It's not a small thing to say that Darko Audio is the best channel for audio. Of course, John covers reviews of new gear - speakers, DACs, amps, daps, headphones etc. But the channel also looks at room correction. John covers hifi shows. John discusses source material whether digital or physical. Darko gets into discussions on the future of audio formats and technology. This channel is consistently the best there is for audio. Period. He even compares audio to coffee! I mean - what more can we ask for. Yeah, I'm happy joining Patron a year ago and supporting the channel and getting John his cup of coffee. I'm happy to spend an hour watching the content too❤
This is a fantastic bit of content for Audiophiles who strive for solutions to sound quality from their systems. Thanks for putting it together Cheers!
John - you are doing a GREAT service to the audio community. I can't think of another channel producing such outstanding content. Not just boilerplate "reviews" (reading the product spec sheet on a sponsored video), but rather interesting content for audio lovers. I think you've hit a proper stride with these interviews. The Steven Wilson interview was perhaps the best thing I've watched in ages (the format with both of you in front of the camera).
That was a great conversation. I especially dig the 'both/and' vs. 'either/or' approach to effort to make the best of what you have ... listening in a field, eh? . . . back in the day, I worked as a sound tech guy/roadie for an outdoor mid-70's music festival situation in a literal pasture surrounded by Vermont's Green Mountains (USA) - think where Maria von Trapp settles down after the Sound of Music story ... we set up our scaffolding and speakers (think opening scenes of Woodstock), get everything set up just after dark on a warm summer night and literally thousands of young folks settling into hundreds of campsites in the surrounding area, the night before the festival and we test the system with the Sticky FIngers album - you know the opening ... ... that riff echoing across that valley on that night and every camper screaming their rebel yells all around us and almost drowning out the speaker system ... my favorite night as a roadie
There are so many rigid ideologues in audio, it is great to hear someone who understands nuance and complexity and clearly is in command of their subject. Good job, gents. Also my wife hasn't ruled out ceiling treatment in our main living room. Potentially, at least, a result.
By far … the most informative and helpful discussion on room dynamics and sound treatment that I’ve experienced. Thank you so much for taking the time to discuss all these different scenarios and concepts. Truly enlightening.
Great video! I will say that you should have started with that section on curtains. It lays out a good baseline for those unfamiliar with this subject. Saying, "the two most important things consider are 1). the percentage of total surface treated, and 2). how good is that treatment at sucking up the relevant bits of spectrum...That would better orient many of the poor lost souls heading into this video. Thanks again!
Hi all, great interview! The last points about the sort of music - the best place to enjoy Gregorian church music is an actual cathedral tells an important thing: next to perfecting your hifi SAVE, save some money for going out to real music concerts! Sometimes I calculate the number of concerts a hifi enthousiast could visit incl. travel, hotel and the opportunity to take a partner along - just for one pair of speakers…
Very solid discussion. As a novice enthusiast of home audio/theatre I found it very helpful to hear the pragmatic balance between science and real-world application. Well done!
Very informative. I am happy to see that you continue to educate and emphasize the importance of room treatment. And, it if you are a DIY person, it can be done relatively inexpensive with a little more information and investigation. I even emailed Jesko when I was doing my room treatment, and he answered back promptly with good feedback. The 15 absorption boxes I made (2'x4'x7" thick using 703 corning insulation, enclosed in light weight garden fabric and finished with a colored burlap fabric) dispersed at reflection points on walls and ceiling, along with floor treatment, makes all the difference in great sound. I spent aprox. 1500. dollars. total. Best money spent and was not difficult at all (actually a fun project to do yourself).
@@stephenmeckley I used four 2'x4'x4" 703 panels in my listening room (12'x18'), a panel at each of my primary and secondary reflection points. I'm running a home theater setup but have always given priority to 2-channel audio quality. Frames are not necessary, you can coat the sides of the panels with a stiffening glue and then wrap them in acoustic cloth from Guilford (I used spray glue around the back edges to attache the cloth). Without a frame they are pretty light and you can attach pronged clips to the wall and stick the panels up wherever you need them to be. I got EXCELLENT results. The 4" panels reach down into the 125Hz range and it completely eliminated my need to use EQ in my theater setup. I still use basic time alignment and levels but that's it, along with an EQ'd Mini-DSP for my subwoofer.
