This is a work-in-progress document regarding my upcoming journey to get the most out of my so-called "Home theater".
My home theater is a small room, with an (open) double door into our main living room. While I am not able to make it a 100% dedicated home theater room, I want to make the most out of it, while also making it a integrated part of our primary living space. This means I am limited regarding the placement of speakers, couch and subs, in addition to installing sound treatments.
Another goal is to make a good balance of time/effort and result. In other words, I want my room to sound really good, but I do not want to spend endless hours chasing the near impossible.
- Make this document :-)
- Read nathan_h excellent reply to my post about bass management
- For each step in this document, write a detailed plan on what to do, measurements to preform, and goal of the step.
I have to subwoofers:
- Arendal Sound 1723 Subwoofer 1S
- Arendal Sound 1723 Subwoofer 1.5 (Legacy product)
I will abbreviate those to Sub1S and Sub1.5 in this document.
While Sub1S will remain where its located, I will find the optimal placement for Sub1.5 so they have a combined frequency response which will have no dips and preferably no peaks.
- Seal the port on Sub1.5
- Put the Sub1.5 on a moving trolley
- Attach a active speaker to the miniDSP, port 4.
- Ensure Sub1.5 is connected to miniDSP port 2, and Sub1S is connected to miniDSP port 1.
- Note the gain setting on each sub.
- Connect the PC to miniDSP via USB.
- Choose a slot on the miniDSP with no filters, settings, crossover, etc.
- Note the volume on the PC, the input gain on miniDSP.
- Mute/Disable Sub1.5/Output 2 in miniDSP
- Play sweep for Sub1S from 20-200Hz via REW, using the active speaker as acoustic timing reference
- Mute/Disable Sub1S/Output 1, unmute/enable Sub1.5/Output 2 in miniDSP
- Repeat until all possible locations are measured:
- Move Sub1.5 to a new location
- Note the location and orientation in a document
- Play sweep for Sub1.5 from 20-200Hz via REW, using the active speaker as acoustic timing reference
- In REW, I use the "Alignment tool" between the first measurement and all the rest to figure out the best location for Sub 2. The best location is where there are no/fewest dips/nulls and no/fewest negative summations.
- Physically place the sub in the optimal position, enter the delay in miniDSP and take a new measurement to verify REWs calculations.
- Mic (UMIK-1) volume in Windows: 80%
- Sound card (miniDSP) volume in Windows: 90%
- REW Pink Random Noise and volume for sweeps: -15,00 dBFS
- Master volume in miniDSP control panel (input): -5dB
- Gain on Arendal Sound Subwoofer 1.5: +6dB (ca)
- Gain on Arendal Sound Subwoofer 1S: +6.0dB
- No crossover, PEQ, delay, gain in miniDSP, slot 3 (which is used for measurements)
With the settings above, the SPL in MLP:
- Sub1.S: 100-110dB depending on position
- Sub1S: 100dB
- Active speaker: 72dB
- 20241230 - Best position of Sub1_5.mdat - REW Measurements of every position of Sub1.5 from MLP
- 20241230 - Best position of Sub1_5 - With alignments.mdat - Same as above, but with some manual REW calculations regarding alignments (time delay) of Sub1.5
Without time alignment, these seems like the best options:
- Pos 11: Sub1.5 position is left back, back-panel against back wall
- Adding a 14ms delay gives nice response. PP: 112dB - 93dB = 19dB
- Pos 3: Right of couch, back against right wall
- About 18ms. PP: 113dB - 85dB = 28dB
Position 11 it is!
By utilizing Multi Sub Optimizer and miniDSP I can try to get the best response for both my MLP, and other listening position - while maintaining a high SPL for my subs.
- Attach a active speaker to the miniDSP, port 4.
- Ensure Sub1.5 is connected to miniDSP port 2, and Sub1S is connected to miniDSP port 1.
- Note the gain setting on each sub.
- Connect the PC to miniDSP via USB.
- Choose a slot on the miniDSP with no filters, settings, crossover, etc.
- Note the volume on the PC, the input gain on miniDSP.
- For each listening position:
- Mute Sub1S, unmute Sub1.5
- Run a sweep from 10-300Hz in REW, using the active speaker as a acoustic timing reference
- Unmute Sub1S, mute Sub1.5
- Run a sweep from 10-300Hz in REW, using the active speaker as a acoustic timing reference
- In REW, use "A + B" trace arithmetic function to verify the measurements. Reference in MSO manual
- Follow Getting started with MSO until the "Configuration Wizard" is completed.
- Follow and copy the steps from Dave Boswell's Tutorial video for MSO version 2
- Apply the config from MSO into miniDSP
- Take measurements to verify which config gives the best response and sound.
- In MSO, I have called the project "New year"
- Mic (UMIK-1) volume in Windows: 80%
- Sound card (miniDSP) volume in Windows: 90%
- REW Pink Random Noise and volume for sweeps: -15,00 dBFS
- Master volume in miniDSP control panel (input): -10dB
- Gain on Arendal Sound Subwoofer 1.5: +6dB (ca)
- Gain on Arendal Sound Subwoofer 1S: +6.0dB
- No crossover, PEQ, delay, gain in miniDSP, slot 3 (which is used for measurements) (All settings as in step 1, but reduced "Master volume" in miniDSP by 5dB)
- 20241230 - MSO measurements.mdat - REW measurements for MSO: Sub1S and Sub1.5 individually, from LLP, MLP and RLP.
- New year.msop - MSO project file with the config and calculations
- New Year - Config 4 - Multistage - The filter report from MSO, and Biquads for miniDSP
- New Year - Config 5 - Higher SPL penalty - The filter report from MSO, and Biquads for miniDSP
- 20250104 - After MSO New year config.mdat - REW measurments from MLP, LLP and RLP via miniDSP, with MSOs "New Year" config 4 and 5