Are those graphs generated by Audyssey?As you saw in the previous reply, using Audysey full range is unlikely to improve sound quality.. It is generally accepted to limit room correction to the frequencies where the room dominates the response, which is below Schroeder. This is often somewhere around 300 Hz. The vast majority will have a train wreck for a response below this region...certainly nothing approaching high fidelity if that is the goal. With the phone app, you can easily adjust the frequency below which to limit correction.
No, eq won't make a good speaker sound better than a great speaker, imo. Room correction cannot correct directivity errors and poor off axis response.
DEQ will make a drastic difference in sound quality particularly at low listening levels where a flat bass response will result in bass that sounds too weak since we have poor sensitivity to low bass at low volume compared to other frequencies. DEQ does also give a treble boost as well, so not only will bass sound fuller and more balance at low volume, but upper treble will be brought forward some as well to compensate for our lack of sensitivity in this region as well. Also, its easy to push a button to turn it off when you want to. Since all recordings are different, no one setting will make everything ever recorded sound perfect. I like..no, love, having it but do sometimes turn it off.
I have found that Audyseey XT32 does a fantastic job of equalizing bass response to both speakers and subs. Most people do find that they like to turn the subs up a few dB to taste after Audyssey, but I would caution a common mistake, which is turning subs up to taste, then applying DEQ on top of that. This is indeed likely to cause a bloated bass response.
Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here is what Audyssey does for my speakers when run full range without subs(I would never sacrifice sound quality to use them this way, crossing to subs is far superior):
View attachment 3077440
Compare this with the same speaker with no eq:
View attachment 3077441
And finally, the average response across a wide range of seats in my room with dual subs and Audyssey:
View attachment 3077442
No chance of getting anything remotely close to this with two speakers and no subs, regardless of eq or not.
Dynaudio Owner's Thread
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Are those graphs generated by Audyssey?
Are you sure?
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I haven't pestered my dealer to ask.
I'm not concerned -- whatever logistics are in play are out of the hands of my local dealer, anyway.
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I've already put a deposit down with my local dealer for the order in play.
Plus, I would feel bad for demoing with them and then ordering from somebody else.
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Thanks for sharing this.
I don't use Audyssey, but otherwise use REW and DEQ to address room issues below Schroeder.
This is so much more effective than trying to solve spectral balance issues via gear changes.
75" Samsung Q80R QLED, Denon AVR3300, Revel F36, C25, W263, FV15HP x 2, ATV4K, Sony Blu Ray, Harmony
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The eq was applied by Audyssey XT32/SubEqHT, but the graph was generated using a calibrated Umik-1 microphone and REW on a Mac.
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Great to know just FYI to everyone not in the US - once a pair of Dynaudio speakers changes country warranty is over...
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Thanks, I didn't know that.
Guess I need to move to Denmark
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No--not yet!
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Your results with Audyssey look uncommonly good. My experience with Audyssey on a Marantz AV8801 hasn't been that great, more like a battle. Here's the response of one of my Dynaudio C2s in my living room. The first graph shows the response from the speaker running full range with no subs and no EQ. This is what I use for music listening:
I'm fairly happy with that. Now here is what happened when I let Audyssey do it's thing for the very first time, following the setup instructions in the manual. The black curve is the reference from before. The red curve is still full range, but with EQ.
Note the cut through the bass range and the elevated mid-treble. When I listened to the result, it was bad. Audyssey ruined the balance of the speaker by tilting the overall response up.
