Am I wasting my time with a flat response?

[alphawave]

I am currently making some changes to my system which is PC --> integrated amp --> 2.0 speakers. Basically, I will be buying a sub (which, becuase of limitations with my amp, may require me buying an AVR).

I am also investigating miniDSP too becuase I want proper bass management.

Anyway, whichever solution I go for it will no doubt require room correction via Audyssey or REW or whatever. From my reading, I have established that room correction is all about getting a flat response.

However, I currently listen to my music via foobar and I use an equalization VST to "make the music sound good". I use that phrase as I do little more that tweak the low and high end a bit to get it sounding good to my ears (the music I listen to is EDM and therefore relies on bass).

I'm wondering whether I might go to all the trouble of room correction and get a flat response and think "urghh, this sounds weak" and then start playing around with my VST eq again. Is this likely to happen? If it is, then by using the VST eq am I basically undoing all of the work that I just did with room correction?

 

[j_garcia]

I do think it is likely to happen because you're using a curve that suits your taste, not necessarily flat. Flat response is a good thing, but it is not always the same as what one likes. A sub should remove the need to tweak the low end, so before investing time and money in flattening a curve, try listening without it first and see how it sounds.

 

[ski2xblack]

Most folks prefer some degree of "house curve" at the listening position, as opposed to flat.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Most folks prefer some degree of "house curve" at the listening position, as opposed to flat.

That reminds me of an old discussion about this.
If the recording studio uses a house curve, then the end user also EQs to their house curve, you end up twice that curve, no?

 

[ski2xblack]

Your question mixes production quality with room acoustics/system setup. The guys twiddling the knobs in the control booth are not in our control (although we can always choose not to buy poorly produced music). It's easy to choose speakers with flat on-axis response and smooth polars, and easy to achieve a "house curve" type response at the listening position via proper positioning of such speakers.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

That reminds me of an old discussion about this.
If the recording studio uses a house curve, then the end user also EQs to their house curve, you end up twice that curve, no?

Not so. Case in point, the movie industry. Soundstages use speakers EQ’d for the industry’s X-curve standard, and the resulting product (the movie) is played back in a theater also equalized for the same X-curve.

Unlike the movie industry, the music industry has no house curve standard for production. That’s why you get different sound from one release to another.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[flak2]

Hi alphawave,
you will find good answers in this 40 years old AES paper here: diracdocs.com/BruelKjaerSceltaDiffusori.pdf

Flavio

 

[GIK Acoustics]

Part of the problem is that you're only inquiring about a very small part of the room's sound signature: the frequency response. A "flat" response might not be precisely what anyone is technically after. However, rooms have many other issues than just having a varying frequency response. In fact the largest issue in most rooms is not frequency response, but the decay of the sound. Room modes are particular notes that, due to your room dimensions, are louder in SPL but also create a standing wave, a resonance that will actually ring out for much longer than the sound is played by your speakers. So 300ms after the original sound is played through your speakers, some notes are still ringing out. This means that everything else is easily masked by the resonances. Of course, this is true of any type of reverberation as well.
Not every correction just applies to turning the sound "down" or "up" in the room either. Bass traps, for example, do not 'turn down' bass. They create an environment that standing waves and other acoustic interferences can't survive and promulgate in, so that the sounds you hear in the room are ones only coming from your speakers.
This article might help explain the importance of examining the time domain in the room: Understanding Decay Time and Waterfall Graphs - GIK Acoustics

 

[JohnnieB]

I'll throw this in to anyone interested:

The Parametric Equalizer - The Mixing Engineer's Best Friend

 

[andyblackcat]

Not so. Case in point, the movie industry. Soundstages use speakers EQ’d for the industry’s X-curve standard, and the resulting product (the movie) is played back in a theater also equalized for the same X-curve.

Unlike the movie industry, the music industry has no house curve standard for production. That’s why you get different sound from one release to another.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Yes very true. Listening to Jerry Goldsmith STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE laserdisc letterbox NSTC pressing over the CD album and the CD has bit of louder level and frequency response is also different when monitoring it on TrueRTA. There is a waterfall shows centre channel a few seconds from Jerry Goldsmith opening titles STTMP. The score varies a bit in places but showcases the score nicely on CD.