Spectrum analyzer?

the spectrum analyzer is useless is you cannot alter the anomalies of your room.
In other words, the analyzer will show you the peaks, nulls in your room but thats it.
I bought a Goldline RTA few years back and while it showed me the peaks and nulls in my room, that all it did.
It tried using traps and panels, while it did improve it did not really cure my peak in my room which was around 60-80 hz.
I was about to sell the analyzer since it stayed most of the time in the box.
It was not until I bought a Accuphase digital voicing equalizer that i was able to exploit the use of the RTA.
Given that I had a peak of 63 hz in my room at +8 db, which the RTA showed, I then use the Accuphase bring up the 63 hz frequency and with a stroke of a pen, pull it down to about -7 db. Problem solved and everything begin to make sense.
In short, RTA is useless unless you have some sort of equalizer to alter your frequencies or room acoustics. But room acoustics is a bit tricky as in my experience, it did something else but not really cure the peaks in my room. If it did, just a small bit compared to the Digital room correction.

Another option as many guys said here is to use the Tact or Lyndorf room correction. THese works very well.

"the spectrum analyzer is useless is you cannot alter the anomalies of your room. In other words, the analyzer will show you the peaks, nulls in your room but thats it."

The RTA can only show you the frequency response in your room. It cannot identify variations in FR as peaks and nulls due to room modes since it cannot show you the room response with respect to time. Corrections based on RTA, only, are chancy.

Kal

Kr4...You say "Corrections based on RTA, only, are chancy."

Perhaps, but the $350 I bet on my first DEQ2496 has paid off better than any other expendature on my audio system.

As the saying goes "Don't let the search for perfection prevent the very good".

I said "chancy" intentionally; it does not mean that they never work. Besides, flattening the bass response, by itself, is advantageous.

Many people have had excellent results with the DEQ2496 using REW as the tool for setting up the filters. I do not know what tools for measurement are built into the DEQ2496, itself.

Kal

pc/laptop, nice sound card, like echo layla firewire + any condenser mic arround $100usd.-$200usd.
rode, mxl, adk, audio-technica, etc...

+ any software, from free Mda vst plugins to generate noise, to izotope ozone RTA to analize noise, to cubase/nuendo or sonar scope, to RME scope meter, etc..

but the best RTA its your ears,
make everything as silent as possible , then clap real hard
if you listen something other than your hands clapping, thats what you need to fix.

i dificult room could need +-24dB of EQ in some bands,
a good treated room needs less.
the sound of every eq its a bit diferent.

square rooms are dificult.
rectangular are better.
etc...