After a lot of desk research I have decided to take a closer look at what is happening sound wise in my room before making any further changes kit wise. The sound I get is great - via CD, DAC and vinyl.
However, the nagging question is centred on bass. At certain times it just appears a tad boomy which is not typical for my Harbeth 40.2 so I want to get some proper data (I mean who can actually trust their ears and brain to conclude accurately and factually!) to see if there is a problem or whether it is all being self created in my brain…..
So I have landed in this place - order the kit to do the measuring and then make some manual but systematic adjustments of speakers / listening chair to achieve the optimum (not perfect) placement of me and my Harbeth’s in my particular room space.
Just wanted to know if anyone has been through a similar task and what experiences you had in getting improvements (if any).
Just to clarify this is about measuring and moving not measuring then using miniDSP. Once I have some data I will know if there is an issue or not, its scale and what solutions are available and sensible.
My research suggests a lot of people have been down this route and found success.
It’s a great first step to think about this. I don’t know how many forum members have used Room Equalisation Wizard but it is what I use with a miniDSP UMIK-2, nevertheless the UMIK-1 is good too.
REW can seem quite intimidating when you first download. However there are lots of online videos to help. Depending on your budget, it is also possible to have an audio professional visit your home and spend a day setting up and measuring. I paid for such a one day service in 2024 and I definitely got a lot of value out of that day.
I hesitated to make the first reply as, if you have seen my room pictures postings, it may not be what you wish for at all!
I started getting into microphone measurements in 2019 by using DIRACLive as part of my ARCAM based AV system. Next came awareness of applying acoustic room treatment, considering companies such as Artnovion, Vicoustic and GIK Acoustics.
I had already gone quite some way in adding room treatment before I then paid for the acoustic consultation. The contact I got was via GIK Acoustics, who seem to have a network of independent professionals whom you may pay to visit your home.
Nevertheless the main way GIK Acoustics offer their design service for suggestions of room treatments is free by you sending data regarding your room - but I get the sense that adding acoustic treatment is not what you are planning?
To give you a budget guide, one day of an acoustic professional is slightly more than £500.
However, I think if you get going with this thread, maybe post some of the snags you get along the way (the journey maybe longer than you anticipate) I will definitely comment.
Finally, I do recommend looking at the tutorial information on the GIK Acoustics website as they talk about correct placement of speakers and how to consider the problems of bass in rooms.
I first did this when I had moved into a new house, had an extension dond tk enlarge thd to-be music room, positioned things about where seemed right, and sat down to enjoy some music - only to find the bass had gone. After checking obvious things the only thing left was the room, so took to REW together with a Behringer measuring microphone I had bought a year of so earlier to evaluate some speakers I was building.
Using REW I could almost instantly literally see the response and the effect of every change, so much faster than doing by ear, and not missing anything. A couple of hours later and I had my new positions. At that point also running active, my AXO had spare DSP capacity so using REW I reduced a couple of peaks. I could also see the reverberation time (decay time), and discussed with GIK Acoustics who could take the REW files and assess from them, also suggesting to me additional measurements to take, following which they made recommendations as to optimal room treatment (a free service).
@Edmund-of-Essex no problem at all - all input and advice gratefully received. I was thinking of asking for pictures.
Room correction is not the plan as the room configuration really stops that - eves, sloping walls, constrained space as is a working and listening space.
UMIK-1 c£120 and REW free software on reflection was the best bang for buck in hifi for me.
Very interesting and useful in optimising your system - no need to go to extreme lengths to improve things.
A bit of time is needed to watch some instructional videos on YouTube and read information on the internet but other than that it’s fairly fool proof - I’m an IT Luddite and managed it!
There is a lot of bogus recommendations made on the forum but I don’t think you can go wrong here .
I’m going to follow out of interest. I bought one of these microphones years ago and it has sat in the box ever since. I have been too lazy to figure it all out, and I’m really pretty happy with the performance of my system anyway.
Guess I didn’t do too bad then, only held onto mine for about a year before trying it out for the first time. Initially seemed somewhat complicated but the UMIK-1 is far more plug & play vs some of the other options out there. Watching a few video’s & playing around, it becomes fairly straight forward to use.
As for functionality, I found it both extremely useful & a real eye opener as to what is actually going on in your room. It’s surprising how much impact such small changes can have on things at times. It can also make dialing in somethings that could takes weeks or months of experimenting to get perfect, possible in a matter of minutes. It’s a very powerful tool.
Guess basically moving anything in the room can have an impact, whether it be small adjustments to listening position (at times a few inches in any direction can have a large impact in response), speaker position, acoustic treatment position, etc.
If you have specific room modes you’re trying to dial out with subwoofers, this can be such a massive time saver. Moving multiple subwoofers all around a room & adjusting all their setting could takes months to get correct. With this you make a change, run a sweep that takes less then 30 seconds & you know exactly what’s going on, without any guess work. You also have a complete visual reference vs trying to rely on memory as to what is better.
By way of update. I was close to pressing the button on the kit for room correction measurement etc. Then thought best to see what I can get from moving the Harbeth M40.2s - changing the toe in and dong a bit more measuring to get the position right.
For now I have come up with something that appears audibly better (very good and better), but sitting for it now before deciding whether to get a bit more science, data and measuring.
@Edmund-of-Essex I reached out to GIK and have a discussion ongoing but I think it is going to prove tricky for me to incorporate aspects of their solution in my listening space given ceiling and wall make-up. They don’t seem to offer the service you used - they certainly did not offer it.
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