Audyssey Room EQ Review

[martijn86]

Have you made control measurement with REW to check how Audessey did it or was it just your listening impressions?

Everything by ear. However much I can appreciate perfect engineering in my signal chain, eventually my ears need to be satisfied with what comes out of the speakers.

 

[QMuse]

Everything by ear. However much I can appreciate perfect engineering in my signal chain, eventually my ears need to be satisfied with what comes out of the speakers.

Sure, that is the final goal. But you cannot possibly knew what exactly went wrong unless you measure.

 

[martijn86]

Sure, that is the final goal. But you cannot possibly knew what exactly went wrong unless you measure.

No that's true. I would be very interested to know what caused the bad results but my only ability was to just run the wizard several times at different calibration points and play with the app settings.

 

[Bear123]

And now we have to ask ourselves if we prefer a two channel dac with a SINAD of 110 dB, or a multichannel dac (11 channels) with RoomEq but a SINAD of “only” 99db. Or even only 90db. (I know we would all say “a multichannel dac with a SINAD of 115db” but there isn’t one available...)

What’s more important? What’s audible and what’s not? Should we tone down the ranting against AVR’s?

And we haven’t yet touched the very important (according to Toole) issue of multiple subwoofer integration, since unfortunately there weren’t any available for the test.

@amirm could you please test the app with limited correction at 500Hz?

Outside of the "pure 2.0 channel" audiophile community, I think it is widely known that dual subs, room eq, and sub eq is vastly superior to two speakers in a room without subs and eq for high fidelity. 80 or 90 dB SINAD in a proper system is going to have much higher fidelity than any 2.0 system regardless of SINAD. This does not include extreme examples such as $100 crap speakers vs Salon 2's. Besides, even with extremely high SINAD DACS, quite a few systems with massive, expensive audiophile amps end up with a SINAD no better than AVR's due to the signal from the amp.

It doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for better engineering and performance from AVR's. The 3600 test shows good performance is possible even at very low cost. With a good pair of properly placed subs, its impressive how good of a job Sub Eq HT does with the response.

 

[massimo1974]

I wonder why Denon doesn't fit out their 2ch amp with Audyssey

 

[Bear123]

I wonder why Denon doesn't fit out their 2ch amp with Audyssey

My guess is that it doesn't appeal to the beliefs of the 2 channel audiophile community. Just having that feature included would tarnish the purity of the signal. Even worse, it would have to include bass management and subwoofer outputs.

 

[gfx_1]

My Marantz SR6007 has an older version of Audyssey but I leave it off. I didn't like the end result and no app to adjust things.
The noise level of testing annoys the cats and having listened for a long time without room correction I'm probably used to it.
But it is interesting stuff so one day I'll try again...

 

[wwenze]

I have mixed experiences with Audessey. On my previous speakers, the B&W 683 S2's, the result was very good. If it wasn't for the room EQ, I would have gotten rid of them way earlier. It was essential on those speakers because it brought dynamics and detail to the sound. Dynamic EQ provided some excitement when set to -10/-15dB and watching movies at low volume.

Because Audessey was so essential to the performance of the B&W's, I stuck with a Marantz AVR as a pre-amp. It was also interesting to see that there were slight differences in measurements and corrections using the internal amplifiers, a Crown amp and a Hypex amp. The internal AVR amps really didn't like to do corrections where the speaker dipped below 2 Ohm it seemed.

When I traded my B&W's for a set of Klipsch Forte III's, my current speakers, I naturally tried Audessey immediately. The result was terrible! All of the bass was gone, the rest was a mess. I tried a lot of customization but nothing could come close to... No Audessey. Maybe it got confused because of the rear passive radiator and two way horn combination? I don't have a clue but I took my chance to finally throw out the AVR and got a Yamaha WXC-50 streaming pre-amplifier. The experience improved enough to warrant saving up for a Matrix Audio Element I.

Let me finally just underline that you really do need the app when using Audessey. Out of the box results are not optimal.

