A guide how to do room correction and use it in Roon

Thanks for the quick reply!

Yeah I was afraid so. I am also looking to get a DDRC-22D to put between my source and my Mini DSP 4x10 (active crossover) but was hoping for a more elegant solution (2 Mini DSP might introduce some audio delay).

I can say that Iā€™ve not had any delay issues with the 22D, I use it to correct the TV sound as well and never had any synch issues. YMMV, and a second box increases the work and time taken.

Good luck.

Personally I donā€™t like the cheaper Mini DSP since they will convert from analog to digital, do the DSP and then back to analog. There are some more expensive versions that takes a digital indata and works as a streamer, in addition to doing DSP, which I have read good things about.

https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd-studio

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Hi

Need some help regarding my specific challenge to do Room EQ. I got myself 2.1 system with KEF R7s and a good DAC/Amp and a SVS SB-3000 sealed sub (please see photo - plz ignore that
this looks messy, its my basement and its unfinished anyways). I am trying to do REW correction via exporting correction filters from REW in the form of .wav files and importing that file to Roon Convolution. At the moment I am matching the SPL on sub and main speakers to 76db and running full range 512K sweeps (please see the results with 1/24 smoothing) using UMIK-1 mic. The sub cut-off is set at 80Hz. All this and I am not happy with the results (See below pic for BEFORE correction, Red line being left and green being right) in the sense that I notice the overall sound is much more balanced after correction applied but the subwoofer just doesnt have that visceral feeling on some songs as it should have, even after I increase its volume. Switch the correction filters off and the boom just makes the sub more noticeable than it should beā€¦again especially from the left speaker/ wall side. I have kept the left speaker at around 1.75ft away from the side wall and both speakers and subs are in line and away by at least feet from the rear wall. I have made the equilateral triangle as well to my seating position.

My questions and places I am getting stuck are:

  1. Do I need to do subwoofer and speaker measurements separatelyā€¦like do I unplug the speakers and then do sub measurements and also switch off sub and do separate speaker measurements? When I did them together as mentioned above, the left speaker with sub seems to have too much boom due to the adjacent wall and corner, although I have tried putting in some sound panels right up to the corner. Even if I did them separately, I wouldnt be able to take out one .wav file for those measurements as the 2 speaker and 1 sub measurement and their correction filters would make 2 .wav files. Again, the way I did it till now (speakers and sub together) - the sub doesnt seem to be loud enough after correction and if I raise the volume too much, the boom just overpowers everything.

  2. Do i use 12DB/Octave or 24DB/Octave slope in sub setting? I am using 24db/octave at the moment in the measurement shown?

  3. Is the cut-off frequency of 80Hz correctā€¦I saw that most people prefer to use this frequency?

  4. Do I need to do any phase/time adjustments as well?

  5. Do I need to change the sub position to right or left - between speakers or outside their space?

Any comments/solutions are appreciated and thanks in advance!

Uncorrected measurement results:

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Iā€™d recommend using psychoacoustic averaging, as well as doing the moving mic measurement with wide streched-out arm, while slowly moving top to bottom side to side front to rear, covering a rather large portion of the roomā€™s volume to even out your modes.

Letā€™s then compare graphs.
Donā€™t forget to show the uncorrected curves as well.

Iā€™d also try without the sub to get a feeling for the speakerā€™s in room response and bass capabilities first.

Doing sweep measurements with fixed mic to obtain and correct for phase may bear the risk of having chosen a null or peak of a mode and trying to correct for it, getting even weirder results.

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Thanks. My bad, the curves are un-corrected measurement results. My comment is now updated.

For this guide, its best to measure with everything in place. And use full-range speakers (it wonā€™t really matter but makes it easier).

Best crossover between speakers and sub depends on the speakers, for example if they play full at 50Hz than its probably best to set crossover to around 60Hz. 80Hz is an upper limit in my opinion, since you will start to lose a little stereo separation if put higher.

