Room correction

[petrik]

I have used Room Correction via Umik1 + REW + JRiverPEQ for the past couple of years, and having made dozens of measurements with speakers in various places, the one thing I have found is that applying the calculated filters to precisely match the 'house curve' NEVER works out for me in the long run.

I find that the filter amplitudes have to be at least halved, and often reduced to a third. It's as if the ear objects more to large corrections than it does to the natural undulations imposed by a room, so I have to find that magic spot where the adjustments are just enough to satisfy. But once I have found that point, it certainly is hard to accept those extreme Room Modes any more.

For some reason, I also prefer simple PEQ over Convolution - the latter sounds too sterile, even when I've gone to the trouble of tailoring REW's filters before exporting the Convolved WAV file to JRiver. Perhaps I'm not sensitive to non-linear phase shifts.

(p.s. I have done this with both White Phantoms and with D120+PMC speakers, although my listening is now entirely dominated by the latter).

That's interesting. I have also done many comparisons between PEQ and convolution and I have finally preferred convolution. I'm not sure is it fair to compare PEQ and convolution directly since those are not always doing the same thing. My convolution filters are also improving the pulse responses and that might be the main reason why I have preferred convolution. 

It takes some time to find a good target curve though. I definitely didn't like a totally flat target.