MiniDSP 2x4HD Install and Setup Guide
My AVR already has dual independent sub outputs: (that I use for Front/Rear)
(So my Distance/EQ/Phase Corrections are already in place for both Sub outs)
The miniDSP will likely add some delay (as much as 4.5 feet) to your sub signal, and you may lose 6dB in signal output. So you will want to re-run your AVR's room correction software (Audessey/YPAO/Dirac) with the new mini in the chain,
Set all EQ filters temporarily set to bypassed.
*If you are using all 4 Outputs for Subs, you need to make a couple changes on the Output 2 and 4 Output X-Over settings, Default X-Over setting on Outputs 2 and 4 have the Low Pass Filter active that must be BYPASSED, See OUTPUT Tabs notes below.
If you wish, you can use REW to import EQ filters to your miniDSP directly
There's already a dedicated REW thread for that, so not going to explain it here.
My setup: (YMMV)
Sub-1 pre-out on the AVR will supply the signal for my Front Funk Audio 18.0's
(into input 1 on the miniDSP)
Sub-2 pre-out on the AVR will supply the signal for my Rear Velodyne Subs + Crowson MA's (into input 2 on the miniDSP)
(USB cable running to my laptop is on the left)
My RCA Cables are 22 AWG CL2 Rated RG6/U 75ohm from Monoprice
Monoprice 25ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm (for S/PDIF, Digital Coax, Subwoofer & Composite Video) - Monoprice.com
The miniDSP Output 1&2 go to my Front Funk Audio 18.0 Subs (Left and Right)
The miniDSP Output 3 goes to the rear of my room where I split that signal with a Y splitter to my 2 VNF Velodyne Subs.
The miniDSP Output 4 goes to the rear of my room to feed my Crowson amplifier for my Motion Actuators.
(power cable on the left)
Basic Signal Flow Diagram for 2 inputs and 4 sub outputs
MiniDSP Plug-In download is available in your account you created at
Home | miniDSP
(there should be a coupon code in the box your miniDSP shipped in, for 1 free plug-in download)
Go to the top right corner of the miniDSP web site,
login to your user account, scroll down to downloads:
miniDSP HD1 software screen shot Inputs &
Routing Tab
For Sub inputs from your processor/avr,
set the miniDSP Input to
Analog if using RCA/Analog cables from your AVR
Screen shot showing Input Selection set as Analog,
Front AVR Sub Input 1 signal is only feeding Output 1+2
( to my Front Subs only, output 3 + 4 turned off)
Rear subs (output 3) and Crowson's (output 4) only get the Rear AVR Sub-2 Signal to Input 2 on the miniDSP (1&2 outputs turned off)
You can easily Matrix the in/outs to match your own configuration.
You may want just 1 sub signal input to the miniDSP and 4 outs with all the same output signal...then go into each sub output channel (leave the input side for BEQ)and set their own EQ/Delay etc. individually (with REW)
Outputs Tab: ....No Output on Channels 2 or 4 ???
By Default the miniDSP 2x4 Output Channel crossovers are correctly set for Outputs 1 & 3 for Subs. (Woofers) BUT setup on Output channels 2 & 4 for Speakers. (Tweeters)
So you will need to manually change the X-overs so the bypass filters on Output channels 2 & 4 match Output channels 1 & 3 for 4 Sub Outs.
Channel 1 and 3 out are correct by default for Subs,
just make sure all 4 Output Filters are the same to run 4 subs.
Here are the Default settings for Output 1, make sure all 4 match what you see here VVVV.
If you want to use all 4 Config memory slots, that change is not universal,
so you will have to repeat those steps to fix the X-Over/Filters for all 4 Configs
Next go back to the Input Channel page,
Select the
PEQ Tab, just above Mute. (see next pic below)
That opens up 10 available colored EQ slots for adding filters for the BEQ settings (Frequency/Gain/Q/Filter Type). The far right tab should read Low Shelf (aka LS) for the filter type. Some BEQ's will require a PEQ as your last entry, use PEAK as your Filter Type for those. Unused EQ tabs should just be disabled by hitting the BYPASS button. (far right, bottom corner) turning the EQ color tab to Grey.
If there are any -/+ Gain numbers with a MV or N/A for filter type at the end of the BEQ...that's a recommended Master Volume change on your AVR or Pre/Pro
Some titles are a little too quiet, even at reference levels, some are already clipping before BEQ so the MV adjustment should be made up or down
(relative to your normal listening levels)
If you want all your subs to have the same BEQ settings, make the PEQ adjustments on the Two Input channels, not the 4 Outputs. You only need to do it once if you clicked the Link Enabled tick box option to pair input 1 & input 2 together.
