This post is a big step for me, involving two things I was completely unfamiliar with prior to finding this outstanding website: REW measurements and room correction. Having overhauled my main system only mere months before stumbling upon the enlightenment of ASR (the system sounds great but no doubt certain things would have been done differently), I vowed to incorporate as much of the excellent advice and expertise here as possible when revamping my desktop rig.
That led me to the Genelec 8320 speakers. These were chosen based on the favorable research on and recommendations of Genelec, the GLM module, and their size. My home office is in a fairly small second bedroom in my Manhattan apartment, and my desk is correspondingly small. The rear ports stand but 6 inches from the front wall, and the listening position is really close (my eyesight sucks and I stare at a computer monitor all day). The rear wall is only about 5 feet behind. Source is Dell XPS desktop (hard drive files and Tidal)->Topping DX7Pro->Genelecs. No subwoofer. Here's a photo:
The mixed iconography of St. Louis Blues and Green Bay Packers logos on the desk may seem incongruous. To make it odder, the truth is I have never lived in either place!
Anyway, here's the REW graph of the speakers before the GLM room correction module arrived. Note this is the average of 4 measurements, VAR smoothed. Two measurements were from center MLP, and one each to replicate "leaning" left and right. Considering the rather extreme nearfield application this struck me as sufficient. I'm also new to this.
You guys certainly know better than I, but this struck me as a pretty good outcome. The high end is really flat and the upper bass less jagged than expected. The absence of a sub is quite apparent, as expected with 4" woofers, and there's a funky room mode at 250Hz-350Hz, but it isn't a major disaster. This left me wondering if it had been worth the marginal expense for 8320s over 8020s PLUS the extra cost for the GLM module.
Here are the results with the GLM freshly installed today. Same setup in every other regard. Note the Genelec desk stands were a special order that will arrive next week. New measurements will be taken, but who knows what, if any, difference they will make.
Apparently that 250-350Hz zone was a little tough to clean up entirely but it's been reduced a bit. And the downshift from 850-1300Hz has also been reduced. Highs are still pretty flat, probably more so on average.
Is the difference noticeable? It sounds great, subjectively, but it sounded great without the GLM correction. I wouldn't claim to have trained ears, and don't feel at all knowledgeable of what a speaker "should" sound like. But the simple fact that there's no wondering what-if probably makes it worth the up-charge over the 8020s. Upgraditis is a terrible thing...
Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hopefully it is useful to someone. Any critiques or criticisms will be welcome and well received - there are no doubt some improvements to be made to the technique here.
That led me to the Genelec 8320 speakers. These were chosen based on the favorable research on and recommendations of Genelec, the GLM module, and their size. My home office is in a fairly small second bedroom in my Manhattan apartment, and my desk is correspondingly small. The rear ports stand but 6 inches from the front wall, and the listening position is really close (my eyesight sucks and I stare at a computer monitor all day). The rear wall is only about 5 feet behind. Source is Dell XPS desktop (hard drive files and Tidal)->Topping DX7Pro->Genelecs. No subwoofer. Here's a photo:
The mixed iconography of St. Louis Blues and Green Bay Packers logos on the desk may seem incongruous. To make it odder, the truth is I have never lived in either place!
Anyway, here's the REW graph of the speakers before the GLM room correction module arrived. Note this is the average of 4 measurements, VAR smoothed. Two measurements were from center MLP, and one each to replicate "leaning" left and right. Considering the rather extreme nearfield application this struck me as sufficient. I'm also new to this.
You guys certainly know better than I, but this struck me as a pretty good outcome. The high end is really flat and the upper bass less jagged than expected. The absence of a sub is quite apparent, as expected with 4" woofers, and there's a funky room mode at 250Hz-350Hz, but it isn't a major disaster. This left me wondering if it had been worth the marginal expense for 8320s over 8020s PLUS the extra cost for the GLM module.
Here are the results with the GLM freshly installed today. Same setup in every other regard. Note the Genelec desk stands were a special order that will arrive next week. New measurements will be taken, but who knows what, if any, difference they will make.
Apparently that 250-350Hz zone was a little tough to clean up entirely but it's been reduced a bit. And the downshift from 850-1300Hz has also been reduced. Highs are still pretty flat, probably more so on average.
Is the difference noticeable? It sounds great, subjectively, but it sounded great without the GLM correction. I wouldn't claim to have trained ears, and don't feel at all knowledgeable of what a speaker "should" sound like. But the simple fact that there's no wondering what-if probably makes it worth the up-charge over the 8020s. Upgraditis is a terrible thing...
Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hopefully it is useful to someone. Any critiques or criticisms will be welcome and well received - there are no doubt some improvements to be made to the technique here.