Dirac and room correction software

[Hifi_swlon]

You need a nice humpy target curve from about 150 hz down to get decent bass slam... ending up at about +4- +6db just below where your speaker roll off occurs.
Only thing with both Dspeaker and dirac.. is that you need amp overhead.. normally a -6db attenuation (or more) is applied to avoid digital clipping  , so if lets say 100W  gave  you loud enough , you will need 400w to negate the -6db if using either..

Thanks Rodney.

I'll try and post some curves that I've been experimenting with to see if I'm working along the same lines that you're thinking.

I haven't had too long to play as I was out for much of the weekend, but its already given me a sound far closer to the speakers i remembered from the demo room!  

I haven't got it quite right yet, I feel like with the Facts if I push them just a bit too far with the curve (far from what I'm not sure yet - I guess whatever their 'ideal' is?), the more prominent frequency becomes a bit more 'in your face' after extended listening after the initial 'wow'.  Often when I switch back to unfiltered, I get a blip of 'ooh, thats what Im missing' but then that goes when I put the filter back on and the sound is so much fuller.  The bass, and vocals have never been right in this room - with either of my speakers or any kit I've bought and sold - and now I see the graphs I can see why.  I'd read that spikes are usually more problematic/noticeable, but for me, as soon as I fill in those troughs, suddenly vocals - male and female - have proper weight and depth to them, instead of everything feeling too thin.  Everything seems better balanced and more realistic. Bass slam I'm still not there on, but that could just be the Facts and the transmission line, or perhaps a limitation of the state of the sound before applying EQ.    Not saying there's no bass slam - its actually hugely improved - I just wonder if I can get more.

So far I'm finding it hard to know exactly when its 'right', as it does take time to adjust, but I think I'm zoning in now and will try and just set and forget for a bit and leave the curve for a range of music.

Dirac has been an eye opener into a world of EQ possibilities, I sooooo wish I'd discovered it sooner.  Its also a tinkerers dream (or nightmare) as any slight thing that bothers me I seem to be able to change with very small curve adjustments.  And if you get fed up with it you just turn it off to take it out of the chain and you've lost nothing and are back to 'pure' sound, whatever that means (not as nice in my case!).

I can see how Dirac could become a bit frustrating for advanced users.  I'm already wishing I could just store all my measured positions, and then use them as I see fit at the filter stage.  i.e. store a load of data of 'key' positions, and the rest of the room, and then experiment.  When I did these sets I went quite far from the sofa, much more than when I did the Neats -  especially forwards and backwards - but now I wonder if I went too far.  To find out I'd have to do another set of 9.  Knowing what I know now (not much) I'd prefer to spend some time measuring, save all the measurements, and then pick and choose later.  Commandeering the room to do measurements is a bit of an ask, and its not that nice to listen to (even for me doing it, I'm sure the neighbours must wonder….), so it would be nice to put the mic away and experiment just on the filter side.  I'd also like to be able to save curve shapes, and have tangents to make it easier to make the curves smooth (working in computer graphics this seems odd).  But these are details and I dont really care, they've designed it to be simple and in that sense I think its a really good approach - it certainly got me into it. There are other options out there for more advanced work (on Windows) but I don't think I'll bother at this stage. For me its the end result rather than the process, but I am interested in learning now…..

I'm really waiting on the fix from Dirac for the processor remembering the output.  This is the only real annoyance, and with a family member staying in the house while we're away for a week, explaining that they have to screen-share in to a computer to set the Devialet in the output every time they turn the amp on seems silly. But it sounds so good I want them to hear it!
I'll leave instructions for disabling it - which is easy in Roon.

Power-wise I don't have a spare 400W on my D200(!), but I don't seem to notice the attenuation in any bad way, and even less so with the Facts.  My 'normal' and 'loud' listening positions have definitely moved up the dial, but I'm still not even into the -20's.  -33 is pretty bl***y loud on a lot of the type of music I listen to, and for some I'd have to run to lower the volume form that. (I think the calibrations were in the -20's range to get it into the green).

But lower volumes are actually really pleasant now - everything seems 'there'.  Previously I was always trying to crank the volume up to get a 'fuller' sound, which never really came - although louder did =  better to a point.

My wife loves the new sound too (me messing about with it and taking over the lounge to measure aside), but since the Neats had been in place for a week, there was a 'I don't like how they block the view of the Devialet on the wall' comment.  So they probably will still be replaced with a smaller/less deep/shorter speaker, albeit I'm in no rush now….quite the opposite.

In terms of how effective the things I've tried (or bought) over the past couple of years to improve my system's sound, I'd say they ranked something like:

Dirac 80+%
New Amplifier/Source/Speakers 20%-50%
Speaker cables <5%
USB cables 2-5%
Regen/Jitterbug 0.1%

Obviously this is a bit of fun and all subjective and in my specific situation, and its not that simple as I've changed a lot of things - but in terms of overhaul happiness with my system, the above definitely reflects how I've felt at the end of each phase of experiments. Considering the cost, including measuring equipment, is less than my current USB cable, it puts things even more into perspective.

I keep thinking I might have to back-track on this DRC euphoria, but less and less each day….

Perhaps it was just my low expectations, or length of frustration, but I wish I could get some of that other kit back and re-compare with Dirac running…..