DSP for Room Correction/Listening Position etc

[JMac]

I know most will frown at the very thought but I was wondering if anyone had any experiences of playing around with a DSP unit to correct a room and the seating position etc? When I was looking at speakers a while back, one of the things that made me look at the Genelecs and Events was that they had DSP functionality. Place a microphone in your usual seating position and via a series of tones and frequencies the speakers compensate for their positioning and environment (or as much as they're able).

Something like that could be very useful for me whereby my room and seating isnt ideal but I'm restricted as to how much I can do to improve the situation.

 

[matt49]

There are various ways of doing DSP -- various in the sense that they differ in respect of ease of use and flexibility.

I currently use a DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0. It does automatic correction of low frequencies, and it's a doddle to use.

Sorry: takeaway has just arrived. Will post more later!

 

[Frank Harvey]

Unless physically impossible, play about with speaker placement and seating position to get the basics right before messing with DSP. Regardless of what the room is doing to the sound that reaches your ears, digital EQ is physically altering the sound that comes out of your speakers, as well as adding extra conversion to and from digital (depending on the system being used).

Just bear in mind you can't make a system sound the same in two different listening positions without the EQ system applying an "average" for the two positions. An EQ system can't currently "remove the room" from the equation, as some might boldly claim.

 

[matt49]

Sorry about that: I got distracted by life.

DSP might be ideal for your purposes, but I think you'd need to give us a bit more info about the shape of your room, the listening position, and exactly what the problem is.

DSP is best used for smoothing out bass humps caused by modes related to the size/shape of the room. (I wouldn't use DSP to correct higher frequencies because there's usually no need and because, if you do have a problem, e.g. with excessive brightness, this can easily be treated using physical room treatments.) Every small/medium-sized room will have bass modes; there's no getting away from it. Moving the speakers and/or listening chair (as David has suggested) can't remove modes, it can only move them.

So if you have a problem caused by a bass hump at your listening position, and if you can't move the listening position or speakers, then DSP will help.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'm not saying room modes can be "removed" by moving the speakers or listening position, just that it can have quite an effect on what you hear - before messing with room EQ.