Speaker Positioning Software

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Has anybody used the program called CARA?

CARA

It is a speaker positioning software program that lets you model your listening room (including windows, doors, furniture and non-rectangular rooms), produce a detailed model of your speakers, and then calculate where to best locate 5.1 speakers.

I'm still building my models, so I don't have any answers yet, but I'd be interested if anybody else already has.</font>

 

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Bruce;

Very interesting. &nbsp;Perhaps I will contact them and see if they can send us an evaluation kit. &nbsp;I have many room modes and acoustical anomalies I would love to categorize and eliminate. &nbsp;Thanks for the link.</font>

 

[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Would like to hear your evaluation after you try it out.

For only $50, I found it pretty inexpensive but powerfull software.  It is the only package I ever found that will deal with cathedral ceilings, non-rectagular rooms, and various reflective surfaces in the room.

The expensive part is investing the time to make it work for you.   Gathering and understaning speaker specifications and room acoustics as well as a certain amount of computer dexterity and intutive knowledge does take time.

Also see my link in loudspeakers about Tag McLaren.</font>

 

[Mr. Music]

<font color='#000000'>Has anybody used the program called CARA?

CARA

It is a speaker positioning software program that lets you model your listening room (including windows, doors, furniture and non-rectangular rooms), produce a detailed model of your speakers, and then calculate where to best locate 5.1 speakers.

I'm still building my models, so I don't have any answers yet, but I'd be interested if anybody else already has.</font>

It's so cheap in Europe (49.80 EUR) that I've just ordered it! I received it Tuesday 16 November 2004. I write about my findings in my own thead starter in this forum.

 

[Mr.T]

Great discovery, thanks!
In Italy you can buy this product for 35 Euro equivalent to approx. $ 30 in american monenies.
Buy the way "Cara" in Italian language means "Dear"




Guess which one is Planet Mercury.
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[Polkfan]

Guess which one is Planet Mercury.

The image on the right.

 

[nm2285]

Of course in Italian, cara can also mean expensive. Good thing it doesn't seem to be the case here!

 

[Mr.T]

NM2285, this is the scoop:
Caro = expensive or dear (masculine gender)
cara = expensive or dear (femminine gender)


My wife keeps telling that I am handsome!
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[Mr. Music]

Using a very little effort CARA can assist you in optimizing your speaker position. All you need to enter is the room dimensions and the regions where you will allow the speakers and listeners to be placed.

I have used the program for calculating optimum positioning in my room. According to the output precision in soundstage and the speach clarity should be perfect.

I have moved my speakers and listening position according to these results in my L-shaped room. The reality is, the above mentioned figures was obtained by just moving the speakers and my listening position. The real improvement came when i added more acoustical absortion material in the right places.

Using CARA alone for acoustical optimisation can in my opinion not be correctly by people unfamiliar with acoustics, as the program typically might tell you your room is strongly colorating the sound . while the acoustical ambience might be well within the tolerations for reberation times.

If you add far too much absortion on large areas you will see the program comes out and tell you on by example the ambience menu everything is ok seen from a reberation point of view. But applying absortion in this manner is not only too expensive but will also result in a bad result with respect to sound quality and WAF.

Currently I still apply CARA for guidance to get some idea about the effects of tweaks before I implement them following critical listening tests and measurements.