Given the fact that each room has its unique acoustic signature even after investing on treatment, our best efforts will still fall short. This is exactly why i advocate that passive treatment be augmented by active treatment i.e. the much derided tone controls and equalization devices. Used judiciously you will be surprised at how your itch to upgrade components melts away. Great subject John.
When it comes to furniture, I think a fabric-covered seat is preferable to a leather one. But you can be sure that we have become wiser from this interview. Grtz Phil
My listening room is set up in a spare bedroom as approved by the financial controller. Maybe 4.5 metres by 4ish… Compromises… I get a dedicated space to pull music apart. I’ve measured the space before adding treatment and corrected. I’ve measured the space after adding room treatment and I found myself getting obsessed with correcting curves and chasing numbers. I force myself to remember that this is fun. Adding room treatment is fun!
Thanks John, one of the best videos up to date. Hope you keep paying attention to us, humble begginers in the audiophile world. Greetings from Colombia
Do the test! Big battery (or an EV), two speakers with one powerful amp in a field. Please John make this one! One of the best you did so far. Top ten! Bravo. 👏🏻
'babes, I know we've just spent £15k knocking the wall down to open the rooms up, but can I put a curtain up now to seperate them again?' She's gonna love that 😂
I wasn't able to absorb everything in this video as I had it on somewhat in the background, but 1000% I'm saving it to come back to. I think people so often think or ask "what gear should I upgrade to next", when they should be asking "how can I optimize the acoustics of my listening space". It sucks because there are so many reviews of new gear and that's where all the emphasis is online, and there is seemingly so little information on room acoustics (at least relatively and it's not both easy to find and reliable). Then to add to that, the information that is out there seems to lean heavily to the engineer studio side as opposed to hifi/home theater. I know there is a lot of crossover (no pun intended), but it's not all the same.
Excellent--explained no hype -make your own directions/decisions/lists. Check your hearing. Look forward for something important too recordings and transmissions. So many variables! Keep going on your discovery.
Thanks so much for this. Your videos on listening room acoustics have helped me a great deal. 1) I did a lot of experimenting and measuring to find the best listening and speaker positions. 2) I added some absorption and diffusion to the ceiling and walls, as much as practical for me. 3) I used Focus Fidelity software to make a room correction filter that I apply with Roon's DSP engine. I am really happy with the results in my small guest bedroom listening room.
My listening room is 7x11. I've been tweaking it for 18 months now. A lot of the things I though I couldn't do were proven wrong. The room is oriented the WIDE way. Much bigger sound stage this way. Speakers, which are rear ported are slammed against the wall. Philharmonic BMRs, so NOT small speakers. 64" equilateral triangle. I also have a DSP'd DIY sub so I am flat to 20 hz. Lots of room treatment, a bit of DSP and the result is stunning. WAY better than I could have imagined.
Great video, good advices from a pragmatic scientific base, which never neglects the actual situations. As a person who works in both fields, I know there are a lot of misconceptions and assumptions. But a room is a room, with all that acoustic purposes, there is no way around it (except headphones maybe).
I can only go so far with creating my perfect listening room because I have to respect my wife's aesthetic. By far my best investment was 2 pairs of 'B' grade acoustic curtains that look like regular curtains (if a bit on the heavy side) but have utterly transformed the rooms acoustic. Admittedly, they cost thousands but my wife loves the way they look and I love them for the huge improvement in sound. FWIW they cover perhaps 25% of the wall space.
I watched this video very carefully and I have never felt myself as much in agreement with what was said as I did about acoustics and acoustic treatment. Thank you very much for providing us with this interview and this learning moment. Now if it's not too much to ask, I think it would be interesting to make a video on how to use acoustic processing such as Dirac as a complement to the most optimized hearing possible. Thanks once again
This vid is what those objective speaker reviewers on youtube need to watch. i totally agree DSP should be used as a last resort. however DSP didnt work for me in my system.
Maybe the best overall solution for most people who can’t do very extended room treatment for each personal reason (cost, visual, rental etc etc) but who actually enjoy quality music is just get a great headphone amp and headphones and a good all in one music system for casual playback music/even movies.
