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What does Audssey actually do?

post #1 of 20
3/1/12 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 
I've been reading a lot on it lately and I think what it does is balance your speakers using a mic as a SPL meter? Could this same thing be achieved with a SPL meter and some pink or white noise and adjust the dB level of each speaker from a certain spot? Is this pretty much the gist of it? I'm also not sure how frequencies come in to play, because from reading, I should set all my speakers to 80Hz for the low limit and 80Hz for the sub on the high limit.
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post #2 of 20
3/1/12 at 6:40am
Go to the Audyssey site and read their description. It does way more than you could hope to do with an SPL meter. It is sort of like an automatic equalizer that adjusts the gain, bandwidth, and phase (or delay) at many (automatically programmed) frequencies.
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post #3 of 20
3/1/12 at 6:56am
Read through this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=795421

It will tell you more about Audeyssey than you ever wanted to know.

Bill C
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post #4 of 20
3/1/12 at 7:04am
Audyssey XT32 worked miracles in my system despite having great speakers and room treatment. I was surprised.
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post #5 of 20
3/1/12 at 7:19am
Thread Starter 
Yea, I have read some in that, just kind of hard to weed though the 1000 plus posts. Does it make a lot of settings behind the seines that cannot be seen in the setup of the receiver? For example when I look at my EQ everything is set at zero, I would have thought it would have changed some of that?
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post #6 of 20
3/1/12 at 7:32am
It would be nice to have a display of what it does, but it doesn't. Everything except the level trims are hidden. Still it works wonders.
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post #7 of 20
3/1/12 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Theresa View Post

It would be nice to have a display of what it does, but it doesn't. Everything except the level trims are hidden. Still it works wonders.

When you say trim levels, you mean +- dB's like FL, and +- dB's on FR for example? Sorry, new to all this...
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post #8 of 20
3/1/12 at 8:24am
I mean press home-->press audio-->scroll to center level, audyssey will have adjusted this along with sub trims.
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post #9 of 20
3/1/12 at 8:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 02Lightning View Post

Yea, I have read some in that, just kind of hard to weed though the 1000 plus posts. Does it make a lot of settings behind the seines that cannot be seen in the setup of the receiver? For example when I look at my EQ everything is set at zero, I would have thought it would have changed some of that?

What receiver do you have???

I have an Onkyo 808 and if I use Audyssey and have it turned on I can't get into the EQ to see the levels. Now if I turn Audyssey off and go into the manual EQ then yes every thing is set at 0 because I never manually adjusted it.
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post #10 of 20
3/1/12 at 9:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by flickhtguru View Post

What receiver do you have???

I have an Onkyo 808 and if I use Audyssey and have it turned on I can't get into the EQ to see the levels. Now if I turn Audyssey off and go into the manual EQ then yes every thing is set at 0 because I never manually adjusted it.

Maybe I'm mistaken, I'll have to look at it again. I have an Onkyo TX-NR1009
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post #11 of 20
3/1/12 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 02Lightning View Post

I’ve been reading a lot on it lately and I think what it does is balance your speakers using a mic as a SPL meter? Could this same thing be achieved with a SPL meter and some pink or white noise and adjust the dB level of each speaker from a certain spot? Is this pretty much the gist of it? I’m also not sure how frequencies come in to play, because from reading, I should set all my speakers to 80Hz for the low limit and 80Hz for the sub on the high limit.

Audyssey experts would say "no" to your question, you cannot achieve the same result with your method. I also do not think Audyssey advises setting all speakers to 80Hz. 80Hz is a THX recommendation since they think frequencies above 80Hz can be localizable. Ultimately it is just a rule of thumb, where you set the frequency will depend on yourspeakers' capabilities. If your speakers are small and having a difficult time going below 100Hz, then setting the frequency crossover at 80Hz would make no sense.
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post #12 of 20
3/1/12 at 10:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 02Lightning View Post

I've been reading a lot on it lately and I think what it does is balance your speakers using a mic as a SPL meter?

Audssey is far more complex than that.

Audssey corrects many of the frequency response variations that are due to both the loudspeakers and the room. This process has to be done very carefully to avoid many inherent "mission impossible" aspects of the goal.

Quote:


Could this same thing be achieved with a SPL meter and some pink or white noise and adjust the dB level of each speaker from a certain spot?

No. Think of adjusting the frequency response of a speaker using response measuring software such as Room Eq Wizard (REW). You measure the response of the speaker as you use it with a microphone and a PC running REW and determine its frequency response. Then you use some kind of equalizer to correct many of the undesired frequency response variations that you have measured.

Now repeat this process for every speaker in your system. This would give you a very simplified idea of what Audssey does.
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post #13 of 20
3/1/12 at 10:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by flickhtguru View Post

What receiver do you have???

