TOPIC:

I need help with EQ and crossover settings for a OB I’m playing with. I'm using REW, UMIK-1 and MiniDSP 2x4HD and my total experience with all this is just about 3-4 days. I’ve done a bit of reading but the stuff that stood out most was - a couple of videos (links below) and this thread www.avsforum.com/threads/si...ow-to-inte...49924/#post-22789786. Also AustinJerry’s setting up REW guide.

There is a lot of material I should read and I will in due course. Admittedly I’m a bit impatient and am hoping to start with something basic and hear some improvements.

The setup is a 1xPRV 10FR300 full range and 2x PRV 15W1000V2 woofers in parallel on each side. Running REW on MacBook Pro. In the MIDI setup MiniDSP is set to 2 channel 16 bit 48 KHz. In REW I've set output to MiniDSP and input to the UMIK-1 with calibration.

To start I'd like to confirm I'm measuring correctly.

1. On the Mac, should the MIDI setup be set for 2-channel 16 bit or 2-channel 24 bit 48Khz?

2. I'm taking measurements with the mic at listening position with mic facing straight ahead (i.e not towards the speakers)

3. It is recommended that I take measurements 60dB above the noise floor. Is it too bad to do it at say 85dB? I understand that more of the noise floor we can ignore, the better.

4. Somewhere it says I should do a 10-20Khz sweep even for a subwoofer? But the specs of the PRV 15W1000v2 say 40-4KHz and I don’t want to damage the sub.

5. I assume I have to take 4 measurements (full range and woofers on left and right) individually and EQ each individually. Finally I take one overall measurement and see how it looks.

I’ve attached a response of the left and right full range at 85dB and I used 1/6 smoothing. Does it look right as in expected? Is it fine? Do you need more information? Should I EQ? If yes, what settings would you suggest?




Videos...

1. I don't have a Mac, but I assume for the measurements, it does not matter. I would pick 24.
2. The mic should face the ceiling and you should use the 90 degree mic calibration. This is more precise with respect to reflections. Pointing at the loudspeaker with 0 degree file is more important for loudspeaker measurements.
3. The high db is mostly for reverb measurements, better identifying modes, distortion verification and to see if your equipment shows limitations. If you just want to look at the frequency response and want to know it for lower (normal) listening, 85 is perfectly fine.  I would not measure at more than 95 db anyway, as it is for me unrealistically loud and you also don't want to damage your speakers. I don't watch movies at reference level but at least -10 below. 
4. I would look at loudspeakers without sub to find the crossover,  then eq subs and then time align subs then time align with loudspeaker then eq loudspeaker plus sub. For two subs being placed symmetrically, some people say that you should only eq them together after aligning because it more evenly excites the room. I guess this is a bit of trial and error what you prefer. 

The curve looks realistic to me. If this includes the sub, it plays way too low and should be 10dB higher in volume, which is quite a lot. Before changing this, any eq seems difficult to suggest. I don't know the specs of your speakers and subs but for hifi, the sub should be louder. The falloff could be due to the 90 degree 0 degree mismatch, see point 2 above. If it still looks like this when all is correct, I would eq between 200 and 1000 to flatten a bit, some falloff in the highs is normal and even nice. Below 200 would depend on how the sub connects when the volume is increased. You should also list the cutoff and in the very low bass region, less soothing reveals better detail. 

It is always good practice to look at the curves or an average around the listening position, at least covering the head size plus a few centimeters. 

Good luck!