Regarding DSP, over the past couple of months I built my own music server where I've implemented filters I've generated through the Acourate software. At 495 euro it's pretty expensive, and there's certainly a learning curve, but it's made the frequency response and focus (from correcting phase) a lot better. I have a couple of house curves that I can hop between, from having made different filters. These are loaded into the Hang Loose Convolver software, which runs as a VST plugin in Audirvana. Audirvana is connected to Tidal, as well as my flac library. This is certainly more work than just buying some streamer, but hey, tinkering is fun and I like to think that I'm getting more for my money. I did start off with a room with sub 400ms RT60 though.
One point on speaker types vs. room treatment: Most home speakers are designed to work with the support of room boundaries. Ie. their balance is expecting room gain to boost bass. Heavy acoustic treatment for lower bass removes the room gain and can make a home speakers sound lacking bass and also their output capacity on bass can run out.
This was such an interesting watch. Much appreciated. John have you heard about the Bristol university scientists who are working on soundproof wallpaper based of moths and how they absorb bat sound waves for survival? Very interesting and fingers crossed it works for our frequencies.
Despite what the manufacturer manual says, you have to treat the PSI AVAA like speakers. They are sensitive in response down to a millimeter in orientation and placement. You know it's sweetspot when the haze and black is better on one channel vs the other and no edge. Use high DR tracks to test then reconfirm with loud tracks where it doesn't congest.
Quality content. Thankyou. My listening room is half meter thick concreate wall floor and ceiling. Its an underground room, 5.5 metres long and 2.5 mtrs wide. I will carpet the ceiling. I'm having a devil of a time getting a punchy tight base and a sweet female vocal and symbols sound. Lots of cushions and king bed helped a bit. I'm a beginer who will welcome any advice on speaker choice. Base is a SVS sb 2000, thats kept on the leash. Monitor speakers are okay, but just not sweet and high. Thanks again. OH, Best add, I don't earn much . . .
Was looking for my endgame small room speaker without compromise; the Dynaudio Confidence 20 came out as the winner; a downward firing port (on top of the stand) is a rare and wonderful thing, solved a lot of my placement issues whilst not compromising elsewhere.
@@andreasmisundberntsen9237 Actually not power hungry from what I have heard, but yes I do run them on my NAD M22v2 which is 300w into 8 Ohms with M12 Pre Amp. Sounds great. There is room to up the ante Electronics wise when I get to it. I haven’t heard them on a less powerful amp but reviews said they still work well. I did get them secondhand/ex demo from a dealer for £6250 which is still a lot of money but oh so worth it compared to others. They have scale and impact that most stand mounts kits can’t do, and all the detail and insight of a high end speaker but without the harsh and analytical leanings of the likes of Focal or Bowers speakers in the same price category. The tweeter is a real star, and everything is so palpable with strong bass too. About as good as I’m going to get for now in my small approx 4x4m room.
I have a big problem with bass modes at 40hz. I had a couple of 3 seater sofas purchased from a high street retailer, last year I replaced both with better quality handmade sofas and there was a definite improvement in the sound. But the biggest improvement was made when I used REW with Roon DSP.
I had the same experience. I went from a leather sofa and chair to fabric and the sound improved so much. Same 40hz peak too. It even tamed brightness believe it or not.
After watching this, I think I had some beginner’s luck with the room where my 2.1 system resides. Dimensions, speaker placement, walls, curtains, everything in its right place. I consider myself fortunate to have avoided the struggle of designing a good audio room.
I was lucky like that in my room when i still lived at home. Now i habe finally achieved the same kind of accoustics or even better in my home theater 15+ years later. It took waaaay more treatment then i had then.
small room acoustic is where i had my speakers for the last 6 years. tiny cube shaped, think you can forget about large soundstage, but still get a pleasant other sound. the improvement from non treated and non dsp to having large thick absorbers and doing dsp by ear is enormous. do all that you can to a room and use dsp, going back now is so bad sounding it is a joke of a hifi.
Great informative video. From your experience can you talk about room treatment when it comes to playing ATMOS music using say Sonos Era 300s? It seems ceiling treatment might hamper the reflections. Thanks!
Excellent video have been watching both of you and then seeing you come together on both channels has been fantastic!! I am on the hifi end of the spectrum. I would love to hear more on rephasing as part of dsp/convolution etc. I have used it some and roon and Audirvana offer ways to use a convolver and I think some people like myself would be interested in learning more. Also, is half a wavelength the dimension when a frequency will begin seeing an object acoustically or full wavelength? Thank you!!
Great video, very informative but i do get lost sometimes because i don't fully understand some of the terminology. It would be great if your guest would do a primer on room acoustics.
