How bad is frequency curve?

[OldRaggedDog]

I recently bought a sub and after a bit of fiddling with Umik and Rew that's what I came up with.

* My sub is connected to pre-amp out of my integrated
* So, no high-pass filter
* The only crossover that I use is the one on the sub
* The only phase adjustment that I currently can do is flipping the switch from 0 to 180

I've attached to measurements. One with sub and the other - without one. My left speaker had quite a drop after 60 hz (probably a room mode). But I managed to narrow the gap with the sub crossover set at 60-65 hz.

As to the amount of. bass I currently get - can't say I can tell it's overpowering - just a gentle but noticable touch that makes quite a difference, but the measurement shows a steep rise though.

Any thoughts and comments are welcome.

PS:

My gear:

Amp: Exposure 3010s2
Dac: Exposure 2010s2
Speakers: Focal Aria 926
Sub: Focal Sub 1000 F

 

[staticV3]

A 20dB drop from 6K to 20K is highly unusual..

Focal specify frequency response linearity of 45Hz to 28kHz (±3dB), so this should not be there.

 

[OldRaggedDog]

A 20dB drop from 6K to 20K is highly unusual..

Focal specify frequency response linearity of 45Hz to 28kHz (±3dB), so this should not be there.

Yep, noticed that. There's certainly no luck of upper frequencies in my speakers. If anything, I had to tame them a bit with a thick carpet (as seen on the photo). This probably has something to do with how my measurement mic was set (at 90 degrees). Probably messed up the measurement of upper frequencies, but I heard that's how low frequencies should be measured (may be wrong).

 

[Sokel]

A 20dB drop from 6K to 20K is highly unusual..

Focal specify frequency response linearity of 45Hz to 28kHz (±3dB), so this should not be there.

By the looks, either tweeters are off, or measurement height is way lower or higher than the acoustic center or a mic without cal file.

 

[OldRaggedDog]

By the looks, either tweeters are off, or measurement height is way lower or higher than the acoustic center or a mic without cal file.

I can guarantee that tweeters are fine. Now that you mention it, it's interesting what is the cause. Since I mainly concerned myself with the sub integration I never gave it a second thought, but maybe it's worth thinking about and maybe it also influences how lower frequencies are measured. Maybe something on my laptop causes this. I use the calibration file in dirac (the one meant for 90 degree mesurements)

The mic height also seems to be ok. I placed it right on the pillow I lean against and it's tip was approximately where my ears would be.

 

[staticV3]

This probably has something to do with how my measurement mic was set (at 90 degrees).

That alone cannot explain the drastic roll-off, and should've been entirely compensated for by loading the UMIK's 90deg calibration file.

 

[ZolaIII]

What is length of the room and do you even have a basic PEQ (to cuple, desirable 10 inputs )? If you don't why did you bought 2k sub? What is supposedly low pass filter actually doing (measurements)?

 

[ZolaIII]

Speakers are at about 60 Hz for Linkwitz Riley with port plugged! But 80 Hz with high pass and lot of work to get it measured to actual model is more than desirable and it will still butcher amplifier (that's how Focal's are).

Focal Aria 936 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

 

[Keith_W]

Are you taking the measurements properly? How did you point the microphone? Using a microphone stand? Please take a look at this: REW Help.

 

[OldRaggedDog]

Speakers are at about 60 Hz for Linkwitz Riley with port plugged! But 80 Hz with high pass and lot of work to get it measured to actual model is more than desirable and it will still butcher amplifier (that's how Focal's are).

Focal Aria 936 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

Mine are 926, not 936. I am sure they are similar, but mine requires a little bit less juice. At my listening levels the amp only gets slightly warm.

 

[OldRaggedDog]

What is length of the room and do you even have a basic PEQ (to cuple, desirable 10 inputs )? If you don't why did you bought 2k sub? What is supposedly low pass filter actually doing (measurements)?

