TOPIC:

Hi everyone.

I have a need for a system to decrease the amount of low frequency equalization as the volume increases. Is this something that could be achieved with the mini dsp platform?

Fximaging wrote:

Hi everyone.

I have a need for a system to decrease the amount of low frequency equalization as the volume increases. Is this something that could be achieved with the mini dsp platform?

Sadly not. What can be done is to use the four presets to save different EQ settings that you can switch between, so you could set these up to be used at different volume levels if you wish.

So surely your answer should've been:
"Absolutely!  What can be done is to use the four presets (that you can switch between), with different stored EQ settings - so you use these at different volume levels."! 

Andy
 

andyr wrote:

So surely your answer should've been:
"Absolutely!  What can be done is to use the four presets (that you can switch between), with different stored EQ settings - so you use these at different volume levels."! 

Andy

 

Well, not really, since I'm confident this isn't what the OP had in mind, and is not at all the same as a true loudness adjustment that varies continously with volume control.

Sure, U - I agree that probably wasn't what the OP had in mind.  But I'm not aware of any device that will do "loudness adjustment that varies continuously with volume control" - so I reckon he's dreaming.  

And in the absence of what the OP was thinking about ... I reckon a miniDSP unit does a pretty good job.

Andy
 

andyr wrote:

But I'm not aware of any device that will do "loudness adjustment that varies continuously with volume control" - so I reckon he's dreaming.  

 

I believe the RME ADI-2 DAC does, and I'll bet it's not the only product. I have a vague recollection that some AV amps do but I'm not going to start Googling for this now.

This unit does it all day long.

www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0146

I have the exact same request. And I bought the 2x4 HD with presets to do exactly this. Flipping to a different preset when you'll be playing loudly isn't a perfect solution though. What I later learned is that a more elegant solution would be to use a multiband compressor. Where you could apply the compressor at a specific frequency range (eg. 40-65hz) and at a specific volume output (eg. -10db to 0db) to protect from over excursion of small speakers at high volumes. 

What's so interesting is that the mididsp almost has this functionality with it's compressors at each of the 4 outputs. If one of your outputs happens to just be the frequency range that you want to compress (like a subwoofer), then you are all set. I guess if you had a dedicated subwoofer, you wouldn't be worried about this use case though.
In my case, I have a 2-way system and the woofer output plays from 40hz to 1500hz. If I were to use the compressor on this output with the minidsp, the entire frequency range (40-1500hz) would be compressed. Not good.

I could crossover into 3 outputs temporarily (40-65hz, 65-1500, 1500-20k) then apply the compressor to just the 40-65 output but then there is no way to sum two of them back into a single output within the minidsp. I'd have to do this outside of the minidsp with a wye summing circuit to join the two outputs back into one output before amplification. Clunky... and passive summing just seems wrong after investing so much in the MiniDSP HD. Would it be difficult to add another stage in the minidsp to sum outputs together? This would make the minidsp extremely valuable.

A bit more about this growing use case... With the popularity of small portable speakers, there is growing desire to cheat the LOW, LOUD, SMALL tradeoff. If you want LOW and SMALL, you often need to lean into the EQ on the low end. And when you do this, you definitely run into excursion limits as volume increases. But for low to medium volume, it works. With multiband compression, one could continue turning up the volume and the speaker would automatically dial down the low end to protect the speaker. So the music is louder, the bass boost is needed less as volume increases due to how we perceive bass, and you keep the system small and portable. Seems like a no brainer for such an advanced piece of hardware as the minidsp HD.
 

sgurdus wrote:

I have the exact same request. And I bought the 2x4 HD with presets to do exactly this. Flipping to a different preset when you'll be playing loudly isn't a perfect solution though. What I later learned is that a more elegant solution would be to use a multiband compressor. Where you could apply the compressor at a specific frequency range (eg. 40-65hz) and at a specific volume output (eg. -10db to 0db) to protect from over excursion of small speakers at high volumes. 

What's so interesting is that the mididsp almost has this functionality with it's compressors at each of the 4 outputs. If one of your outputs happens to just be the frequency range that you want to compress (like a subwoofer), then you are all set. I guess if you had a dedicated subwoofer, you wouldn't be worried about this use case though.
...

 

I don't think that's what the OP is after - most likely, they're after a "loudness" control. Making a sub output gain respond to the overall volume setting. Using a compressor on the sub output would change the dynamic of that channel - it would be playing louder/quieter in response to the source signal, rather than the volume setting.