Thanks for the great video. I understand almost nobody acumulates books anymore, but what about the efect of big bookshelves whit lots of books in the four walls? I only have a small window and a door, in a 20sq meters with a very high ceiling.
Let's say I'm building my dream home which will have a dedicated listening room... What would the dimensions be of the aforesaid room...? Should it be a square, or better yet, a rectangle to allow for generous speaker placement away from the front wall...? Great video...!!! Kudos...!!!
Does anyone have a good video or forum post to suggest that reviews top monitor speakers? Or if John himself has one that would be preferable. Looking to buy a couple monitors for my new office setup soon
I have a question please, does a big room make things easier? Mine is 12x6x3.15 m and front wall with vinyls and books, side wall just books and back wall, 6m away books and it sounds, to me , really well, what you think?
I’ve seen folks place small brass bells 🔔 in front of the tweeters or placed on ceiling or walls….any discussion on these ideas? I’ve also seen wood resonators….
Hey John...thanks for the video. I still have 20 minutes to go but have you provided some general parameters for room size dimensions....small room, medium, large?
Hi John. Can you explain to me why your intro and incidental music sounds better with all my equipment over YT than my Pioneer PD-S904 or Spotify over my PC or through my Roku Boxes. Is it just the bitrate???.... Over my 4.1 stereo through my trusty brick of an amp (TEAC AR-630 MK2) and my Srythm NC25's (A much underated set of bluetooth headphones) it sound brill! Very few Audio reviewers seem to give themselves credibility in this way as you do. PS. any chance you could list tracks or link to them on YT if available, as I've never heard some of the stuff you use to test your systems and I have to keep skipping back, then going to find them to listen to what you were on about withing those tracks....Many Thanks, Big Fan DC :)
So if I understand correctly, in a sequence of actions, first treat the ceiling, then the bass traps, then side/ back walls and finish it off with DSP.
Treat your corners first with bass traps then early reflections. Bass treatment takes up a lot of space that most cannot afford to loose. Corners offer best bass treatment for space used then ceilings they are an unused surface.
It's not a small thing to say that Darko Audio is the best channel for audio. Of course, John covers reviews of new gear - speakers, DACs, amps, daps, headphones etc. But the channel also looks at room correction. John covers hifi shows. John discusses source material whether digital or physical. Darko gets into discussions on the future of audio formats and technology. This channel is consistently the best there is for audio. Period. He even compares audio to coffee! I mean - what more can we ask for. Yeah, I'm happy joining Patron a year ago and supporting the channel and getting John his cup of coffee. I'm happy to spend an hour watching the content too❤
John and his thoughtful approach to audio reviews through this channel is the antidote to the clickbait-y Cheap Audio Man.
You forgot to add his (subjectively speaking) great taste for music and even photography. Dude has Todd Hido’s Homes at Night book on display 👌
💯 agree
@@pistopitpitEh…He has *hip* taste in music but only ever referencing indie rock and electronic limits his utility, which is a shame.
This is a fantastic bit of content for Audiophiles who strive for solutions to sound quality from their systems.
Thanks for putting it together
Cheers!
John - you are doing a GREAT service to the audio community. I can't think of another channel producing such outstanding content. Not just boilerplate "reviews" (reading the product spec sheet on a sponsored video), but rather interesting content for audio lovers. I think you've hit a proper stride with these interviews. The Steven Wilson interview was perhaps the best thing I've watched in ages (the format with both of you in front of the camera).
Agreed❤
That was a great conversation. I especially dig the 'both/and' vs. 'either/or' approach to effort to make the best of what you have ... listening in a field, eh? . . . back in the day, I worked as a sound tech guy/roadie for an outdoor mid-70's music festival situation in a literal pasture surrounded by Vermont's Green Mountains (USA) - think where Maria von Trapp settles down after the Sound of Music story ... we set up our scaffolding and speakers (think opening scenes of Woodstock), get everything set up just after dark on a warm summer night and literally thousands of young folks settling into hundreds of campsites in the surrounding area, the night before the festival and we test the system with the Sticky FIngers album - you know the opening ... ... that riff echoing across that valley on that night and every camper screaming their rebel yells all around us and almost drowning out the speaker system ... my favorite night as a roadie
There are so many rigid ideologues in audio, it is great to hear someone who understands nuance and complexity and clearly is in command of their subject.
