Meh. It just depends. I've been running more than 2 subs for a long time with a sampling rate greater than 48kHz for a lot less than $1000. So that "upgrade" is again debatable. Given the market that's being aimed for I would guess they're counting on people who don't want to go through the hassle, but still. That's been possible for years and relatively easy to do.
Ill effects have also been mitigated with the new Audyssey app they've added that allows you to create custom curves. Besides, I wasn't blown away with Dirac. Being able to specify your own stuff and tweak things is cool, but odds are if you are the type of person who will spend that much time and effort on it, you're likely the type that can get it done for a lot less than Dirac charges.
I would call Dirac a mixed bag and with the Audyssey app allowing you to customize bass a little bit, it levels out the playing field a lot more IMO. As for Dirac vs Audyssey in the speaker arena, a well treated room will always be better than applying EQ, at least as a starting point and often you can get excellent/equitable results just with placement and treatments.
Well, first I stated that 'most rooms could use 3 Subs in order to get the Bass just right' (and so not all). 2nd I stated $1000 for BOTH the 3rd Sub -and- EQ'ng running on all channels at 96 (or higher), so in other words $500 a piece (and therefore much harder to do each for less than that, and what little less for sure doesn't offset the mess). So now that we have gotten past what I actually stated, on to your responses... 1st I have no doubt that I have gone through equal or more hassles than most
, 2nd Hmmm, YES the App may narrow the gap somewhat (I didn't think of that, Thank you!), 3rd I have already done Room Treatment (extensively so, as in whatever was needed, and NO, not overly done
), but my point exactly... with a System/Room doing as well as mine is, I do in fact hear the ill effects of running Audyssey at 48 kHz. What I don't know is if it is purely Audyssey itself, and therefore I'll get no better results with Audyssey running at 96 (or higher) kHz? What I do know is that having used/heard Audyssey and Audyssey's competitors running at 48, 96 and 192 khz, that without a doubt any of them running at 48 kHz has had ill effects, and that 'some' of them running at 96 khz (and higher) and setup judiciously showed none of the ill effects that I was hearing with Audyssey and others running at 48 kHz. So hence I find myself being insistent on only upgrading to a new High-End processor willing to execute at 96 kHz (or higher), and so Yes I am more than willing to pay $500+ for this (as well as another $500 in order to finally be able to get the Bass RIGHT (and as you say, with no mess
). Here's hoping that Emotiva actually pulls off all that they have been touting to date about their RMC-1... for if (Yes, BIG 'if' I know) they do, and given ALL the new features they have included (a few of them missing from the AV8805), I will no doubt being trying my first Emotiva Preamp / Preamp Processor (for their Amps I have throughout my home, along with Marantz, Adcom, and Bryston).