REW-totally lost

**kpierce123** · **06-29-09, 02:29 AM**

I am looking to add some acoustic treatments to my home theater and someone suggested this app as a great help. I went thru the manual and help files briefly but is there a walkthrough for dummies somewhere? It seems to explain a lot about using it and taking measurements but where can I learn what I am supposed to do with these measurements and how they will be affected by what acoustic treatments I would use?
Sorry that may be a dumb question but Im pretty new to the acoustics aspect of home theater.
Thanks, Keith

**brucek** · **06-29-09, 07:22 AM**

There are no specific walkthroughs of interpreting the various REW plots.

You should read and become familiar with the REW HELP files and the REW Cabling and Connections Basics.

Also note the REW information Index and the Download Page.

We also have an Acoustics forum for specific acoustics questions.

brucek

**Wayne A. Pflughaupt** · **06-29-09, 07:23 PM**

Quote:

but where can I learn what I am supposed to do with these measurements and how they will be affected by what acoustic treatments I would use?

As brucek noted, there is no "interpretation for dummies" walk-through. Typically people post their "before and after" graphs here and we divine the meaning of it all. Gives us something to do, and reaffirms our status and air of mystery as the all-wise, all-knowing gods of audio.

Let us know what treatments you intend to implement, and we'll let you know what REW measurement and functions will best show how well they're working. You may want to gear up for full-range measurements with a calibrated ECM8000 mic and pre-amp for this effort. As I noted, be sure and take measurements before and after.

Regards,
Wayne

**pepar** · **07-14-09, 03:28 PM**

I can start a new thread if necessary, but this "totally lost" thread - and a recent one at that - seemed to sum up my situation.

I have read the help files as well as the thread on waterfalls, but the mechanics/procedure is eluding me.

I have made sweep measurements of my subs, so that I understand. And I pressed "generate waterfall" with one of the sweep measurements on screen. Is that it? I do sweeps - the only thing available with "make measurement" and then derive all other graphs from that? What is the purpose of all of the other signals available in the signal generator?

- Jeff

**brucek** · **07-14-09, 03:45 PM**

Quote:

And I pressed "generate waterfall" with one of the sweep measurements on screen. Is that it?

Yes, you created a waterfall plot of the measurement. It will show the signal decay over time. Quite useful in revealing modal resonances. You can then move the listening position or sub position to correct.

Quote:

I do sweeps - the only thing available with "make measurement" and then derive all other graphs from that?

The measurement creates an impulse response. All graphs are created from that.

REW can measure and create a number of useful plots for examining a room such as - response, waterfall, spectral decay, RT60, energy-time, spectrum, RTA, etc. The help files intention is to help in the use of REW as a tool to create these graphs. It isn't a course in the understanding or interpretation of the plots. It's best to use the internet or books to learn about acoustical graphs, or ask specific questions here. Once you understand what a graph can do for you, then return to REW and use it to create the graph...

brucek

**pepar** · **07-14-09, 03:53 PM**

Quote:

brucek wrote:

The measurement creates an impulse response. All graphs are created from that.

Thank you, Bruce, this is a real ¡eureka! moment for me!

**wadesi** · **07-14-09, 06:12 PM**

Quote:

kpierce123 wrote:

I am looking to add some acoustic treatments to my home theater and someone suggested this app as a great help. I went thru the manual and help files briefly but is there a walkthrough for dummies somewhere? It seems to explain a lot about using it and taking measurements but where can I learn what I am supposed to do with these measurements and how they will be affected by what acoustic treatments I would use?
Sorry that may be a dumb question but Im pretty new to the acoustics aspect of home theater.
Thanks, Keith

I'd suggest following things step by step. First get your REW response and post it on these forums. This will let you evaluate what if any treatments/Eq is needed. Don't put the cart in front of the horse. Treatments should be intended to fix specific problems...putting them up in a room randomly doesn't make much sense to me. I've also experienced a room which is "too" dead which may be great for a studio not but for a HT.

**gtpsuper24** · **07-14-09, 10:18 PM**

Yeah I really wish there was a help for dummies on this forum for REW, i've had nothing but problems getting everything set up, its been 1 1/2 weeks and still can't even get a sound card calibrated. Of course theres not trouble shooting guide to walk you through any problems, brucek has been a great help but problems still not solved. I should have listened to the folks on AVS before i wasted all this money on something thats this complicated to get working.

**wadesi** · **07-15-09, 10:26 AM**

What sound card are you using?

**brucek** · **07-15-09, 11:15 AM**

Quote:

What sound card are you using?

See this thread on his problems....

brucek

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