I recently had a home theatre customer who wanted me to "tune everything up to sound perfect in this room". We discussed using DSP and he was firm that it was a last resort. His logic was that his speakers aren't going anyplace anytime soon so why not match them right into the room as much as possible...
So now I'm wondering how many of us actually tune our crossovers and cabinets into our listening rooms.
So now I'm wondering how many of us actually tune our crossovers and cabinets into our listening rooms.
I only ever tune for a flat frequency response (or as best as I can get). As you move around the room dips and peaks in the response change. The other thing to consider is the fact that you hear a mixture of direct and reflective sound. How much you hear of each is hard to say. Obviously the closer you are to the speakers, the more direct sound you will hear.
When a mate had a peak in the low frequencies I found it easier to say where the problem was using my ears rather than the microphone (the mic picked up two peaks but only one was a problem). He just played a series of test tones and I listened for the loudest one. One notch filter later and it was gone...
When a mate had a peak in the low frequencies I found it easier to say where the problem was using my ears rather than the microphone (the mic picked up two peaks but only one was a problem). He just played a series of test tones and I listened for the loudest one. One notch filter later and it was gone...
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Use REW and any uncalibrated microphone to find the best frequency response (lowest deviation from flat of peaks and dips) below 150 Hz while moving loudspeakers (front L+R) around the room (also, the listening position). The same for the subwoofer.
Then, make the listening room more dead using acoustic absorbers, if watching movies and listening movie sound effects is the primary goal. On the other hand, music requires optimum room ascoustic reverberation.
Then, make the listening room more dead using acoustic absorbers, if watching movies and listening movie sound effects is the primary goal. On the other hand, music requires optimum room ascoustic reverberation.
Okay, maybe I didn't explain this well enough. Lets try it from a different tack.
Back in the day, I had a pair of JBL-L100s...
These guys had front panel L-Pads for adjusting the midrange and tweeter levels. It was common to place the speakers for best effect and then fine tune them with the L-Pads. Essentially this was matching them to the room. Often the settings on each speaker would be a bit different.
My customer asked me if I could to this for his Fluance speakers. It would mean going inside and modifying the crossovers, which I suggested might not be his best plan.
So my curiosity got to me and I was wondering how many of us actually do adjust midrange and tweeter levels for the room we're in... Not with DSP, inside the speakers themselves...
Back in the day, I had a pair of JBL-L100s...
These guys had front panel L-Pads for adjusting the midrange and tweeter levels. It was common to place the speakers for best effect and then fine tune them with the L-Pads. Essentially this was matching them to the room. Often the settings on each speaker would be a bit different.
My customer asked me if I could to this for his Fluance speakers. It would mean going inside and modifying the crossovers, which I suggested might not be his best plan.
So my curiosity got to me and I was wondering how many of us actually do adjust midrange and tweeter levels for the room we're in... Not with DSP, inside the speakers themselves...
Nope. I haven't accepted the job yet. Not sure I will.
Plus, custom installation is how I make my money.
The room has little effect above 500 Hz (except if it is excessive live or dead), so the loudspeaker frequency response should be fairly flat - no need for L-pad controls. On the other hand, many loudspeakers are (deliberately?) not flat (usually with exaggerated tweeter), so I made crossover modifications on several models of commercial loudspeakers. But you need measurement equipment and sim software for that.
Bottom line:
"Tuning loudspeakers into a room" is wrong. Tuning crossover to get flat loudspeaker frequency response is OK.
DO NOT modify the crossovers of your client's loudspeakers, because it voids the loudspeaker warranty, and more importantly, if something went wrong (blown drivers, etc), the client will blame you! If necessary, use amplifier tone controls.
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I haven't been in there with the spectrum analyser yet but listening in the room my impression is that it's a bit on the bright side with what appear to be a couple of low midrange modes.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's wrong. It's old school, that's for sure but I don't have a problem with tweaking sound at the speaker itself.
Not to worry ... I've been in the game for quite a while. It's nothing I can't handle. I was just curious to see how often it's done.
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You can deal with this by moving the speakers. There is no strictly perfect room location, and you have to go looking for something that works.
There are some constraints in this case since he has a projector screen at one end. But yes, moving speakers around is always the first thing I do.
(I am new here, but not new to the trade.)
Of course it would be so much better to be able to play around with midrange and tweeter padding, so in that sense I am all for it. Still, that would present significant work to make it blend well with the rest. Perhaps a complete mod of the xo filter with additional Lpads on new boards would be a better approach and leave the original electronics with wires intact, just in case. Good luck with whatever you decide!
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