This is a review and detailed measurements of the Onkyo AccuEQ room/speaker equalization. I tested it as part of the Onkyo PR-RZ5100 AV Processor which I recently reviewed. The capability may be different in different models.
The setup is too messy to show the picture of it. Indeed my listening room looks like a disaster area after I setup an entire new system to test this processor. So once again I am going to show you a picture of the room before this nastiness happened:
While the system calibrated both systems, for my evaluation of its accuracy, I focused on the Revel Salon 2 speaker to the left. The subwoofer is no longer there and was not used.
I sat through the calibration sounds and I must say, this thing plays more different types of sweeps/noise/ticks than all the systems I have tested combined! Seems like a hodgepodge of different schemes with their own excitation signals.
The mic is the dirt cheap puck that comes with the lowest of low end mass market AVRs.
I was surprised that the calibration was for one seat only! This is a home theater processor. That is rarely a singular activity. And it is not rocket science to measure multiple points and spatially average them. Maybe they are worried about patents or something. Such calibration is fine for single person listening to music or something but may make bass response much worse for other seats in the room. Fortunately there is some indirect mitigation as you see later.
There seems to be two subsystems here: an EQ and a room mode (called standing wave) filter. You can selectively turn each on.
All in all, the process worked smoothly and the AVP detected the room noise, set the volumes to something sensible, and found the right number of speakers.
Room EQ Measurements
To check what the auto eq system is performing, I thought I measure the system with all EQ off but using the Onkyo supplied microphone on my laptop. This way we are "hearing" what its internal algorithms are receiving. This is the results with no eq and with standing wave filters on:
We see a pretty sharp drop in high frequency response. I wonder if there is an internal calibration for this. For this test it doesn't matter as we are just interested in bass frequencies. There, visually only two changes are there in the two peaks. The AVP shows these filter settings. I went there (sorry no picture) and there are only three filters. Lowest frequency is 63 Hz which rules it out for a number of room modes. While the two peaks were detected correctly, the EQ level that was dialed in was just 1 db! The 105 Hz could have been pulled down good 4 to 7 dB. Likewise the 130 Hz one could have used 2 to 3 dB reduction.
Fortunately the filters can be modified after the fact which is a nice benefit over all or nothing systems in these products. So you could measure your room and dial them down more. Of course if your room mode is at lower frequency than 63 Hz, then you are stuck.
To see the effect of "speaker EQ" I turned on that mode ("AccuEQ ON") in addition to standing wave filter:
This seems to be some kind of target wave which decided to roll off the two aforementioned room modes further which is a good thing. What is not a good thing is the dip that it inserted in the mid-frequencies. Why or why? Is it trying to emulated the mistaken idea in Audyssey EQ?
AccuEQ Room EQ Listening Tests
I performed all of my listening tests post calibration but prior to making or seeing the measurements. The standing wave effect was subtle but positive. The measurements show why: reduction of that high peak at 105 Hz even by just 1 dB has a good effect in reducing boominess a bit and allowing more details in the higher end spectrum to be heard.
Turning both modes on was mostly positive. Again, measurements show that the room modes were reduced further which helps fair bit. Sucking out the mid-range is not good of course so this is a bit of a mixed bag.
Conclusions
The Onkyo AccuEQ is a very limited system. Within its bounds, it rules with a super gentle hand when it comes to dealing with room modes. I would use it to find the peaks. Then plug in the mic into a laptop, feed its HDMI out to the AVR and run your own measurement and tune the level as needed.
The target curve system seems broken to me with the dip that it inserts in the response. Onkyo's marketing material does not show this by the way:
It also shows a heck of a lot more correction than what I saw. It does show the deficiency in the microphone high frequency response which can effect selection of target response.
Overall, I would take a couple of filters over no filters so if this is all you have, by all means try to use the standing wave correction. Otherwise select a different AVR/processor with more advanced equalization. Little is more important than this in audio, past a good speaker!
