena]

https://www.av-online.hu/hangfal/dynavoice-definition-dm-6-allvanyos-hangfal-teszt_936/2
The DM-6 seem to be quite neutral except some 3-4 dB too hot highs, maybe you can orientate your target curve there, namely follow it till the upper mids and then continue its trend being few dB lower than the measured response without EQ, unless you like it voicing as it is, then you can limit the correction till approximately 1000 Hz.

Hmm yeah they do seem pretty neutral there, I will probably get good results just putting it 3-4db lower around the 4-11khz area.

I wasn't even looking at measurements of the speakers when I bought them, but seems I was lucky, and made a good choice, the lackluster bass extension they mention the sub(s) will take care of that.

 

[RC231]

I turn my surrounds down a few dB after Audysaey due to DEQ, which I love other than surround levels being too obnoxious.

Do I have to do this in the app when I upload a curve? I feel my surrounds are way too loud but I like DEQ on the bass at lower listening levels.

 

[Chromatischism]

Is there a reason why EQuing to flat is undesirable, isn't that what the mastering engineer has so shouldn't that be most accurate?
I'm using my 5.1 setup in a nearfield configuration so maybe it's different then but flat sounds pretty good for me.

Because we need to differentiate between flat in room and flat from an anechoic perspective. Flat in-room sounds very bright and fatiguing.

 

[Chromatischism]

Do I have to do this in the app when I upload a curve? I feel my surrounds are way too loud but I like DEQ on the bass at lower listening levels.

You can do it in the app or in the Levels menu in the AVR. I'd recommend doing it in the app because that will save it as part of the preset and will be loaded again without requiring fiddling if you change presets.

 

[Grandzoltar]

From my measurements in rew the surrounds with deq on follow the 75 dB average better then the LCR. All cases may be different but in my case using an spl meter I found I had to increase the level of my LCR to match the surrounds to achieve the 75 dB average. I have not tested this against deq off but I never toggle that setting anyways.

 

[acousticdelight]

Hi all, I am a new forum member and also new to the world of measurements! I recently purchased some Revel speakers, F35 and C25. I took some measurements using the umik-1 and REW. I own a Denon X3300 AVR.

I am wondering why the center sounds a little thin with not much bass. I was wondering if this is because of my room or positioning or the speaker itself which is sealed and -3db point of 80Hz? I would appreciate some help from the experts here!

Here are the measurements from REW without audyssey correction from just the main listening position (dead center about 10 ft from the center). The left and right are about 6.5 ft apart and are about 2.5 ft from the back wall. I have a Monolith ultra 12 inch ported sub crossed over at 80 Hz, but I ran these measurements as "large" and audyssey turned off. I am not sure why there is a delta in bass response between the mains and center. My previous center was a smaller ported 4 inch JBL 520C, and I felt that had more bass in my room at the exact same position, so a little confused

 

[Chromatischism]

Hi all, I am a new forum member and also new to the world of measurements! I recently purchased some Revel speakers, F35 and C25. I took some measurements using the umik-1 and REW. I own a Denon X3300 AVR.

I am wondering why the center sounds a little thin with not much bass. I was wondering if this is because of my room or positioning or the speaker itself which is sealed and -3db point of 80Hz? I would appreciate some help from the experts here!

Here are the measurements from REW without audyssey correction from just the main listening position (dead center about 10 ft from the center). The left and right are about 6.5 ft apart and are about 2.5 ft from the back wall. I have a Monolith ultra 12 inch ported sub crossed over at 80 Hz, but I ran these measurements as "large" and audyssey turned off. I am not sure why there is a delta in bass response between the mains and center. My previous center was a smaller ported 4 inch JBL 520C, and I felt that had more bass in my room at the exact same position, so a little confused

My read of this is that your left and right speakers are being boosted by room modes while your center is not so much. I suggest you run Audyssey XT32 up to about 350 Hz via the app, with Dynamic EQ on, and see if it levels things out. Then report back.

 

[acousticdelight]

My read of this is that your left and right speakers are being boosted by room modes while your center is not so much. I suggest you run Audyssey XT32 up to about 350 Hz via the app, with Dynamic EQ on, and see if it levels things out. Then report back.

Thanks a lot! I just took some measurements with audyssey and DEQ turned on. The first graph is the center when set to large with DEQ on. The rest are set to small and various subwoofer crossover frequencies of 80, 90, 100 and 110 Hz. I do see a good amount of bass boost with DEQ on. Thanks, that helped! I have to see how it sounds. Based on these graphs, is it better to crossover higher for this speaker?

I am fairly new to this, so I am trying to understand these measurements better. Would I be able to get a smoother response by boosting certain frequency ranges where there are peaks/troughs using the curve editor app or Ratbuddy? Thanks!

 

[Chromatischism]

You will want to set all speakers to small so that your subwoofer crossover works properly, as you have shown.

Your response looks good overall and I doubt that sounds thin at this point. To further diagnose bass issues and to choose crossover settings, set your horizontal axis to 15-300 Hz.

I would then start with the sub distance tweak. That is, adjusting the "distance" setting of your subwoofer until you find the smoothest blend around the crossover point. Add or subtract one foot until you find it getting worse, then back off and refine the numbers. Then test crossover settings again with the new optimized distance.

Finally, listen. There is always the potential for a higher crossover setting to measure smoother but not sound as clean.

 

[acousticdelight]

You will want to set all speakers to small so that your subwoofer crossover works properly, as you have shown.

Your response looks good overall and I doubt that sounds thin at this point. To further diagnose bass issues and to choose crossover settings, set your horizontal axis to 15-300 Hz.

