[dmatt]

Believe it or, I was getting my haircut yesterday and got into a conversation with the guy in the next chair about audio.  Turns out he is an audio engineer and started asking about my system, etc.  We got to room treatments and he suggested looking into Smaart software to perform frequency and time analysis on my room -- the better to identify the things to treat. 

http://www.eaw.com/products/software/EAWSmaart/index.html

The software alone is $800 and looks to be geared to the pros that have to set up venues on a regular basis.  But given how much we can spend on our hobby, if something like this can really show you what the microphone (and by extension, you) is hearing at your listening position better than others out there, maybe it is worth the cost.

Is this overkill?  Is there other software that will check frequency, time, phase that you'd recommend?

Thanks for the responses.

David

[satfrat]

Now that's some very interesting information, thanks for sharing. I'll be interested to see what others have to say about this program and how it measures up, both in cost and results, when compared having professionals like Rives Audio come into your home. I know home evaluations from Rives Audio is not cheap so $800 could be a bargain,,, dependng on the results.


Cheers,
Robin

[MaxCast]

REQ is free but you have to have the right sound card, wires, adapters and mics. 

[refmedia]

Smaart and Meyer Sim are the Standard for the most part for measuring sound reinforcement there are others as well. Would work well in a home but the cost of a calibrated mic and the hardware would push a system over $2k. Meyer Sim is expensive but is more sophisticated than Smaart. Both would work fine determining the problem, signal or room. Corrective action to the signal or the room would be additional cost.

[Ethan Winer]

The software alone is $800 and looks to be geared to the pros that have to set up venues on a regular basis.

Exactly. Smaart is meant more for large venues than for homes. All you need is Room EQ Wizard and a $50 Behringer microphone (or Radio Shack SPL meter).

--Ethan

[zybar]

Another cheaper option is the XTZ kit:

http://www.xtz.se/produkt.php?allmant=true&produkt=41&eng=true

I bought one and hope to have it shortly.

George

[MaxCast]

Hey George, that looks pretty sweet.  Where did you find a retailer?  If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost?  Looking forward to your impressions.

[zybar]

Hey George, that looks pretty sweet.  Where did you find a retailer?  If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost?  Looking forward to your impressions.

That's the only downside...there is North America based retailer, so you have to deal with the folks in Sweden.  I believe there is a link on the page I referenced above that explains how to go about ordering the kit.

The cost was roughly $250 shipped.

George 

[MaxCast]

Cool, thanks.  Not bad for plug and play and shipped.

I found this review on the XTZ
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/1108/xtz_room_analyzer.htm

[zybar]

Cool, thanks.  Not bad for plug and play and shipped.

I found this review on the XTZ
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/1108/xtz_room_analyzer.htm

You can also read what Kalman Rubinson thought of the XTZ in this article on Stereophile's website:

http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/1108mitr/index.html

George

[Philistine]

FWIW I moderated in the early days on the Home Theater Shack forum and had access to the beta releases of REW and the designer JohnM (can't spell his second name) who used to run the technical end of McLaren Audio before they went back to their core business (fast cars).  The guys over there offer a great service to the HT bass heads.

I use REW when my room goes into home theater mode, it's complicated to setup in the beginning but once you've grasped the principles it's very quick and easy to measure, design 'house curves' and send the filters to the Behringer equalizer.  Since running this a few years ago I haven't touched it and I'm very pleased with the result in terms of subwoofer placement and equalization.  As previously pointed out all you need is a laptop, external sound card and mic - I used the Radio Shack SPL with the software error correction adjustments added.

My point is that REW is probably the lowest cost way to start, but you do have to get your hands dirty by having a fairly thorough understanding of the process ans what you're doing.  As a room analysis tool I can't really comment.   

[sleepysurf]

Another cheaper option is the XTZ kit:

http://www.xtz.se/produkt.php?allmant=true&produkt=41&eng=true

I bought one and hope to have it shortly.

George

Ahhh, finally somebody else who'll have one!  I've had it for a few weeks now, but haven't had much time to experiment with it.  It's a breeze to set up and use, but I'm still not sure what the proper "curve smoothing" settings should be.  I also have a couple complaints- 1) it sporadically gives "erroneous" results (waaaay different plots than a preceding measurement, despite everything else being the same), and 2) I'm getting 30-40 dB of baseline noise when doing the RTA measurements (despite turning off my A/C, refrigerator, and all other potential household noise sources).  Not sure if I've got a bad mic or USB soundcard.

George, maybe we can start sharing and comparing our XTZ measurements, and learn from one another, as there still isn't too much chatter about it elsewhere (other than Kal's Stereophile comments, and Clive Meakins review...
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1108/xtz_room_analyzer.htm)

[Kevin Haskins]

I'm of an opinion that the dumber the device the better.    Why?   Well... the most knowledgeable guys in the research community cannot agree on what is important to correct, and what isn't.    The only agreement, seems to be the a couple bands of PEQ below about 300Hz is a useful tool in any system.   

The push a button and remove all harmful room reflections is a pipe dream.   

That is why my new speakers all have 2-bands of PEQ.   Each basically has all the functionality of the PARC but that is designed into the speaker.    For the measurement aspect, I'd stick with what Ethan recommends.    That is cheap, easy and bulletproof.

[dmatt]

Thanks for the replies, guys.  Insightful as always.  I will check out your suggestions and save my money.

More $$ to spend on room treatments when I figure out what's going on in the room  aa.

David

[oneinthepipe]

Another cheaper option is the XTZ kit:

http://www.xtz.se/produkt.php?allmant=true&produkt=41&eng=true

I bought one and hope to have it shortly.

George

George:

Did you ever use the XTZ kit?  If so, how well does it work?

[Speedskater]

Robert Greene (TAS) has some interesting thoughts on DSP corrections in his paper "Audio in Modern Times" starting at about page 14.

http://www.regonaudio.com/

[zybar]

Another cheaper option is the XTZ kit:

http://www.xtz.se/produkt.php?allmant=true&produkt=41&eng=true

I bought one and hope to have it shortly.

George

George:

Did you ever use the XTZ kit?  If so, how well does it work?

It appears to work well.

I took some initial readings and posted here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=64153.0

I haven't had time to do any follow-up yet.

George