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
The meat slaughterhouses in US have been hit hard with Corona virus resulting in a number of plant closures. My wife went out to get meet today and they had put a limit of 3 packages total. That is enough for a human family but not one with nearly a dozen panthers! Granted, one is headless so doesn't eat as much but still, I have to get them raw meat or they will start to chase neighborhood pets! I need to hire someone to go to multiple stores to get enough supply of steaks for them and this cost money. Appreciate you all donating for this good cause using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The setup is too messy to show the picture of it. Indeed my listening room looks like a disaster area after I setup an entire new system to test this processor. So once again I am going to show you a picture of the room before this nastiness happened:
While the system calibrated both systems, for my evaluation of its accuracy, I focused on the Revel Salon 2 speaker to the left. The subwoofer is no longer there and was not used.
I sat through the calibration sounds and I must say, this thing plays more different types of sweeps/noise/ticks than all the systems I have tested combined! Seems like a hodgepodge of different schemes with their own excitation signals.
The mic is the dirt cheap puck that comes with the lowest of low end mass market AVRs.
I was surprised that the calibration was for one seat only! This is a home theater processor. That is rarely a singular activity. And it is not rocket science to measure multiple points and spatially average them. Maybe they are worried about patents or something. Such calibration is fine for single person listening to music or something but may make bass response much worse for other seats in the room. Fortunately there is some indirect mitigation as you see later.
There seems to be two subsystems here: an EQ and a room mode (called standing wave) filter. You can selectively turn each on.
All in all, the process worked smoothly and the AVP detected the room noise, set the volumes to something sensible, and found the right number of speakers.
Room EQ Measurements
To check what the auto eq system is performing, I thought I measure the system with all EQ off but using the Onkyo supplied microphone on my laptop. This way we are "hearing" what its internal algorithms are receiving. This is the results with no eq and with standing wave filters on:
We see a pretty sharp drop in high frequency response. I wonder if there is an internal calibration for this. For this test it doesn't matter as we are just interested in bass frequencies. There, visually only two changes are there in the two peaks. The AVP shows these filter settings. I went there (sorry no picture) and there are only three filters. Lowest frequency is 63 Hz which rules it out for a number of room modes. While the two peaks were detected correctly, the EQ level that was dialed in was just 1 db! The 105 Hz could have been pulled down good 4 to 7 dB. Likewise the 130 Hz one could have used 2 to 3 dB reduction.
Fortunately the filters can be modified after the fact which is a nice benefit over all or nothing systems in these products. So you could measure your room and dial them down more. Of course if your room mode is at lower frequency than 63 Hz, then you are stuck.
To see the effect of "speaker EQ" I turned on that mode ("AccuEQ ON") in addition to standing wave filter:
This seems to be some kind of target wave which decided to roll off the two aforementioned room modes further which is a good thing. What is not a good thing is the dip that it inserted in the mid-frequencies. Why or why? Is it trying to emulated the mistaken idea in Audyssey EQ?
AccuEQ Room EQ Listening Tests
I performed all of my listening tests post calibration but prior to making or seeing the measurements. The standing wave effect was subtle but positive. The measurements show why: reduction of that high peak at 105 Hz even by just 1 dB has a good effect in reducing boominess a bit and allowing more details in the higher end spectrum to be heard.
Turning both modes on was mostly positive. Again, measurements show that the room modes were reduced further which helps fair bit. Sucking out the mid-range is not good of course so this is a bit of a mixed bag.
Conclusions
The Onkyo AccuEQ is a very limited system. Within its bounds, it rules with a super gentle hand when it comes to dealing with room modes. I would use it to find the peaks. Then plug in the mic into a laptop, feed its HDMI out to the AVR and run your own measurement and tune the level as needed.
The target curve system seems broken to me with the dip that it inserts in the response. Onkyo's marketing material does not show this by the way:
It also shows a heck of a lot more correction than what I saw. It does show the deficiency in the microphone high frequency response which can effect selection of target response.
Overall, I would take a couple of filters over no filters so if this is all you have, by all means try to use the standing wave correction. Otherwise select a different AVR/processor with more advanced equalization. Little is more important than this in audio, past a good speaker!
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
The meat slaughterhouses in US have been hit hard with Corona virus resulting in a number of plant closures. My wife went out to get meet today and they had put a limit of 3 packages total. That is enough for a human family but not one with nearly a dozen panthers! Granted, one is headless so doesn't eat as much but still, I have to get them raw meat or they will start to chase neighborhood pets! I need to hire someone to go to multiple stores to get enough supply of steaks for them and this cost money. Appreciate you all donating for this good cause using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/