I have an Onkyo 808 and if I use Audyssey and have it turned on I can't get into the EQ to see the levels. Now if I turn Audyssey off and go into the manual EQ then yes every thing is set at 0 because I never manually adjusted it.

Some receivers will show a very rough approximation of the Audyssey corrrections, which do not use the receiver's bass and treble EQ at all. Can't see it from the receiver's EQ section , but somewhere in the autosetup process (on my Denon) there's a place I can see a (10 band? very limited) representation of what Audyssey has done.

Bottom line is you really cannot see the Audyssey corrections without some sort of testing of the output of your receiver after correction.

Also FWIW while the Audyssey test tones and mic provide the information that the receiver uses for the basic setup operations (speaker distances and levels, crossover settings) AFAIK it's actually software designed and implemented by the receiver manufacturer that implements those setup items, not Audyssey itself (so there is, for example, a long running disconnect between where receivers may set a crossover point and where the folks at Audyssey would, if they had control of the process . . .)
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post #14 of 20
3/1/12 at 1:29pm
Here ya go, (7) patents assigned to Audyssey Laboratories, Inc
http://www.patentstorm.us/assignee-p.../867999/1.html

Quote:


Number Title Issue Date
8077880 Combined multirate-based and fir-based filtering technique for room acoustic equalization
A combined multirate-based Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter equalization technique combines a low-order FIR equalization filter operating at a lower rate for equalization of a loudspeaker-room response at low frequencies, and a complementary low-order minimum-ph... 12/13/2011
8019088 Low-frequency range extension and protection system for loudspeakers
Low-frequency bandwidth extension in the form of dynamic electrical equalization may be applied to loudspeakers so long as the excursion capability of their drive units as well as velocity limits of any port(s) or excursion limits of any associated passive radiator(... 09/13/2011
8005228 System and method for automatic multiple listener room acoustic correction with low filter orders
A system and a methods for correcting, simultaneously at multiple-listener positions, distortions introduced by the acoustical characteristics includes warping room responses, intelligently weighing the warped room acoustical responses to form a weighted response, a... 08/23/2011
D629391 Personal audio docking station
12/21/2010
7826626 Cross-over frequency selection and optimization of response around cross-over
A system and method provide at least a single stage optimization process which maximizes the flatness of the net subwoofer and satellite speaker response in and around a cross-over region. A first stage determines an optimal cross-over frequency by minimizing an obj... 11/02/2010
7720237 Phase equalization for multi-channel loudspeaker-room responses
A system and method for minimizing the complex phase interaction between non-coincident subwoofer and satellite speakers for improved magnitude response control in a cross-over region. An all-pass filter is cascaded with bass-management filters in at least one filte... 05/18/2010
7567675 System and method for automatic multiple listener room acoustic correction with low filter orders
A system and a method for correcting, simultaneously at multiple-listener positions, distortions introduced by the acoustical characteristics includes warping room responses, intelligently weighing the warped room acoustical responses to form a weighted response, a ... 07/28/2009

No, I've not read them in detail - yet.
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post #15 of 20
3/1/12 at 3:30pm
These two sound like they are perhaps involved in the sub crossover implementation in Audyssey Pro.

7826626 Cross-over frequency selection and optimization of response around cross-over
A system and method provide at least a single stage optimization process which maximizes the flatness of the net subwoofer and satellite speaker response in and around a cross-over region. A first stage determines an optimal cross-over frequency by minimizing an obj... 11/02/2010
7720237 Phase equalization for multi-channel loudspeaker-room responses
A system and method for minimizing the complex phase interaction between non-coincident subwoofer and satellite speakers for improved magnitude response control in a cross-over region. An all-pass filter is cascaded with bass-management filters in at least one filte... 05/18/2010
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post #16 of 20
3/1/12 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 02Lightning View Post

Yea, I have read some in that, just kind of hard to weed though the 1000 plus posts. Does it make a lot of settings behind the seines that cannot be seen in the setup of the receiver?

Have you gone to the Audyssey website and read their clear and organized explanation?

Quote:


For example when I look at my EQ everything is set at zero, I would have thought it would have changed some of that?

Because that manual EQ has nothing to do with Audyssey. Note the settings for level, distance and crossover that Audyssey has set but few AVRs show you what Audyssey is doing.
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post #17 of 20
3/1/12 at 5:32pm
Wish I'd said that.

Kal is an expert. Heed him. Truly.
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post #18 of 20
3/1/12 at 5:42pm
The different versions do different things. Different vendors implement it differently. I don't think there is an easy answer.
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post #19 of 20
3/1/12 at 5:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dknightd View Post

The different versions do different things. Different vendors implement it differently. I don't think there is an easy answer.

Sure, there is. What I said applies to them in general.
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post #20 of 20
3/1/12 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson View Post

Have you gone to the Audyssey website and read their clear and organized explanation?

Yes, and thank you. I think this thread, pretty much broke it down for me. Thanks everyone!
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