Good job, gents.
Also my wife hasn't ruled out ceiling treatment in our main living room. Potentially, at least, a result.
By far … the most informative and helpful discussion on room dynamics and sound treatment that I’ve experienced. Thank you so much for taking the time to discuss all these different scenarios and concepts. Truly enlightening.
Great video! I will say that you should have started with that section on curtains. It lays out a good baseline for those unfamiliar with this subject. Saying, "the two most important things consider are 1). the percentage of total surface treated, and 2). how good is that treatment at sucking up the relevant bits of spectrum...That would better orient many of the poor lost souls heading into this video. Thanks again!
Love the alternate camera angles to give us a better understanding of "the room." Very thematic!
Hi all, great interview! The last points about the sort of music - the best place to enjoy Gregorian church music is an actual cathedral tells an important thing: next to perfecting your hifi SAVE, save some money for going out to real music concerts! Sometimes I calculate the number of concerts a hifi enthousiast could visit incl. travel, hotel and the opportunity to take a partner along - just for one pair of speakers…
Very solid discussion. As a novice enthusiast of home audio/theatre I found it very helpful to hear the pragmatic balance between science and real-world application. Well done!
Very informative. I am happy to see that you continue to educate and emphasize the importance of room treatment.
And, it if you are a DIY person, it can be done relatively inexpensive with a little more information and investigation. I even emailed Jesko when I was doing my room treatment, and he answered back promptly with good feedback.
The 15 absorption boxes I made (2'x4'x7" thick using 703 corning insulation, enclosed in light weight garden fabric and finished with a colored burlap fabric) dispersed at reflection points on walls and ceiling, along with floor treatment, makes all the difference in great sound. I spent aprox. 1500. dollars. total. Best money spent and was not difficult at all (actually a fun project to do yourself).
Would love to hear more of this about diy'rs and what worked for them! Thanks for sharing
@@stephenmeckley I used four 2'x4'x4" 703 panels in my listening room (12'x18'), a panel at each of my primary and secondary reflection points. I'm running a home theater setup but have always given priority to 2-channel audio quality. Frames are not necessary, you can coat the sides of the panels with a stiffening glue and then wrap them in acoustic cloth from Guilford (I used spray glue around the back edges to attache the cloth). Without a frame they are pretty light and you can attach pronged clips to the wall and stick the panels up wherever you need them to be. I got EXCELLENT results. The 4" panels reach down into the 125Hz range and it completely eliminated my need to use EQ in my theater setup. I still use basic time alignment and levels but that's it, along with an EQ'd Mini-DSP for my subwoofer.
Given the fact that each room has its unique acoustic signature even after investing on treatment, our best efforts will still fall short.
This is exactly why i advocate that passive treatment be augmented by active treatment i.e. the much derided tone controls and equalization devices.
Used judiciously you will be surprised at how your itch to upgrade components melts away.
Great subject John.
absolutely the best interview of this very complex topic.
Very interesting but I think I'll need to listen to it several times!
How much......did I enjoy this. Absolutely fascinating. Thanks guys.
Excellent video today John. Thank you for bringing in a guest expert who was very informative.
This is such a good video that explains what the real ossues are and that solutions are not blackb or white. Brilliant job.
When it comes to furniture, I think a fabric-covered seat is preferable to a leather one.
But you can be sure that we have become wiser from this interview.
Grtz Phil
My listening room is set up in a spare bedroom as approved by the financial controller. Maybe 4.5 metres by 4ish…
Compromises…
I get a dedicated space to pull music apart. I’ve measured the space before adding treatment and corrected. I’ve measured the space after adding room treatment and I found myself getting obsessed with correcting curves and chasing numbers.
I force myself to remember that this is fun. Adding room treatment is fun!
Great timing, John Darko! I got my Forte IVs a couple of months ago, so, now, it's time to look at treating the room. 👍👍
What is your room size & and how do they sound?
Thanks John, one of the best videos up to date. Hope you keep paying attention to us, humble begginers in the audiophile world. Greetings from Colombia
Do the test! Big battery (or an EV), two speakers with one powerful amp in a field. Please John make this one!
One of the best you did so far. Top ten! Bravo. 👏🏻
I'm a newbie to these things, but it seems that this video is priceless. What an excellent insight to acoustics. Thanks 👏
Can't believe how interesting and informative 67 minutes on room acoustics could be. Great video!