Different room-eq give different results. This is why I still tune by ear in the end. Measurements are good when dealing with weird shapes in the response, but if it still sounds uneven to the ear I still trust my ear. As an added bonus tuning by ear compensates for any uneven response of the ear, too.

 

[rvsixer]

The noise level of testing annoys the cats...

I've heard of those weak enough to actually accept and put up with WAF.... but not CAF lol.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

I wonder why Denon doesn't fit out their 2ch amp with Audyssey

The signal must be pure until it reaches speaker binding post.

 

[jhaider]

Measurements of Audyssey in my system (pre-app, so no way to defeat the counterproductive midrange notch or flatline LF tuning):

https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews...rantz-av7702-surround-sound-processor-review/

https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews...eceivers/denon-avr-x4100-a-v-receiver-review/ (includes a lesson on why the “Flat” target curve should never be used!)

IMO Audyssey is a underrated. It largely performs as claimed. The app, while cumbersome to use compared to Dirac or ARC, allows a user to undo the target curve features that likely led to its bad rap.

 

[MZKM]

I might have to dig out my AVR-x5200W and give this a go. Never used room correction before, see what happens.

Thanks for this, Amir.

I believe your model is too old to support the app.

 

[KKoen]

It seems that there is a problem in the microphone measurements,
because the black curve after 4khz drops abruptly
which is not normal for Salon 2 speakers

 

[koro]

My guess is that it doesn't appeal to the beliefs of the 2 channel audiophile community. Just having that feature included would tarnish the purity of the signal. Even worse, it would have to include bass management and subwoofer outputs.

Yes, I’ve read many discussions of people worried about wether their amp or even volume knob digitises their pure(ist) analog signal, and what’s the point of vinyl then and such.

Yamaha makes a stereo receiver with YPAO room correction, the R-N803, which I’m afraid has not had a great success (just guessing)

 

[Caligari]

It seems that there is a problem in the microphone measurements,
because the black curve after 4khz drops abruptly
which is not normal for Salon 2 speakers

He HAND HELD the mic so of course they're off.

 

[AudioJester]

Amir, can you share your "audiophile" playlist? Curious what you listen to when evaluating subjectively.

 

[fordiebianco]

I believe your model is too old to support the app.

Thanks for the heads up! Looks like you are correct.

 

[Cahudson42]

I'm confused. I got the idea Amir did this Audessey test in stereo only - his two L and and R Salons..Am I wrong? Were there Surrounds and/or more?

Leads to question:; With Audessey XT32 can you (does it?) adjust every channel, and can you do it individually, or does it 'try to fit the curve' using every speaker defined together? Or just the FR/FL?

Anyone able to either post a PDF App User Manual? The Audessey section of the 3600 manual?

 

[audioBliss]

It seems that there is a problem in the microphone measurements,
because the black curve after 4khz drops abruptly
which is not normal for Salon 2 speakers

Yes, might be an issue with microphone placement. You should place microphone 90 degrees and use 90 degree calibration file. Microphone should point to the ceiling. Incorrect placement should have a more negative effect on measuring bass region though. As long as correction is not done above 2-300Hz I would not stress too much the high frequency weirdness, but I would do a near-field measurement to make sure the tweeter is working properly.

 

[MZKM]

I'm confused. I got the idea Amir did this Audessey test in stereo only - his two L and and R Salons..Am I wrong? Were there Surrounds and/or more?

Leads to question:; With Audessey XT32 can you (does it?) adjust every channel, and can you do it individually, or does it 'try to fit the curve' using every speaker defined together? Or just the FR/FL?

Anyone able to either post a PDF App User Manual? The Audessey section of the 3600 manual?

From Denon’s site for the app:

• Edit the Audyssey target curve for each channel pair to suit your tastes.
• Adjust the EQ frequency adjustment range for each channel pair.
  

So, I’m guessing it works for even the 13ch models.