I enjoy Erin's Audio Corner on YouTube - and he mentions that a flat measured anechoic response would generally result in a gently (downward) sloping in-room response and that's ideal.
I've been configuring an XRK WAW (B80 variant) with my minidsp. For 'reasons' I'm doing it in-situ in a reasonable size room that is very live so I've got plenty of smoothing on, to get the overall tone.
Aside from LR2 at 300, level matching, and a bit of PEQ on the RS225 to flatten it and kill its breakup, there is some subtle input shaping for BS and a slight forwardness between 400 and 1k. The BS is actually more than I expected and may be slightly overdone, I'm going to experiment.
The result is extremely flat - in room. Off axis in room its rather dull but I guess that's expected from the FR driver - there's no PEQ on the B80 itself, the 400/800 is I think a baffle effect.
Is making it this flat on average a good idea? They sound quite different to what I'm used to, mostly in a good way. If anything, I'd think they are a little dull sounding overall.
I've been configuring an XRK WAW (B80 variant) with my minidsp. For 'reasons' I'm doing it in-situ in a reasonable size room that is very live so I've got plenty of smoothing on, to get the overall tone.
Aside from LR2 at 300, level matching, and a bit of PEQ on the RS225 to flatten it and kill its breakup, there is some subtle input shaping for BS and a slight forwardness between 400 and 1k. The BS is actually more than I expected and may be slightly overdone, I'm going to experiment.
The result is extremely flat - in room. Off axis in room its rather dull but I guess that's expected from the FR driver - there's no PEQ on the B80 itself, the 400/800 is I think a baffle effect.
Is making it this flat on average a good idea? They sound quite different to what I'm used to, mostly in a good way. If anything, I'd think they are a little dull sounding overall.
It depends on the synergy between the speaker and room whether it's easy to tune this by ear or not. A complex directivity variation can be a little more challenging, but I'd start with making sense of where you put them, which direction you point them and at which angle you listen to them.
After this I'd try finding a natural tone by ear, ignoring the general advice. I normally agree with what Erin has said here but so much depends...
After this I'd try finding a natural tone by ear, ignoring the general advice. I normally agree with what Erin has said here but so much depends...
Jmansion, I think you are confusing on axis response with room response, which is more similar to the total radiated power in a lively room.
That's what I suspected, its unclear what the implications are. Arguably we place significant emphasis on diffraction effects on (a particular) axis but the power is still there and I wonder if its so much of an issue. Arguably using a full range driver with flattish response would have a curtailed power response and on-axis would need to slope up slightly to compensate, no?
I should say this is the first time I've had a decent sealed box system and its something of a revelation. I've had a cheapish LFE sub before but it wasn't much for music.
Yes. Wideband drivers have a narrow and uneven radiation pattern at high frequencies leading to reflections with an uneven frequency response and a relatively low level compared to that at lower frequencies. The uneven high frequency response will likely largely average out perceptually but the low level will be picked up. This is typically countered by raising the on-axis response as you suggest. Though less than ideal (flat on-axis with a radiation pattern that is perceptually tonally neutral) it is usually perceived as an improvement in the same way a bump at low frequencies is usually perceived as an improvement when the low frequencies are missing.
You are leaving out the the directivity. That has a large influence on the slope and overall power response and interaction with the room. A CD system can have a relatively flat response over the range where the waveguide is working. It's not just the on axis response it's more complicated than that.
Rob 🙂
So - does it imply that I should tweak the on-axis response to make the power response more even, or leave as-is? I'm not too bothered that the system sounds muffled away from where I sit. It is a bit strange after speakers with conventional tweeters though - the room is very live at the moment. It may be 'better' as a result, and I'm just used to a wrong sound. I'll compare with some Rode headphones.