[tonyptony]

I posted this question on avsforum, and not one person posted a response. Not sure why, so I'm looking to see if any of the good folk here can offer any thoughts...

TrueRTA, REW, ETF, SpecLab?

I know I have a mix of payware and freeware here, but if I'm looking for the package that will allow me to easily understand as much as possible about my gear and listening room, including reflections, waterfall, etc, what would be the recommendation? Also would like it to have an effective means of calibration even for laptop sound "boards". Something that can effectively use cruder sound devices at first, while able to move eventually to like an ECM8000 or other high quality test hardware.

[bpape]

REW or ETF will give you the most information for what you spec'd.  ETF gives you a few extra options.  However, REW has kind of become a standard - like Sketchup - to be able to ship data around for analysis.  Lots of people know how to use it and understand the settings and what they do.  Either will do a good job for you.

True RTA will help with realtime speaker/sub/seat placement. 

[tonyptony]

THANK YOU, bgape! On the one hand there is so much info about these tools on avsforum that you can easily get overloaded, but OTOH no one seemed to want to address this kind of question. So I appreciate your input. Yeah, I've seen on avs that REW seems to have become the tool of choice. Are there any of the extra items in ETF that you think are of significant value for room and placement analysis? My room is very problematic - part of one side opens up to the rest of the house, other small wall surfaces that stick into the room about halfway back, yada yada.

Can you opine on what it is about TrueRTA that makes it better for realtime feedback?

[bpape]

<Opine> Um, because it's real time? </Opine>   Seriously, real time displays make moving and tweaking speaker/sub positions a MUCH easier task.  That said, it's not something that can't be done just by looking at frequency responses - just takes longer.

Personally, I think REW is fine to use.  It's a bit interesting to get set up with the level settings until you understand what it wants but once you do, it has a lot of flexibility.  Now, keep in mind that I'm still using the old ETF.  I haven't swapped over to the new tool. 

Here is a thread that's great to get you going on REW and is monitored by John who wrote it.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/bfd-rew-forum/37-rew-room-eq-wizard-quick-links-faq-tips.html#post119

There are other links in the first post in this thread for other areas of help/download/etc. 

Bryan

[tonyptony]

Thanks again. I also like that there has been much discussion about the use of REW with the RS SPL meter. I was thinking of using that to start, but was worried about the non-linear nature of its response.

[DonnieW]

SMAART

Their support and training are unmatched IMO.