Thanks for the reply sleestack, im familiar with the fletcher-munson effect and applying overlaying curves to compensate for them. i was hoping not to get too much into that in this discussion, but thanks you were thinking along my lines
thanks buckle-meister was a good read, and a great start to research. you were correct - a flat response is not generally desirable, previously i mentioned that i liked the sound of it flat (for movies), though, a bit more investigation into my receiver found that it was applying a "re-eq curve compensation" which rolls off the top end, it is a similar curve to the one you linked to. so when i eq'd it flat (post receiver) it was actually outputting a curve similar to what you were talking about.. (high end rolled off..) i just didnt know the receiver was doing it..
anyway expanding on this "re-eq" stuff,
(i would love to be corrected with constructive criticism):
further research has turned up the "x-curve" (and some variations for smaller rooms including home theartre - re-eq is supposedly a small room version of this x-curve.
anyway for those who are interested, here's what i've found:
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The "X" curve is also known as the "wide-range curve," and is codified in ISO Bulletin 2969.
Specifications call for pink noise, at listening position in a re-recording situation or two-thirds of the way back in a theater, to be flat to 2 kHz, rolling off 3 dB per octave after that. This curve is found in all motion picture theaters and re-recording stages worldwide.
(source: National Film and Sound Archive Australia -
http://www.nfsa.afc.gov.au/glossary.nsf/Pages/x+curve?OpenDocument)
****
so the x-curve is how a full sized movie theatre is set up. it turns out there are some modifications to that curve which makes it more applicable/useful for smaller rooms: neee Re-EQ for home thearte.
quote: From THX CC4 Manual (document sourced from thx website)
Re-EQ: Switches in a Re-Equalization high frequency correction filter in the 5
main channels. This filter provides for correct spectral balance monitoring of
film soundtracks mixed for a large auditorium with ISO X-Curve EQ, and
played back in a small room with flat frequency response speakers.
Re-EQ: Use for the monitoring of ISO2969 X-curve film mixes in small rooms.
Re–EQ re-establishes the correct High Frequency balance.
*elsewhere on the net i found some reference to only applying x-curve/re-eq to the front main channels and not to the surround, will have to dig around and see where i put that info.. because it contradicts the above thx application to the 5 main channels. hmm
here is another document which covers the history of the x-curve and why it's used. it also stretches into re-eq (but can't remember if it calls it that outright).. this is probably the most useful:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_9_2/feature-article-curves-6-2002.html
i hope that helps someone else out as much as it has me. i've searched high and low for knowledge of how to configure home theartre responses, but people who know were generally less willing to share the info as its the meat of their income. anyway that concludes a few months of my research.
as most people would say its better to fix a rooms accoustic naturally, and thats fair enough - if practical... but in anycase the responses i've tried to find within this document are the target responses that one would try to achieve..(regardless of the method of getting there).
enjoy.
think i've written too much in this post,
wayne.