Newbie question: My room BOOMS at 146Hz. I started noticing it today and it's now ruined listening.

[dominikz]

So, bumping this for a bit more advice.

I've been holding off on purchasing a calibrated mic because I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and get it bundled with a miniDSP 2x4 HD, and then from looking at that, wondering if I should pony up a further $160 to get the version with the Dirac Live license (branded as miniDSP DDRC-24).

I understand amrim's review of the miniDSP 2x4 found it's DAC quality to be wanting but I suspect the defects there are less than what I'd notice, while the EQ improvments to sound should be very obvious. I believe the 2x4 HD's hardware would also let me later add a powered subwoofer to my system via it's crossover functionality, so I'd kind of be killing two birds with one stone.

So... 1. does that sound like a good plan, vs just getting a mic and doing it via my Mac, and 2. Would paying the extra $160 for Dirac Live be worthwhile over using the free REW? Convenience is definitely worth something to me, especially as I'm currently moving my desk around not infrequently so if it saves me significant time each time I re-calibrate that would be worth it.

If you can borrow a measurement mic from someone you could test Dirac Live trial in your setup without any additional HW to see how you like it. You can order the free 14-day trial here: https://live.dirac.com/pro-audio/

Note that you would need to download both Dirac Live 3 application + Dirac Live Processor plugin to do the measurement and generate the correction, after which you run the generated correction using just the Dirac Live Processor plugin.

However you would need to setup a host application to run the Processor plugin in it, some instructions for MacOS here:
https://live.dirac.com/content/uploads/2020/03/setupaulabwithdlp.pdf
https://live.dirac.com/content/uploads/2020/09/macos-multichannel.pdf

 

[robo]

Thanks - I don't know anyone to borrow a mic from unfortunately.

I got impatient and decided to go for it - ordered the DDRC-24 kit. It came to $476 but I am hoping it will make a significant difference. And my thinking is that if it does not, I can sell the system for most of what I paid for it.

 

[dominikz]

Thanks - I don't know anyone to borrow a mic from unfortunately.

I got impatient and decided to go for it - ordered the DDRC-24 kit. It came to $476 but I am hoping it will make a significant difference. And my thinking is that if it does not, I can sell the system for most of what I paid for it.

If you already went for it, personally I think chances are good you'll enjoy it

In my experience Dirac Live is not too difficult to use and tends to work well if you aim for a reasonable target curve. My suggestion would be to start by limiting the correction to the problem area (below room transition/Schroeder frequency - in my room that's around 200Hz), or if doing a full-range correction to follow the speakers natural in-room measured response upward from the transition frequency.
Also I wouldn't try and extend the speaker's natural LF response as that might stress the speakers - IMHO it is best to keep the natural LF cutoff.

As far as DAC in the miniDSP box is concerned, I wouldn't worry to much about it not being SOTA - the sound quality gain from taming room resonances should more than compensate for that, IMHO.

EDIT: Note that I haven't used any miniDSP products, and my experience with Dirac Live is limited to the PC version - so I guess there could potentially be differences with miniDSP version.

 

[robo]

Thanks for the reassurance I realize this will make the DSP component the most expensive part of my system, but hey...

 

[SplitTime]

@robo

I've been trying to learn how to do measurements and make corrections as well. I recently posted some measurements and what I was able to do with filters playing through JRiver here: Revel Salon2, B&W 802 D3, or similarly priced speakers + Benchmark chain?

The corrections did make a significant difference; but I'd much rather have a hardware solution if I can figure out what would get me there. So please keep us posted on your findings.

BTW - I am running REW on a Mac Book Pro (natively).

Cheers, and I wish you success!