Recommendations for "Simple or easier to use" room measurment apps?

[Olskool]

Hello guys, I was reading the thread on room bass problems and some of the discussion lead to the use of room measuring tools. One of the suggestions was an app called "Spectrum Analyzer from ONYX Apps." I went to the app store to read a bit before purchase and found a myriad of other apps, although this one seemed to have good reviews and the price of $15.00 seemed reasonable too.

I find these technical discussions of room spikes, peaks, suckouts, smearing, booming, and reflection points get over my head pretty quickly. :scholar: I do recognize that dialing in the room is absolutely essential and feel I've have done a reasonable job of voicing and trapping already but feel the need to analyze further in order to make sure I'm not missing some really important error in the room. Having an analyzer tool or app is probably a good thing but it looks like a steep learning curve along the way to understanding analysis, hence my post. I would like to hear your recommendations for a simple and "reasonably inexpensive" learning tool app or system that I can both learn on and do some room adjusting based on the readings pulled and learn to interpret. Any suggestions based on your experience? Thanks in advance. Larry "Olskool"

 

[MDP]

Larry, I'm like you, I understand how important my room is but I have no idea how to use any tools to help me figure it out. Even if I could understand what the spectrum analyzer was telling me, I don't know what to do after I get the information !

 

[Mike]

Larry - you need to get a hold of a pink noise track. Play the pink noise, run the app, measure. Look for spikes. Sit in your main listening spot (press both buttons of your iPhone to take a screen shot). Move to a different position, same steps. Move about the room - back, forward, etc. Remember that any ambient noise can affect the measurement. Minimize/eliminate moving about, talking, etc.

Then, to see what kind of ambient noise you have (air conditioner running, fridge, etc.), stop the pink noise and wait about 30 seconds for it to recalibrate and then look at the measurement without pink noise. You're essentially measuring the ambient noise to see if it is adding to a particular spike in your room.

There is more to it obviously, but this is a good first step. The waterfall graph is another excellent measurement, but I haven't found a good app for this. That's why a lot of people use XTZ for Windows. The waterfall graph tells you how long a spike/node lasts in your room.

 

[Olskool]

Larry, I'm like you, I understand how important my room is but I have no idea how to use any tools to help me figure it out. Even if I could understand what the spectrum analyzer was telling me, I don't know what to do after I get the information !

Hi Mark, Yep, I see the graphs shown in reviews from various sources such as Stereophile, this forum, etc. and it is all voodoo magic to me! This would probably be good subject matter for one of the magazines or even one of the shows such as RMAF to write an article about or put on a seminar to help explain the basics of audio analyzers and graphing a room (Reviewers, editors and show organizers are you litening?). Mark I'm not sure where in North Texas you are but if in a reasonable distance from me here in McKinney, TX we can probably get together and compare notes because I intend to continue to track this down to understand more. It probably helps to have someone to bounce ideas off.

You may already be aware but Jim Smith's "Play the Room" and "Get Better Sound" Books and Video has helped my understandiong of voicing the speakers and room fair amount (see advertisements in Stereophile, etc.). He also speaks about treatments and trapping. (I'm guessing this is what you mean when you say "What to do after you get the information?" because the analyzer, as I understand, will tell you where unwanted spikes and reflections are in the room, while voicing speakers and treating walls and corners will eliminate those unwanted reflection items.) I will send you a PM to see how close we are to each other to see about getting together. Take care.

Olskool

 

[Olskool]

Thanks Mike, I have a couple of pinnk noise cd test discs and will use them, but it is which analyzer should I get and are there any instructions on how to interpret exactly what I see when I use them? Is your response about taking the screen shots to do with the Spectrum Analyzer from ONYX, or is it XTZ for Windows that you reference? Do you recommend either and why? I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes but a good kick and I soon start moving along. Thanks for your response.

Olskool

 

[Glenn Kuras]

Spectrum Analyzer from ONYX Apps

From there website, which is VERY IMPORTANT!
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif] For best results we recommend using a calibrated measurement microphone connected via USB audio interface or iPhone dock connector. This allows for high precision and flat frequency response, as well as for stereo input.[/FONT]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif]Honestly I would look to use something like REW which is free. Might be a bit of a learning curve but you will get the right information. It is pretty important that you view things like the low end decay and the ETC for early reflection points.
[/FONT]http://www.gikacoustics.com/room-eq-wizard-tutorial/
Understanding Decay Time and Waterfall Graphs - GIK Acoustics
Video Early or First Reflection Points - GIK Acoustics[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

 

[Olskool]

Excellent! Thank you Glenn. I will review the links and watch the videos and consider the issues of low end decay and reflection points as you suggest. Ill let you know how it goes. Thanks

olskool

 

[Wntrmute2]

I too use REW with a USB microphone from Parts Express. I use it with an older MacBook Pro. Works easily enough for less than $100 for the microphone. Great support for REW at Home Theater Shack!