I Highly recommend reserving the Output Channels for your own Sub EQ and/or House Curve adjustments, That way each of the 4 output channel can have individual EQ, Distance/Delay and Crossovers for subs of different size, type, location
....or for motion actuators/buttkickers/BOSS system.
Each of the 10 EQ slots in the miniDSP has 4 Parameters for you to adjust for each BEQ: Frequency (Hz), Gain (dB) Q (Bandwidth) and Filter Type. If there is a Multiplier in the BEQ instructions (like x4) you enter the same parameters for EQ1, EQ2, EQ3, EQ4, before moving to the next frequency in the BEQ
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Setting up a House Curve is not required, but if you like a Fat Bottom end give it a try.
Good Read Here:
House Curve; What is it, Why you need one, and How to do it!
The biggest difference between a generic boosting of sub gain/levels +10dB and a House Curve is the HC is more Bottom loaded (due to the LS you apply) ...where as a simple sub level boost raises All Bass Frequencies by the same amount right up to your crossover point, plus all LFE signals up to 120Hz.
A house curve should be a gentle slope from your crossover frequency (~80Hz),
that goes up between 5dB to 10dB hot at your subs lowest frequency/peak output abilities.
To determine where that magic range is for your subs + any room gain you may have, is to graph it with REW. (It's a personal preference, so adjust to taste until you're happy)
In general, room correction software will try to create a flat response across the entire frequency range. But human hearing is less sensitive to lower frequencies and if you play a 30hz test tone it will sound ~8dB lower than a 100Hz tone, even if both are set to the same output level on an SPL meter.
So to make your room have a "perceived" flat response,
you'll want ~10dB boost on your low end...
If you don't want to add a house curve, don't worry it's not a requirement.
Maybe all you want adjusted on the output channels are your own Sub EQ settings (along with distance/delay,phase etc.)
At this point it's probably a good idea to also add a protection
Compressor
(as noted in the FAQ in the previous post) and include it into your config file (House Curve/EQ)
SAFETY FIRST
Open your miniDSP HD1 software and go to the Output tab,
Go to Config 1 and click the
Compressor tab under Output Channel 1:
Enter the following values, then click off the bypassed button at the bottom, Done!
If you use all 4 output channels, you need to repeat that step for all 4 outputs
...and if you use all 4 Configs (across the top) you have to do the same for all of them.
If you use the BEQ-Designer App to merge Movie BEQ XML files from the Repo with your own EQ/House Curve. You want to include the Compressor settings in your house curve config.xml file
If you have a EQ/HC config.xml file already, you can Load your current config.xml, add compressor settings, Hit the save button (top left corner) and it will over-write your current file.
If you don't have a config file yet, Hit Save (after adding the compressor settings)
Then create a new file folder on your computer to save your config file in,
... ideally a different directory than your Movie BEQ file folders.
Optional:
Here's how I put a 30Hz crossover on my Output Channel 4 to my Crowson Amp for my Motion Actuators...(saved to my House Curve XML file) The lowest x-over setting on the Crowson D-501 amp was 40Hz, not quite low enough for my preference, so I dropped it to 30Hz like this:
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After Entering the BEQ Filters on the Input channels and any optional EQ settings/House Curve on the Output channels
Hit "
Connect" in the top right corner of your screen to update the new BEQ settings to your miniDSP (Green check mark in the top right corner confirms your connection)
Click the "Synchronize Config" selection if you get a popup. Once you are connected, you can unplug the USB cable from your laptop.
...or leave it hooked up to monitor your 4 sub output levels in real time
If you want to switch between 4 different memory slots (Config 1, 2, 3, 4 along the top) using an IR remote, make sure the side of the miniDSP with the IR receiver (and the blue light) is facing your seat.
You can use the 4 Config slots for 4 different Movie BEQ's, or you can use Config 1 just for BEQ Movies, 2 for TV, 3 for Music, 4 for No-BEQ. It's pretty easy to turn your sub output levels down, and keep your seat shaker levels high for a Night Mode as another option.
My USB cable isn't quite long enough to reach from my miniDSP to get my laptop back to my seat...so my next purchase will be a miniDSP WiFi adapter WI-DG (to keep my laptop "On" my lap) ...$75
WI-DG
I got it all hooked up, But the instructions for configuring the WI-DG network connection are a little wonky for PC users.