'babes, I know we've just spent £15k knocking the wall down to open the rooms up, but can I put a curtain up now to seperate them again?' She's gonna love that 😂
Thoroughly enjoyed this video. Your friend does a great job of speaking of these topics in real world ways that are far more than just dry academia.
I wasn't able to absorb everything in this video as I had it on somewhat in the background, but 1000% I'm saving it to come back to. I think people so often think or ask "what gear should I upgrade to next", when they should be asking "how can I optimize the acoustics of my listening space". It sucks because there are so many reviews of new gear and that's where all the emphasis is online, and there is seemingly so little information on room acoustics (at least relatively and it's not both easy to find and reliable). Then to add to that, the information that is out there seems to lean heavily to the engineer studio side as opposed to hifi/home theater. I know there is a lot of crossover (no pun intended), but it's not all the same.
Excellent--explained no hype -make your own directions/decisions/lists. Check your hearing. Look forward for something important too recordings and transmissions. So many variables! Keep going on your discovery.
Wonderful interview ! Thank you John.
I'm watching this while literally crafting a plan for sound absorption in a new condo we moved into. Perfect timing. Thanks John!!
Incredible pieces of information being captured here. I see other people referencing this video indirectly. Kudos John. Thank you Jesco!
Thanks so much for this. Your videos on listening room acoustics have helped me a great deal. 1) I did a lot of experimenting and measuring to find the best listening and speaker positions. 2) I added some absorption and diffusion to the ceiling and walls, as much as practical for me. 3) I used Focus Fidelity software to make a room correction filter that I apply with Roon's DSP engine. I am really happy with the results in my small guest bedroom listening room.
I'm surprised how much room we can hear on John's voice!
Excellent interview
That's because my chair was backed into the kitchen doorway behind the camera.
@@DarkoAudio Oh, so that's the reverb of your untreated kitchen? You should consider putting acoustic panels in there!
Well, that and I had major audio sync issues with my audio track on the video (that causes a reverb like sound)
Fabulous interview John. It was useful as it was entertaining. Nicely done - great if you could do more like that
This has been EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you 🙏🏼
Excellent video, John. I watched the whole thing.
My listening room is 7x11. I've been tweaking it for 18 months now. A lot of the things I though I couldn't do were proven wrong.
The room is oriented the WIDE way. Much bigger sound stage this way. Speakers, which are rear ported are slammed against the wall. Philharmonic BMRs, so NOT small speakers.
64" equilateral triangle.
I also have a DSP'd DIY sub so I am flat to 20 hz.
Lots of room treatment, a bit of DSP and the result is stunning. WAY better than I could have imagined.
Thank you both for doing this. Great conversation with lots to think about!
Great video, good advices from a pragmatic scientific base, which never neglects the actual situations. As a person who works in both fields, I know there are a lot of misconceptions and assumptions. But a room is a room, with all that acoustic purposes, there is no way around it (except headphones maybe).
This is great content. Production is top notch. Thank you John.
I can only go so far with creating my perfect listening room because I have to respect my wife's aesthetic. By far my best investment was 2 pairs of 'B' grade acoustic curtains that look like regular curtains (if a bit on the heavy side) but have utterly transformed the rooms acoustic. Admittedly, they cost thousands but my wife loves the way they look and I love them for the huge improvement in sound. FWIW they cover perhaps 25% of the wall space.
Great interview and great questions asked. Greetings from the wider Lisbon area from another audiophile expat.
THANKS JOHN , for educating with someone who has the experience to help us🤗👍😁💚💚💚
Great education. Says it how it is based on his experience. Looking forward to implementing.
FANTASTIC
I watched this video very carefully and I have never felt myself as much in agreement with what was said as I did about acoustics and acoustic treatment. Thank you very much for providing us with this interview and this learning moment. Now if it's not too much to ask, I think it would be interesting to make a video on how to use acoustic processing such as Dirac as a complement to the most optimized hearing possible. Thanks once again
This vid is what those objective speaker reviewers on youtube need to watch. i totally agree DSP should be used as a last resort. however DSP didnt work for me in my system.
Fantastic interview, enjoyable and informative. Thanks!
That was OUTSTANDING!
Great information
This guy is a genius in room acoustics!!!
Ty!