Why not? I felt like it. I'd planned to buy a sub and this one seemed OK. It cost me 1400 USD in Europe. I am satisfied with the result too so far and I plan to upgrade components in the future (buying Minidsp Flex in on the list). I am not using any filters and room correction so far. The sound is OK. The right wall amplifier low end on the right speaker a bit but with the sub I managed to make the gap more narrow. No real complains, no ringing, no boominess. So far I only have crossover set on my sub, no other modifications. That's a start anyway and an improvement over what I had without a sub. I can move forward from here.

 

[ZolaIII]

Mine are 926, not 936. I am sure they are similar, but mine requires a little bit less juice. At my listening levels the amp only gets slightly warm.

Same woofers and same lower crossover, port tuning is educated guess but I already told you to plug it. I need rest for what I asked to at least have notion where F room is and first two refractions.

 

[OldRaggedDog]

Same woofers and same lower crossover, port tuning is educated guess but I already told you to plug it. I need rest for what I asked to at least have notion where F room is and first two refractions.

Сan you plese explain what I am to achieve with port-plugging? I assume it's meant to minimize interference between the speakers and the sub at the crossover region? Maybe to achieve a steeper slope? What can I expect from the speakers in terms of frequency response if I were to go ahead and plug the ports? Will anything above 60 hz suffer? By the way, Focals have 2 ports each, the one being on the bottom. May be a bit tricky.

 

[ZolaIII]

Let's see sub alone with low pass filter on it set at 70 Hz. Attach rew measurement files in zipp (compressed) form

 

[OldRaggedDog]

Let's see sub alone with low pass filter on it set at 70 Hz. Attach rew measurement files in zipp (compressed) form

I will have to come back to you later with this. Unfortunately, I haven't saved any measurements so will have to redo them later today or tomorrow. My room dimensions are 18.5 feet in width approximately and 15.4 m in length, but the listening zone occupies only one part of the room.

 

[ZolaIII]

Сan you plese explain what I am to achieve with port-plugging? I assume it's meant to minimize interference between the speakers and the sub at the crossover region? Maybe to achieve a steeper slope? What can I expect from the speakers in terms of frequency response if I were to go ahead and plug the ports? Will anything above 60 hz suffer? By the way, Focals have 2 ports each, the one being on the bottom. May be a bit tricky.

You achive that you lower the port output that is in the way (you don't need it anymore). Slope goes up to somewhere in between 20 dB and port cabinet refractions go down also (because you supresed it). Didn't know about the other one. A 1KW 12" sub is a bit of overkill, two with moderate power would do the same job regarding SPL and better THD. But I understand you wanted to stay on pair aesthetics and alike.

 

[ZolaIII]

Length in the sense of how mains are pointed at. Would be good to see and actual shape of it. So is it 8.5 m? I operate metric only in my head.

 

[ZolaIII]

I will have to come back to you later with this. Unfortunately, I haven't saved any measurements so will have to redo them later today or tomorrow. My room dimensions are 18.5 feet in width approximately and 15.4 m in length, but the listening zone occupies only one part of the room.

Do that and listen to Keith_W. When you have properly done in room measurements and speakers (actual measurements) parameters you have enough to start working on and play with REW room simulator also with them adjusted properly.

 

[OldRaggedDog]

I have attached the measurements. I also tried high-frequency measurements in REW and the curve was flat, not like Dirac measurements. I am sure I am doing everything right but for whatever reason there's a slope in Dirac measurements. Anyways, I am happy with using only REW.

The distance between my speakers is 195 cm, the distance to my listening position is also 195 cm (I've set it up carefully with a measuring tape).

 

[OldRaggedDog]

Do that and listen to Keith_W. When you have properly done in room measurements and speakers (actual measurements) parameters you have enough to start working on and play with REW room simulator also with them adjusted properly.

Also, port plugging indeed made a difference and it seems the bass became more centered even though there was less of it overall. Have to think about it.
The crossover is still approximately at 60-65 (Haven't touched it yet)