In order for your wireless Laptop to find the WI-DG in your available network connection list,
You have to first download the i-Tunes app for Windows users from the Apple online store (free) to get the mDNS service installed on your PC...You cant DL it from any other source, it has to be the version on the apple site Here:
iTunes
Windows:
64Bit
https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/win64
32Bit
https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/win32
So I did that, and got the miniDSP-Wi-DG_221D52 added to my list of wireless networks available, connected to that, the next step is to use a non-microsoft browser, like Firefox or Chrome, and enter http:// minidsp-wi-dg.local/ in the browsers url bar to load the password/login page for your WI-DG (a one time connection).
But it failed no matter what I tried, so I tried the suggested hard wire connection with an Ethernet cable, still no bueno! I went online to the
MiniDSP : Category Index but got nothing there either, Tossed everything back in the box and let it sit for almost a month. LOL!
Finally emailed miniDSP support to start a ticket,
Two days later they said to manually enter the IP address (usually 192.168.100.1 works) instead of minidsp-wi-dg.local. They were right, instant connection. Entered a password I made up, switched from AP mode (Access Point) to Station Mode. Joined the WI-DG to my local network (wireless router) Rebooted everything, loaded my miniDSP pluggin (miniDSP HD1 software on my PC) got the IP address using the Auto selection in the top right corner, Boom all Good!
I got back to tech support to thank them, and to suggest they revise their online user manual to include the 192.168.100.1 option
The following day experienced several connection drops, and the auto would make 3 attempts and often fail. It took a while for Auto to finally find my IP to finally auto-populate, but I took note of the IP once it finally did, snapped a pic with my smartphone.
Now when the signal drops and I lose connection, I just manually insert that IP, in my case it was 192.168.0.24, and I get an instant stable "connect" every time.
If you are having auto connection issues with the WI-DG
Go to the Apple store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) and download the miniDSP App to your smart phone (also replaces the need for a remote) You can now swap between 4 configs, mute, volume up and down ...but even more useful
it gives you the IP address for your miniDSP/WI-DG.
Enter that number into your miniDSP and hit connect...
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Start your own Library of BEQ settings for your Favorite Movies
Enter the BEQ settings for your Favorites or for Movies you know are coming soon that you've pre-ordered. Hit the Save button in the Top Left of the screen after each BEQ is entered, create a file folder named BEQ and start saving them to your laptop/pc/macbook
(Use the Load function to make entering BEQ's to your miniDSP a one click setup now
)
Here's a few I entered just while I was watching TV, it only took 30 minutes to enter/save 13 movies (~ 2.5 min ea) ... but now I can just hit the load button when its movie time
Want to make things even easier?
For the point and click crew (no endless typing/entering filters manually)
@DesertDog has compiled ALL the BEQ XML miniDSP files from our BEQ list above to his Repository (Repo) That you can download to your own computer now through GitHub, so you will be able to load them directly into your miniDSP 2x4HD with a couple mouse clicks, no more typing required.
The BEQ xml files should be updated through the GitHub DeskTop app weekly,
so any new titles or old ones with revisions will be updated with a single click.
GitHub link complete with ReadMe instructions: https://github.com/bmiller/miniDSPBEQ
Just keep in mind, if you've applied your personal Sub EQ and/or House Curve tweaks in your miniDSP's output channels, They will have to be added back in manually when using downloaded Repo BEQ files from the repo.
BEQ's downloaded from the repo have zero'd output channel values that automatically overwrite your manual settings. (so you will probably want to save an EQ or House Curve xml file separately somewhere on your PC in its own folder, keep reading...
OR better yet, just use the BEQDesigner App instead:
The BEQDesigner App is the Best way to
Merge BEQ Movie files with your own EQ/House Curve.
You will need to download the most Current Release of the BEQ'Designer App,
the Setup_small.exe loaded fast on my Windows 10 laptop, Mac users have their own beqdesigner.app.zip file
Instructions: BEQDesigner
Downloads: https://github.com/3ll3d00d/beqdesigner/releases/
If you've previously downloaded the Repo from DesertDogs GitHub Desktop, you won't be using the desktop app anymore, The BEQ'Designer will pull from the GitHub, you perform the merge function, and the app will overwrite your previous BEQ downloaded titles.