Excellent excellent interview! Thanks for this guidance
Maybe the best overall solution for most people who can’t do very extended room treatment for each personal reason (cost, visual, rental etc etc) but who actually enjoy quality music is just get a great headphone amp and headphones and a good all in one music system for casual playback music/even movies.
Very informative! Thank you both!
always nice to see someone listening to Syd Barrett.. Gigolo Aunt is a great tune!
also a very interesting topic and very well explained by Jesco
Regarding DSP, over the past couple of months I built my own music server where I've implemented filters I've generated through the Acourate software. At 495 euro it's pretty expensive, and there's certainly a learning curve, but it's made the frequency response and focus (from correcting phase) a lot better. I have a couple of house curves that I can hop between, from having made different filters. These are loaded into the Hang Loose Convolver software, which runs as a VST plugin in Audirvana. Audirvana is connected to Tidal, as well as my flac library. This is certainly more work than just buying some streamer, but hey, tinkering is fun and I like to think that I'm getting more for my money. I did start off with a room with sub 400ms RT60 though.
Very interesting. Yes headphones have there place but rarely for my listening.
Way more informative than the series done by new record day, which had a lot of misinformation
Just fantastic!
Great podcast!!!!
Thanks! This was very helpful!
One point on speaker types vs. room treatment: Most home speakers are designed to work with the support of room boundaries. Ie. their balance is expecting room gain to boost bass. Heavy acoustic treatment for lower bass removes the room gain and can make a home speakers sound lacking bass and also their output capacity on bass can run out.
Would love a video on how exactly to measure and find the best listening position and speaker placement.
Quite informative. Thanks
Excellent video
Absolutely fantastic episode! Loved every minute of the conversation.
Very helpful interview. I'd like your opinion on treating corners directly behind listening position in 13ft square room.
This was such an interesting watch. Much appreciated. John have you heard about the Bristol university scientists who are working on soundproof wallpaper based of moths and how they absorb bat sound waves for survival? Very interesting and fingers crossed it works for our frequencies.
Despite what the manufacturer manual says, you have to treat the PSI AVAA like speakers. They are sensitive in response down to a millimeter in orientation and placement. You know it's sweetspot when the haze and black is better on one channel vs the other and no edge. Use high DR tracks to test then reconfirm with loud tracks where it doesn't congest.
Quality content. Thankyou. My listening room is half meter thick concreate wall floor and ceiling. Its an underground room, 5.5 metres long and 2.5 mtrs wide. I will carpet the ceiling. I'm having a devil of a time getting a punchy tight base and a sweet female vocal and symbols sound. Lots of cushions and king bed helped a bit. I'm a beginer who will welcome any advice on speaker choice. Base is a SVS sb 2000, thats kept on the leash. Monitor speakers are okay, but just not sweet and high. Thanks again. OH, Best add, I don't earn much . . .
Was looking for my endgame small room speaker without compromise; the Dynaudio Confidence 20 came out as the winner; a downward firing port (on top of the stand) is a rare and wonderful thing, solved a lot of my placement issues whilst not compromising elsewhere.
The Confidence 20 is very high up on my list of speakers to audition. I've heard they're power hungry though. What amp are you using?
😂 11k damn hope there’s no compromise my friend ! Enjoy !
My endgame speakers are the Audiovector R1 Arrete
@@andreasmisundberntsen9237 Actually not power hungry from what I have heard, but yes I do run them on my NAD M22v2 which is 300w into 8 Ohms with M12 Pre Amp. Sounds great. There is room to up the ante Electronics wise when I get to it. I haven’t heard them on a less powerful amp but reviews said they still work well. I did get them secondhand/ex demo from a dealer for £6250 which is still a lot of money but oh so worth it compared to others. They have scale and impact that most stand mounts kits can’t do, and all the detail and insight of a high end speaker but without the harsh and analytical leanings of the likes of Focal or Bowers speakers in the same price category. The tweeter is a real star, and everything is so palpable with strong bass too. About as good as I’m going to get for now in my small approx 4x4m room.
This is a great video if you want to fall asleep.
This episode on room acoustics is brought to you by a pair of headphones (T + A). 😜
I have a big problem with bass modes at 40hz. I had a couple of 3 seater sofas purchased from a high street retailer, last year I replaced both with better quality handmade sofas and there was a definite improvement in the sound. But the biggest improvement was made when I used REW with Roon DSP.
