Advise on Audyssey Sound Equalizer installation?


Hi,
I just ordered the Audyssey Sound Equalizer. The EQ is only available through professional installation. However, the installation does not include passive treatments or speaker placement. In a way I can understand Audyssey's philosophy:
"The product corrects for acoustic problems present in your listening area, whether your room has been treated with wall panels and has ideal speaker placement or not"


However, based on my research here, I would be better off treating as many issues as I can before the EQ kicks in.

Any Advice would be greatly appreciated as I am pretty new at this.

My biggest issues:
1) Room Dimensions: 18Lx11'2"Wx8H. The room calculators that I tried actually told me to build a new room! (Although my room is a library. But the book shelves are only on 2 walls.)
2) Bay Window: I will install a (thick) curtain. The EQ has special software for Bay windows.
The bench bay windows problems will be addressed through the EQ by analyzing the "liveliness" & reflective character that the window creates, and creating the appropriate filters, even as it relates to time domain & delay.
3) My Sub:
a) 3 way firing. I am moving it to the back of the room to behind the listening area.
b) Sub has a 65Hz Low Pass Filter that does not optionally shut off. As a result I am forced to do 2 workarounds: 1) x-Over must be 60Hz (My PrePro only does 20 increments. 2)I must use Krell's Enhanced Bass mode. That mode sends the Bass to both the Mains & Sub. So, in a way, the EQ must handle 3 subwoofers. My mains go down to 32Hz. Enhanced Bass is required because of the nature of most x-overs in PrePro's. The x-over does not pass the upper freq of the dedicated .1 channel of the x-over anywhere other then the Sub. (Presumably, the PrePro manufacturers assumes that the sub can handle higher freq then the crossover). The .1 of DD & DTS can upto 120Hz. I looked it up. So If I don't want to completely miss information, I must send the Bass to 3 speakers/subs. Although that's a lot of Bass for such a tiny room. I wonder how the EQ will handle all my Bass. After an explosion, my body rattles for some time.

My listening room is pretty much Sound Proof, in case you are wondering why all this bass is not waking my entire house up. The room used to be a garage and there is thick intallation all around the entire room. I don't hear the door bell or phone ring when I am in there.

Perhaps I can also be helpful for other perspective buyers. Perhaps you want to know how the install went? I expect the EQ to be installed in 4-6 weeks.

Thank you in advance,
Cap
captaincapitalism

Showing 3 responses by kr4

The Audyssey won't care what your config is and will do its best to adjust each speaker optimally.

Kal
I infer from your references to Sumiko that you are using a REL. What you describe is the standard setup for them but not what the majority of sub manufacturers recommend. One issue is that your main speakers still run full range; that limits their power handling and can give higher distortion than otherwise. It also puts a larger burden on the amps that feed them.

That said, you need to use the Audyssey in order to EQ all the channels in that setup. If you used a more standard sub configuration, with BM in the pre/pro and the sub fed via a line-level output, you could use a dedicated sub EQ for it. The Velodyne SMS-1, the R-DES, the BFD come to mind but there are others.

Overall though, you will need to recalibrate the Audyssey every time you make a change in room acoustics and/or equipment and/or set-up and configuration.

Kal
Well, you certainly can use that sub in a 'standard' configuration and the advice you got from Sumiko is, undoubtedly, influenced by their REL connection. (They bought the company.)

If you make sure that the BM is set lower than 65Hz (highest setting of the SF LP filter, unless it can be bypassed), then you have a regular setup.

As for the EQ, it really depends on where your room modes are. Perhaps you should get a copy of RoomEQWizard and do some measuremenst before investing in the Audyssey. I am not trying to deter you but to advise you to measure (and setup and treat) the room before committing to it.

Kal