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JBL goes Dirac Live ready and Class-D

I'm curious about the actual improvement from Dirac with Subwoofer control to ART. I can't imagine it to be massive. I just don't see how it could be.
Subjectively it may or may not be subtle - that depends on what your room issues are, how many subs you have and how they are distributed through the room!

Objectively here are the measurements the first using just Dirac Live EQ and the second using Dirac ART - both on my 5.2.4 setup (but the height speakers are not used for support - although they ARE supported)

DL-RC.jpg


DL-ART current setup.jpg


Like I said, your room is different to mine, your results will be different to mine - but the above shows that with only the addition of Dirac ART, I have almost totally resolved room related peaks and troughs in the bass response - the end result is as close to a perfect bass response as anyone can expect to achieve in a domestic environment.... in fact it is more than that, it is absolutely exceptional for pretty much any environment short of a specialised anechoic chamber..... really astounding.

You can still see the room related resonance at around 140Hz but it is now well controlled, and the other resonances and nulls have been almost completely eliminated.... it really is a level of performance I did not believe to be achievable at home.... but I was wrong, ART does in fact achieve it.

P.S. I never compared DLBC to ART, as I use full range towers for my L / R / SL / SR - and with DLBC these would simply be crossed over and their bass capabilities left unused..... hence I jumped straight from DL-RC to DL-ART, and skipped the DLBC step. Reports from many others, are that DLBC cannot achieve the decay control that ART achieves.... but you would need input from those who have tried it, which isn't me!
 
Right now, if you have any interest in Dirac ART, the Denon and Marantz AVR's are the only game in town, unless your budget can stretch to Storm...

I quite like the JBL's but their support even in their "premium" range has been very patchy the last 4 to 5 years, and there is really no guarantee that they will support Dirac ART. (they might, the processors on board are certainly sufficiently capable, but Harman now own D&M, and the bean counters may limit how much they spend on the integration development work needed to enable ART on the JBL platforms)

So right now, I would be short listing Denon and Marantz...

Personally I am hanging tight for a couple more months to see who else jumps into the ART capable marketplace.

Monoprice is expected with an update to the HTP-1, Tonewinner's AT600 is also expected, there is a vague possibility that PAC will bring it to Onkyo/Integra, and we have heard nothing from other Dirac using AVR/AVP manufacturers....

If you can hold tight for a while, I expect there will be various announcements at and around CES 2026 in January...

If you need to jump aboard immediately, then I would suggest Denon or Marantz... Denon is better value and equivalent performance to Marantz in North America (and some other regions)... in Europe the two are priced pretty similarly, so it becomes an aesthetic choice.

JBL MA series - technically interesting, efficient design, good specs.... but they haven't earned my trust, and there has been no mention of upgrades to Dirac ART.
Looks like JBL has entered the ring with Dirac ART:
“The JBL Synthesis SDP-60 and SDP-70 address this demand with 16- and 24-channel processing, matrix channel assignment, and Dirac Live Active Room Treatment.”


A respected JBL dealer has told me that these are not D&M internally.
 
Subjectively it may or may not be subtle - that depends on what your room issues are, how many subs you have and how they are distributed through the room!

Objectively here are the measurements the first using just Dirac Live EQ and the second using Dirac ART - both on my 5.2.4 setup (but the height speakers are not used for support - although they ARE supported)

View attachment 510520

View attachment 510521

Like I said, your room is different to mine, your results will be different to mine - but the above shows that with only the addition of Dirac ART, I have almost totally resolved room related peaks and troughs in the bass response - the end result is as close to a perfect bass response as anyone can expect to achieve in a domestic environment.... in fact it is more than that, it is absolutely exceptional for pretty much any environment short of a specialised anechoic chamber..... really astounding.

You can still see the room related resonance at around 140Hz but it is now well controlled, and the other resonances and nulls have been almost completely eliminated.... it really is a level of performance I did not believe to be achievable at home.... but I was wrong, ART does in fact achieve it.

P.S. I never compared DLBC to ART, as I use full range towers for my L / R / SL / SR - and with DLBC these would simply be crossed over and their bass capabilities left unused..... hence I jumped straight from DL-RC to DL-ART, and skipped the DLBC step. Reports from many others, are that DLBC cannot achieve the decay control that ART achieves.... but you would need input from those who have tried it, which isn't me!
Thanks for posting this. Coincidentally I just got done reading your posts on this in the AV30 thread on AVS. It's very convincing. I now want ART also.
 

€7,099
Yeah I'm not interested in paying that much for something that will likely be out dated in 10 years. Just feel like there should be something between a 1300 dollar AVR and a 8000 dollar one.
 
We did some SBT testing after I first installed ART.... 3 household members (including me) all agreed that the Dirac Live was clearer than the raw signal, and all agreed the further clarity improvements happened with ART...

Subjective SBT responses have been consistent and positive... with subjects being M62, F56, M12

As I have stated before we (as a family) prefer listening at lower levels - my preferred level of 75db often has to be toned down to 70db when sharing.... so high SPL has not been something that has been really tried... results at our chosen listening levels are exemplary (as measured) and subjectively excellent.

There may be some scope for improving imaging by adjusting support levels and support group allocations.... something for a rainy day or 10...

Thank you very much for sharing the results.
 
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