EQ'ing room

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Member Since: Feb 12, 2011

Hi there, new to the forum.

I am no audio specialist however i know a tiny bit (video is more my thing). I am attempting to EQ my speakers to fit my room better.

I have a reference mic set up at listening position connected to a minilyser ML1. A pink noise wav playing through itunes and then through my TAPCO S5 loudspeakers.

I am EQ'ing with a program called Hear.

I have EQ'd so that the minilyser is showing a flat frequency response across the audio spectrum (to about 2-3dB).

I then play some music through the system and it sounds absolutely shocking. Yet the frequency response is showing pink noise as flat?

Anyone know where i am going wrong?

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MASSIVE Mastering, LLC
Member
Since: Aug 05, 2008


Feb 12, 2011 11:29 am

It's not possible to EQ a room into accuracy. And if your room is showing only a 2-3dB deflection from flat, you have, by far, the greatest room ever created (in other words, something is very, very wrong).

At risk of beating a dead horse, broadband trapping. Lots of it. GIK, RealTraps, etc. Avoid foam at all costs, packing blankets, etc., as those are only going to hurt the situation until the low end is under control.

Those are just the "universal starting points" -- I'm still wondering why your room is showing a +/-3dB response when it should be more like 30 or 40dB... Although I suppose (in theory, as I've never actually tried it) you could EQ a single point in space to show "reasonably flat" at that point in space, but if you move even an inch or two away (much less, the distance from one ear to the other), that measurement is going to mean absolutely nothing.

As far as EQ'ing a system to taste -- Not a big problem there (heck, most powered monitors have some sort of adjustment built-in to the amplifier section). But that isn't going to help a bad space... NOTHING will help a bad space except for fixing the space.

The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Feb 14, 2011 10:14 pm

I would also like to add that even thou the response looks to be flat, you need to look at the phasing as well.

Many times when you see a flat trace, your seeing the result of a phase cancellation. In other words, it looks good, but sounds like crap.

The only program that I know of that can measure both, is Smaartlive 7. You can download it for free for a thirty day trial. Which should all you need to get the room close to be as flat as it can be.

Here is a link www.rationalacoustics.com/pages/Smaart_Download

By looking at both the trace and phase, you can start to find ways of dealing with the problems in your room. Now, just because the program will show you the problems, doesn't mean it can be fixed by moving the trace up or down.

As MassiveMaster pointed out, low end in a room is EXTREMELY hard to control. Most of the time, the bass wave is to large to fit in the space that your listening to. Which leads to exaggeration of the harmonics of the bass.

High passing the bass is one of the ways of eliminating some of the harmonics. But also removes the information from your reference monitors. Bass absorbing material helps as well, but still does nothing for the traps that still occur from a wave that is too large. it takes a lot of give and take to get things even close to flat.

Hope the information the MM and I gave you helps.

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