I had the same experience. I went from a leather sofa and chair to fabric and the sound improved so much. Same 40hz peak too. It even tamed brightness believe it or not.
After watching this, I think I had some beginner’s luck with the room where my 2.1 system resides. Dimensions, speaker placement, walls, curtains, everything in its right place. I consider myself fortunate to have avoided the struggle of designing a good audio room.
I was lucky like that in my room when i still lived at home. Now i habe finally achieved the same kind of accoustics or even better in my home theater 15+ years later. It took waaaay more treatment then i had then.
small room acoustic is where i had my speakers for the last 6 years.
tiny cube shaped, think you can forget about large soundstage, but still get a pleasant other sound.
the improvement from non treated and non dsp to having large thick absorbers and doing dsp by ear is enormous.
do all that you can to a room and use dsp, going back now is so bad sounding it is a joke of a hifi.
This is fascinating....
Great informative video. From your experience can you talk about room treatment when it comes to playing ATMOS music using say Sonos Era 300s? It seems ceiling treatment might hamper the reflections. Thanks!
Thank you very useful info.
Excellent video have been watching both of you and then seeing you come together on both channels has been fantastic!! I am on the hifi end of the spectrum. I would love to hear more on rephasing as part of dsp/convolution etc. I have used it some and roon and Audirvana offer ways to use a convolver and I think some people like myself would be interested in learning more. Also, is half a wavelength the dimension when a frequency will begin seeing an object acoustically or full wavelength? Thank you!!
Great video …and I went with headphones 🎧…a lot less “domestic issues “…😎
Great video, very informative but i do get lost sometimes because i don't fully understand some of the terminology. It would be great if your guest would do a primer on room acoustics.
Oh no…
That base trap reveal moment!
Use Linn Tune Dem and Space Optimisation via a DSM, very helpful especially for larger loudspeakers in small rooms to address room modes.
Thanks for the great video. I understand almost nobody acumulates books anymore, but what about the efect of big bookshelves whit lots of books in the four walls? I only have a small window and a door, in a 20sq meters with a very high ceiling.
Let's say I'm building my dream home which will have a dedicated listening room... What would the dimensions be of the aforesaid room...? Should it be a square, or better yet, a rectangle to allow for generous speaker placement away from the front wall...? Great video...!!! Kudos...!!!
Does anyone have a good video or forum post to suggest that reviews top monitor speakers? Or if John himself has one that would be preferable. Looking to buy a couple monitors for my new office setup soon
Any recommendations for ceiling acoustic absorption panels that I can also super glue?
I have a question please, does a big room make things easier? Mine is 12x6x3.15 m and front wall with vinyls and books, side wall just books and back wall, 6m away books and it sounds, to me , really well, what you think?
Great info
super interesting video. really enjoyed it!
what are those beautiful speakers in the background
monitor audio silver 100 7g Limited edition
cool thanks!
I’ve seen folks place small brass bells 🔔 in front of the tweeters or placed on ceiling or walls….any discussion on these ideas? I’ve also seen wood resonators….
Top!
Hey John...thanks for the video. I still have 20 minutes to go but have you provided some general parameters for room size dimensions....small room, medium, large?
Hi John. Can you explain to me why your intro and incidental music sounds better with all my equipment over YT than my Pioneer PD-S904 or Spotify over my PC or through my Roku Boxes. Is it just the bitrate???.... Over my 4.1 stereo through my trusty brick of an amp (TEAC AR-630 MK2) and my Srythm NC25's (A much underated set of bluetooth headphones) it sound brill! Very few Audio reviewers seem to give themselves credibility in this way as you do. PS. any chance you could list tracks or link to them on YT if available, as I've never heard some of the stuff you use to test your systems and I have to keep skipping back, then going to find them to listen to what you were on about withing those tracks....Many Thanks, Big Fan DC :)
Headphones are the ultimate room treatment.
So if I understand correctly, in a sequence of actions, first treat the ceiling, then the bass traps, then side/ back walls and finish it off with DSP.
Treat your corners first with bass traps then early reflections. Bass treatment takes up a lot of space that most cannot afford to loose. Corners offer best bass treatment for space used then ceilings they are an unused surface.
So the room might be why I listened a couple of days ago to a Kef R3 and sounded way better than a Kef R7 towers?
Hope you are doing well john... Long time no see.
John, superb video. one question, are your speakers placed exactly the same distance from the sidewalls in your Berlin room? ❤