[jiggad369]

Hey guys,

My name is Dru and I'm a newbie here. Recently I got my preliminary home theater setup going and the screen is up and running with this etup:

140" x 79" 16:9 Screen made from Blackout cloth.
Optoma HD65
Blu ray capabilities
5.0 PSB Image Series Setup (Image 4T, 8C, & 1B)
Marantz SR84000 Receiver

The basement room is approx. 28' L x 14.5' W x 8.5' H with a solid ceiling. The room is not enclosed and the attached hallway leads to other rooms into the basement.

The sub I'm going to use is the one I made by myself couple years ago according to a design I found on Diyaudio. It is a massive 2'x2'x2' downfiring-ported-self powered (PE 250W Plate Amp) with a 12" Ascendant Audio Atlas driver. I know everyone here prefers multiple subs but I don't want to part away with this sub since it not only sounds good but I put every last drop of my sweat building it.

For disclosure, this is my first HT and I have never listened to a properly set up HT where all the gains, responses, etc. were matched and corrected. I can definitely hear "boominess" from the speakers, especially the front floor standers and the center channel. I haven't even hooked up the sub yet since it's almost 100 lbs. and moving it downstairs with my bad leg is going to be hard (recently moved into this house and hurt my Achilles in the process). So I think the sub will only add to the "boominess". Bass traps are def. in order so I will get to building them very soon.

Anyways, getting to the point, I picked up a Outlaw Audio ICM-1 BAss Management unit a month back which is only collecting dust. I haven't hooked it up yet but just when I thought I could use it, I ran into this forum (one of the most informative forums on the net BTW!). Since I already have the unit, would it be feasible to go ahead with it or should I look into a BFD setup with a DSP1124P, REW, etc? Which would give a better result? Or are they used for completely different purposes? Sorry for the vague questions but I'm a newbie at this and learning day by day. Your help is definitely appreciated!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Welcome to the Forum, Dru!

The Outlaw isn't going to help the boomy problem, unless it has some built in equalization.

REW is a program that will generate a graph showing your room's frequency response. From that it would be easy to identify what frequencies are peaking and as such causing all the boom. The DSP1124 is a parametric equalizer that will reduce those peaking frequencies and make the sub sound good.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Kal Rubinson]

The Outlaw isn't going to help the boomy problem, unless it has some built in equalization.

It does not have EQ. It is a crossover/bass manager. As such, it is more flexible than that built into most AVRs, including the SR8400. That said, I see no pressing need for it in this system. Good bass/room EQ would be more useful.

 

[jiggad369]

Welcome to the Forum, Dru!

The Outlaw isn't going to help the boomy problem, unless it has some built in equalization.

REW is a program that will generate a graph showing your room's frequency response. From that it would be easy to identify what frequencies are peaking and as such causing all the boom. The DSP1124 is a parametric equalizer that will reduce those peaking frequencies and make the sub sound good.

Regards,
Wayne

It does not have EQ. It is a crossover/bass manager. As such, it is more flexible than that built into most AVRs, including the SR8400. That said, I see no pressing need for it in this system. Good bass/room EQ would be more useful.

Hey Wayne and Kal,

Glad to hear from you first!

Your posts confirms my understanding of both devices. I will pickup the DSP1124P this week or the next and look for a ECM8000 mic. I already have a preamp for the mic so that shouldn't be a problem.

When you say "it will make my sub sound good", will this only effect the sub response? If so what methods do you use to EQ the rest of the speakers? I've looked into the fields of DRC, FIR, but I so confused on how to carry out those methods that I'll fail immediately. I will be building a HTPC in the future so processing is not going to be a problem but I've only experimented with EQ, Delay, etc. for a stereo setup. But even with that I needed so many outputs for the different crossover points (3 per side). Given that it wasn't such a difficult task, I don't know how it would work for a 5.1 setup or even 7.1 as I was thinking initially. Do people use HTPC Signal Processing here or do they just EQ their sub and call it a day?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

When you say "it will make my sub sound good", will this only effect the sub response?

Well, it only has 2 channels and most effective use is on the sub. Also, I would be concerned about putting this into the signal path of a main channel as it adds A/D/A conversions as well as DSP. (I have not used the device so that is pure speculation.)

If so what methods do you use to EQ the rest of the speakers? I've looked into the fields of DRC, FIR, but I so confused on how to carry out those methods that I'll fail immediately. I will be building a HTPC in the future so processing is not going to be a problem but I've only experimented with EQ, Delay, etc. for a stereo setup. But even with that I needed so many outputs for the different crossover points (3 per side). Given that it wasn't such a difficult task, I don't know how it would work for a 5.1 setup or even 7.1 as I was thinking initially. Do people use HTPC Signal Processing here or do they just EQ their sub and call it a day?

Whew. Reinventing the wheel. I have used built-in or external roomEq devices from Audyssey, Anthem, TacT, Neptune, Rives, etc. Easiest would be to get a modern AVR with Audyssey MultEQ XT to replace the Marantz......................unless you enjoy the DIY adventure.

 

[jiggad369]

Kal,

Well I already have a multi channel soundcard (INCA 88) which can output 8 channels with ASIO support. I have used both Console and Audimulch to apply filters to each output in both programs and it was succesful. Is there anyway to capture each individual 5.1 path to apply filter to all 6 signals individually or is 5.1 only transmitted through SPDIF?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Kal,

Well I already have a multi channel soundcard (INCA 88) which can output 8 channels with ASIO support. I have used both Console and Audimulch to apply filters to each output in both programs and it was succesful. Is there anyway to capture each individual 5.1 path to apply filter to all 6 signals individually or is 5.1 only transmitted through SPDIF?

Depends. You can get 5.1 via analog, with lossy compression via S/PDIF and with lossless compression via HDMI. Frankly, I have no use for S/PDIF these days.

 

[jiggad369]

So the only option is to buy a Auto EQ receiver? I was asking for DIY since I'm already going to have a PC with enough power to do the processing but the only thing I see possible is have a decoder decode the 5.1 or 7.1 signal then take all 6 or 8 signals and input them into Audiomulch for processing then output through the card to the the 7.1 inputs of my receiver.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

You are asking the wrong person. I have little or no experience with PC-based audio processing but I am familiar with component-based systems. So, while I can tell you what will work with the latter, I cannot tell you much about the former.

 

[jiggad369]

I def. appreciate your help. It's just not you but this seems to be a untried method.