This guide donā€™t measure or handle phase, although that dip on 40Hz and up to 70Hz could be phase related (impossible to tell), so I would try setting the crossover at maybe 50Hz and/or change the phase button on the subwoofer.

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Thanks. I will adjust and try

This is an awesome thread. Thereā€™s quite a bit of invaluable information here.

One thing I have found valuable before software room correction is physical correction. I suggest that you take a look at this book and related audio files by Paul McGowan. It may be very helpful to ensure that your gear is deployed as best as possible before moving on to software corrections. Paul is the founder and owner of PS Audio. Heā€™s done a remarkable job by providing an easily understood explanation of various listening techniques and then providing associated audio files to guide the user to optimal setup.

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Fully agree, this is highly recommended. Bought the book and CD and improved the sound quality of my system significantly.

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Even the small changes (like changing averaging to Psychoacoustics suggested by @Marin_Weigel ) has made significant difference for me. I also changed the cross over to 60Hz. The bass isnt as bloated and spacial information is more accurate with less shouting in the mid range.

I will also check this out and see if it further enhances my experience. Do you need to buy the CD as well? or are any of his tracks mentioned (if any) downloadable?

Suffice to say, after just some small changes as mentioned, I am more looking forward to visiting my basement and listening to my fav tracks since yesterday. So thanks, guys!

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You can either purchase physical media or download the files. I chose download so I could load them into Roon. Since my intent was to optimize my system for Roon audio it seemed best to play the files through the complete digital path of my system.

I will check it out. I am also a Roon only person. So will need to download.

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I am not a Roon only person per se. I chose to use Roon and the Audiophileā€™s Guide w/files via Roon since thatā€™s the most complicated part of my two primary listening systems. The vinyl ā€œhalfā€ of my two-channel systems are far simpler. Turntable ā€”> Phono Pre ā€”> Pre ā€”> Amp ā€”> Speakers. The Roon has quite a bit more gear: server, power supplies, switches, fiber, copper ethernet, ethernet to USB or I2S, DAC, Pre, Amp, Speakers etcā€¦ Lots more to influence the sound.

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I noticed one of your speakers is RED indicating you were a little too loud. I wonder if there is a difference if you lowerer the volume a notch to bring it into the green range.

Kind of noob question, getting familiar with REW.

  1. On step 6, when measure left and right speaker individually, should we just move microphone left ear for left speaker measurement? Or each speaker measurement requirement coverage of both left and right ear?

  2. Upon completion of Step 15, Iā€™d imagine the correction based on the REW EQ is already in place with exporting the impulse as wav, and import to Roon Convolution DSP, Step 16 is another another layer or parametric EQ on top of the Convolution?

Thanks

I suggest you leave step 16 for now, thats more a fine-tuning optional step that you can try once you have the base working.

For step 6: I usually measure with circle/spiral movement outside left ear for left channel and outside right ear for right channel. But measuring outside both ears for each channel also works. Btw, be alone because you look like a complete nut when doing it :slight_smile:

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Thanks Magnus, I have tried both method and fairly happy with the initial impression made up to Step 15, it tidy up bass a fair bit (I only match response of up to 1000hz)

One weird thing I noticed, the SPL meter recorded 75db in pink noise (PN full spectrum), but when I measured using RTA the measured db is at the range of 50db instead of 70++db, but I still went ahead and set the target level accordingly I think I still get the improvement

Any idea but SPL meter record 75db while playing PN but when at the same level using RTA it recoded a lot lesser?

Volume diff is probably because of a RTA setting, see below ā€œAdjust RTA levelsā€, and while you are checking this out make sure the other settings are correct:

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Well I can only speak for my custom convolutions that I add to Roon. I had them made after measuring my system with REW. The great things is I can turn them on or off while listening, to experience the difference with one switch! HAF and Mr Thierry gives great customer service as well! My system has never sounded as good as it does without Thierryā€™s help!