After a lot of trial and error, experimenting with different orientations and placements of the Audyssey microphone, I was able to minimize the damage but still preferred the sound with no EQ for music. But for HT, I needed to calibrate with two subs. The plot below is the best result I was able to get from Audyssey after all the trial and error. The blue curve is where Audyssey calibrated the subwoofer level. The green curve is after I manually elevated the subwoofer levels by 6 dB:
The incorrect subwoofer level cal is/was a common Audssey problem and has consumed a lot of thread space on audio message boards. It may be specific to certain AVRs and pre/pros such as my AV8801, but I'm not sure. These measurements are without Dynamic EQ. If I leave the subwoofer levels where Audyssey set them, and enable Dynamic EQ , it pulls the bass level up to something approximately flat at moderate volume levels (probably 15-20dB below reference). I suspect that's why a lot of people like Dynamic EQ; they may have level calibration errors that it's compensating for. I left it like that for a while with Dynamic EQ on, but it only sounded correct around a sweet spot on the volume scale. The bass range would come out of balance if I raised or lowered the volume level, too much at low volumes, too little at high volumes, so I was constantly changing the Dynamic EQ reference level setting depending on how loud the system was playing. I don't know how people can live with that. That's why I ditched Dynamic EQ and manually adjusted the sub levels.
There are two other things to note. First, Audyssey is applying a high pass or rumble filter on the bottom end. Without Audyssey, the subwoofer response is about -3 dB at 20 Hz. With Audssey, it's more like -3 dB at 30 Hz and 20 dB down at 20 Hz. That's another reason why I prefer to listen to my C2s full range without EQ for music. But for HT, I don't mind the cut so much because a lot of Blu-Rays have obnoxious levels of LFE. The second thing to note is that there's still a bit of mid-treble lift. I wasn't able to completely eliminate it via microphone placement, but I did reduce it by a couple dB. I think the problem is due the ****ty calibration microphone Marantz supplied rather than Audyssey processing. I can still hear it though and don't like it.
That brings me to where I am today, using the Bypass L/R setting that Marantz thankfully provides. So there's no EQ on the front L & R speakers, and the front L & R response is used as a target curve for the other speakers. If I didn't have that setting, I would have ditched the Marantz a long time ago in favor of a pre/pro without Audyssey.
it doesn’t really sound like a ‘small bookshelf’
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I agree.it doesn’t really sound like a ‘small bookshelf’
It sounds like a medium bookshelf.
The Contour 20 sounds like a large bookshelf.
75" Samsung Q80R QLED, Denon AVR3300, Revel F36, C25, W263, FV15HP x 2, ATV4K, Sony Blu Ray, Harmony
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@Red MC, I can definitely see why you weren't happy with Audyssey results! Also, nice job on your response with your speakers only, no subs, no eq. Looks really good!
I have found that I don't like full range correction on well designed speakers, and this would most definitely apply to Dynaudio from what I have seen. In the past, limiting correction to low frequencies only was not an option, so this was a huge step forward IMO.
I've had mediocre speakers in the past that I felt full range Audyssey correction actually helped quite a bit, but certainly didn't turn a mediocre speaker into a great one.
I am a little surprised Audyssey did as poorly as it did for you though. But then again, its not like I have used it on half a dozen of their AVRS, only my 3300.
On a totally unrelated note, does anyone have the Focus XD line? Seems like a pretty interesting product line i.e. fully powered towered speakers, no other electronics necessary? Bluetooth? From what I've seen, active speakers can hold significant advantages over passives. Wonder how long the warranty is....pretty important for a speaker like that.
I have found that I don't like full range correction on well designed speakers, and this would most definitely apply to Dynaudio from what I have seen. In the past, limiting correction to low frequencies only was not an option, so this was a huge step forward IMO.
I've had mediocre speakers in the past that I felt full range Audyssey correction actually helped quite a bit, but certainly didn't turn a mediocre speaker into a great one.
I am a little surprised Audyssey did as poorly as it did for you though. But then again, its not like I have used it on half a dozen of their AVRS, only my 3300.
On a totally unrelated note, does anyone have the Focus XD line? Seems like a pretty interesting product line i.e. fully powered towered speakers, no other electronics necessary? Bluetooth? From what I've seen, active speakers can hold significant advantages over passives. Wonder how long the warranty is....pretty important for a speaker like that.
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