I would then start with the sub distance tweak. That is, adjusting the "distance" setting of your subwoofer until you find the smoothest blend around the crossover point. Add or subtract one foot until you find it getting worse, then back off and refine the numbers. Then test crossover settings again with the new optimized distance.

Finally, listen. There is always the potential for a higher crossover setting to measure smoother but not sound as clean.

Great! I didn’t realize subwoofer distance will have an effect on the crossover blend. I will give this a try and let you know. Thanks for the tip!

Also, is it possible to smooth out some of the peaks and drops in the mid range (like around 500 Hz drop) using the audyssey custom curve?

 

[Chromatischism]

Great! I didn’t realize subwoofer distance will have an effect on the crossover blend. I will give this a try and let you know. Thanks for the tip!

Audyssey optimizes multi-subs and how they blend together, but it doesn't optimize their blend with the speakers. Here you will have to make a choice: do you want the best blend to be with the subs + L/R speakers, or with subs + center speaker? The distances are different so one will probably not be perfect for both. Generally I think it's recommended to blend with the center speaker for movies and TV. This would be a case where putting your final distances into the Audyssey results in the app and saving that would allow you to switch between them. I run without a center speaker so I only have one configuration. You may get lucky and end up with both being "close enough".

Also, is it possible to smooth out some of the peaks and drops in the mid range (like around 500 Hz drop) using the audyssey custom curve?

You certainly can. In my system it sounds best left alone but everyone should experiment.

 

[acousticdelight]

Audyssey optimizes multi-subs and how they blend together, but it doesn't optimize their blend with the speakers. Here you will have to make a choice: do you want the best blend to be with the subs + L/R speakers, or with subs + center speaker? The distances are different so one will probably not be perfect for both. Generally I think it's recommended to blend with the center speaker for movies and TV. This would be a case where putting your final distances into the Audyssey results in the app and saving that would allow you to switch between them. I run without a center speaker so I only have one configuration. You may get lucky and end up with both being "close enough".


You certainly can. In my system it sounds best left alone but everyone should experiment.

I tried changing the sub distance and various crossovers and listened to my system. I kind of liked the 80 Hz crossover for all three with an optimal sub distance of 11.6 ft. These are the final averaged responses over many positions of the three speakers with DEQ enabled and 80 Hz crossovers.

Apart from speaker placement strategies, do you think there are room treatment options that can fix some dips in the mid-range? For example, all channels seem to have a dip in the 250 Hz and 700 Hz ranges. Or should I just try to boost those frequencies in Audyssey curve editor?

 

[KKoen]

The measurements you make must be in the same positions as the ones you had put the audyssey mic.
Can you show us the diagrams of the app (green-red) from all the speakers and sub ;

 

[acousticdelight]

The measurements you make must be in the same positions as the ones you had put the audyssey mic.
Can you show us the diagrams of the app (green-red) from all the speakers and sub ;

Thanks, these are the before and after curves of audyssey. I guess I took a couple of extra measurement points with Audyssey (behind the couch as positions 7 and 8), whereas REW was entirely taken with points 1 to 6 of audyssey. I turned off MRC and applied audyssey to the entire frequency range with DEQ turned on. The curve is default reference with High Frequency Roll Off 1.

 

[Chromatischism]

For positions 7 & 8 I put the mic on the back of my chair, which is not up against a wall. If it were I would skip them entirely. I've always been sort of dubious about how important they are.

And according to Audyssey, the points are a guide and don't have to be strictly followed, as long as you give them proper spacing (about a foot between them). But as pointed out, when using REW it is important to measure using the same points as Audyssey so you're comparing apples to apples. I do follow the on-screen guide just so I have consistency.

How does it sound? If you look at the lift it gave from 1-5 kHz they will sound noticeably brighter. I know from my countless fiddling that I don't like that and would set the cutoff to 1 khz or lower. I currently use 350 Hz. I would listen to some music you know well and start dialing it back and see if you hear improvements. That will tell you which you prefer.

 

[KKoen]

I suggest measuring the sub and the speakers to verify the effects of the app.
Then put a crossover 80 and measure speakers + sub
The distances of the speakers and sub as measured by the app.
All measurements you make will be with deq off.
If all goes well you will need to give a curve over 1khz depending on your tastes. Usually you need a downhill of 4 db at least up to 20khz
If you can change the position of the sub for a smoother response you will have better results.
Is the center speaker mounted on a piece of furniture?

 

[acousticdelight]

For positions 7 & 8 I put the mic on the back of my chair, which is not up against a wall. If it were I would skip them entirely. I've always been sort of dubious about how important they are.

And according to Audyssey, the points are a guide and don't have to be strictly followed, as long as you give them proper spacing (about a foot between them). But as pointed out, when using REW it is important to measure using the same points as Audyssey so you're comparing apples to apples. I do follow the on-screen guide just so I have consistency.

How does it sound? If you look at the lift it gave from 1-5 kHz they will sound noticeably brighter. I know from my countless fiddling that I don't like that and would set the cutoff to 1 khz or lower. I currently use 350 Hz. I would listen to some music you know well and start dialing it back and see if you hear improvements. That will tell you which you prefer.

Thanks, that makes sense. Yes, it did sound a little bright for me. I will limit the correction and see the effects. I will also rerun both Audyssey and REW to make sure they are consistent in positions to get a fair comparison later this week.

I do have good amount of spacing for positions 7 and 8 behind the couch. Actually there is a staircase and an open shelf under the staircase behind the couch. I think I prefer to equalize around my main seating area, so will experiment with a different set of positions as well.