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EQ

I have a pair of Gik bass traps behind my speakers. They really didn’t help with the main room node, although they were beneficial for reducing more general reflections.
 
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How do I know if I’d benefit from room EQ, or put another way even though my system sounds the best it's ever done, could EQ still improve things? I have Roon but it’s part of my Euphony system and using EQ with it at present isn't a goer. There’s a possibility of incorporation of an EQ solution into Euphony sometime in the future but at present I think I’m looking at a big change if I want to try room EQ (Lyngdorf or a DAC/pre-amp incorporating Dirac or other EQ software).
Thanks
System: Euphony 2 box USB server running Roon to Stylus EP > Teddy Pardo DAC (USB) > TP PR1 > TP MB100 > Revel Performa F208s
 
Billsie,
Run a frequency sweep across 20hz to 20khz and measure the volume at your seating position.
If you have really nasty low end bass peaks, you’ll get a visual representation showing the frequency and amplitude.
 
I've owned, probably, five EQ's. The analogue ones DID color the sound a bit, the digital (used digital in - digital out) does not. But you need some measurement to know what you are doing, As I understand it there are programs for modern mobile phones that can do just that for no or little extra cost (is it?). Don't over do it, though. Don't try to fill in every little nook and cranny, just smoot out the larger peaks. And don't do any in room measured EQ above, let's say 200 Hz, it's counter productive.

BTW, I use a, by now, old Behringer DEQ2496, it has two fancy EQ's and you can measure the response to with a dedicated mic input. I think they are still being made, but there are probably newer, better options. And DON'T use it analogue in - analogue out, it's crap, recently confirmed by a test at https://www.audiosciencereview.com/
 
Rug Doc said:
If listening to anything digital just use the EQ available! Don’t worry about it, things like Roon especially change the output before the DAC, so you’re not effecting the sound quality at all..

I have a set of analogue 30band Rane Eqs which I used to use in car audio comps (so converted to 12v) and they were a godsend, and being analogue (and also combined with a matching active crossover) they sounded bloody awesome.

Here you go - x-over adjustment on the fly…



A couple of tricks were to never eq anything higher than flat, and use an RTA to eq both sides to exactly the same response. Then the speakers disappeared and you were left with a horizontal soundstage wider than the car.
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Rug Doc, what's the car and are there more pic's? I'm an old car audio freak.
 
I availed of Thierry’s expertise and used his Home Audio Fidelity (HAF) program to measure the room, sent off the results and within 2 days received my filters. Tweaked them back and forth for a week or 2 and I’d now rate this as my best upgrade ever.

He did say my room wasn’t too bad and did minor enough changes but I experienced all the old hifi clichés.

https://www.homeaudiofidelity.com/

.sjb
 
RJohan said:
And don't do any in room measured EQ above, let's say 200 Hz, it's counter productive.
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I disagree. If you use it for broad adjustments (not as broad as an amplifier tone control but relatively low Q compared to precise targeting of low frequency modes), digital parametric EQ can work very well for middle and high frequency shaping. My current speakers, for example, have too much output between 500Hz-2kHz for my tastes and I use a parametric EQ filter to bring output in this area down by a couple of dBs. I've also used it in the past to smooth out a gentle bump between 4.5kHz-7kHz and again it worked very well. The key is to apply smoothing to the FR measurements before you make MF and HF adjustments so that you are only adjusting broad trends.
 
ToTo Man said:
I disagree. If you use it for broad adjustments (not as broad as an amplifier tone control but relatively low Q compared to precise targeting of low frequency modes), digital parametric EQ can work very well for middle and high frequency shaping. My current speakers, for example, have too much output between 500Hz-2kHz for my tastes and I use a parametric EQ filter to bring output in this area down by a couple of dBs. I've also used it in the past to smooth out a gentle bump between 4.5kHz-7kHz and again it worked very well. The key is to apply smoothing to the FR measurements before you make MF and HF adjustments so that you are only adjusting broad trends.
Click to expand...

From in room measurements? I have done some small tweaks on my KEF R100's after reading published diagrams of anechoic/gated measurements.
 
RJohan said:
From in room measurements? I have done some small tweaks on my KEF R100's after reading published diagrams of anechoic/gated measurements.
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Yes, from my 1/12 octave smoothed in-room measurements. Here's an example of a previous EQ I applied to my speakers before I moved them to a different position (red curve = raw response, blue curve = EQd response). I use my in-room measurements as a guide to help me identify the centre frequency, Q and dB of the filter required but I let my ears be the final judge of what sounds best.
 
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I see no mention by the OP of the positioning of the speakers! This is critical of course. A big mistake commonly made is to put speakers such as Spendors too close to walls. They typically will work best about a metre away from any wall.
 
RJohan said:
Coool! Roughly something I have had plans (I'm to lazy to do it) for my Boxster. 'Slaughter' a pair of small modern day KEF 3 ways, put the mid/high in the kick panels and the bass in the foot compartment. You have then proved it would all work!
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Yes they work very well! I used Q300’s and run them active. With dynaudio mid bass in the doors too.
 
Good spot @Arkless Electronics. Almost every other speaker I have ever owned came with warning that they a fussy with their placement and need room. I have never found it to be particularly true so ignored the warnings with the Spendors. My bad.

I have very little wiggle room for positioning adjustments hence the reason I’m exploring EQ as an option.

I do think that the speakers are just not very suitable for my room unfortunately.

Having said that, it seems like dsp might be a good option for me. I’m looking into microphones to see if I can find something that will work in my basic set up (CCA > amp > speakers)
 
G.smith310 said:
Good spot @Arkless Electronics. Almost every other speaker I have ever owned came with warning that they a fussy with their placement and need room. I have never found it to be particularly true so ignored the warnings with the Spendors. My bad.

I have very little wiggle room for positioning adjustments hence the reason I’m exploring EQ as an option.

I do think that the speakers are just not very suitable for my room unfortunately.

Having said that, it seems like dsp might be a good option for me. I’m looking into microphones to see if I can find something that will work in my basic set up (CCA > amp > speakers)
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Placement is absolutely critical!!

I'd replace the speakers with some that are suitable for against wall use if I were you.... in fact if it were me I'd rearrange the room around the hi fi and not the other way round. My own Spendors are about 2m from side walls and a good 1m out into the room and this is pretty standard for such speakers.
EQ won't do it.
 
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