If you don't have the repo movie list downloaded yet, no worries,
the BEQ'D app will prompt you with an option to clone the repo to your PC before merging.
on the first go, please make sure you have your Sub EQ/House Curve settings on the miniDSP output channels.
1. Using the miniDSP software, export (save) your minidsp EQ/House Curve
config to an xml file (make a separate folder to save it in)
2. Load the BEQDesigner app (it may take a minute, be patient)
3. Press Ctrl+X (or select Merge MiniDSP XML from the drop down Tools menu selection)
4. Press the repo refresh button to update the list to the most current content.
5. Enter your minidsp EQ/House Curve
config file (from step 1)
6. Press Save (all merged new BEQ files will be saved to your BEQ directory on your computer)
after that, it's just a matter of refreshing the repo as new titles/updates are added,
1. start BEQDesigner
2. press Ctrl+X
3. press the repo refresh button
4. press the save button
You should see all 1200+ tracks load after a minute and you will have access to the merged list on your PC Ready to load into the minidsp via the File>Load option in your MiniDSP software. (top left corner)
In one step the load function will extract the new combined .xml file and put the BEQ Movie settings on the 2 Input channels, and your House Curve (+ any Sub EQ tweaks you've made) will go to the 4 individual Output channels.
I use the BEQ'Designer App once a week to update my movie list with the "refresh" button so I have all the latest movie releases/updates.
After several months of use, I noticed my BEQ folders on my laptop contained about 50 duplicate files, It appears the current GitHub Repo keeps older versions of BEQ's even though Aron has created a new Update.
You will want to do a "
purge" of your BEQ folders (not just the content) the entire directories
every once in a while to clear out old versions of BEQ's. For some it's going to be a bit of a challenge, My laptop (with Windows 10) had BEQ files in 4 different Documents folder locations, took me 4 tries to find the right ones.
Post with screen shots here:
Bass EQ for Filtered Movies
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Optional Section: Create your own BEQ Graphs with BEQ Designer
For those interested enough to venture deeper down the Rabbit Hole...
How to create your own BEQ/Graphs
Steps to create a BEQ graph:
One time step:
1.) Download ffmpeg (
FFmpeg Builds - Zeranoe) and enter that path in the preferences dialog inside the beq designer tool)
This is all you have to do:
1.) Rip movie to your PC using makemkv (
MakeMKV - Make MKV from Blu-ray and DVD)
2.) In the BEQ Designer, select Extract Audio from the tools menu and select the mkv file.
3.) Click the extract button
4.) Click Add under signals and select the file that step 2 created
5.) Click preview and then OK
6.) Start adding filters until you are happy with the result. Most filters will be low shelf filters with a Q around 0.7-1.0.
Simple Remux BassEQ Tutorial for Computer Geeks with JRiver (or similar program) and don't want to use a miniDSP device for BEQ.
This tutorial does not go into every detail.
You may have to experiment in BEQ Designer to figure out exactly what each step entails.
This will apply a simple BEQ with a single set of filters on all channels.
1. Extract Audio - Decimate but do not Mix to Mono. This will keep all of the independent channels.
2. Add Signals. You should now see a signal for each channel.
3. Link Signals - Make one the master and make all of the rest slaves. Now if you add filters to the master, all of the signals will get them.
4. Add Filters to the master signal. You should see the filters take effect on all channels on the PvA graph.
5. Check Headroom - Click the up arrow below the PvA graph. This will bring up the waveform graph below. Check the "Filtered?" checkbox. Now select each signal and make note of the headroom shown. One or more of the signals may show negative headroom. The negative gain you choose to add should be based on the worst case, so make note of which signal had the least headroom (or the largest negative headroom). Add a negative gain filter to the same master signal above to increase headroom so that it is no longer negative on any of the channels.
6. Remux - If you followed all of these steps starting with extraction, the signals should map to the filters automatically.
This tutorial was meant to be quick and simple.
It won't answer every question for someone first starting with BEQ Designer,
but it at least gives you the guidelines to follow as you work your way through learning how the app works.
Notes:
1. You will lose audio objects in Atmos/DTS:X mixes.
2. Many mixes already have channels with little or no headroom without any filters added, so don't be alarmed by that.
3. If you check "Compress Audio?" when remuxing, it will encode the audio as FLAC instead of uncompressed PCM.
4. If you want to do per-channel BEQ rather than applying the same filters to all channels, simply skip the Link Signals step and you can apply different filters to each channel.
