TOPIC:

i'm new here. don't own Dirac software, or any DSP hardware product. as the subject line indicates, Dirac seems like voodoo magic to me; it seems too good to be true. because of that, i'm sure i don't understand what its true capabilities are. i'll describe what i'd like to achieve, and then y'all can tell me that i'm asking for the impossible.

here's my scenario: i have a really terrible acoustic space. it's a 2 car garage that's been converted to a cottage. roughly 22 x 24 feet; 9 foot to the joists supporting the 2nd floor; 3 windows on one end. i have a home theater and 2 channel listening area occupying half of the space. in the other half, i have a hobby area, where i stand and walk around a lot.

i'm fine with the home theater. it's 3.1, and i sit on the sofa while watching the screen. if i sit in the stereo sweet spot, in the center of the sofa, and keep the volume relatively low, i'm more or less happy. walking around the open space, not so much.

what i would like is to make the "walking around space" sound good with 2 channel music, without moving any speakers. is this achievable with the DDR24?

another general question: does Dirac create audio "perfection", such that the amplification and speaker selection simply do not matter that much, given more or less equivalent driver quality, and impedance capability of the amplifier?

thanks,
Dan

dls13503 wrote:

another general question: does Dirac create audio "perfection", such that the amplification and speaker selection simply do not matter that much, given more or less equivalent driver quality, and impedance capability of the amplifier?

I'll answer this part first as it's easier - no. Factors like distortion, directivity and dynamic capability are not things that Dirac Live can somehow 'fix'.

On your wider question, broadly Dirac Live will work better the smaller the area over which you're trying to optimise things. I've never tried Dirac Live for the use case you've described by I wouldn't expect it to work particularly well I'm afraid. Others who have actually tried it will be better placed to comment though.

@dls13503

I've tried Dirac in an area with in-ceiling speakers. It doesn't really work or at a minimum is very hit and miss. Problems: Your measurements (even 17 of them) have to be spread quite thinly; there's no logical place for the timing reference to be taken; all my in-ceilings play mono so the left and right 'whooppp' come from each speaker; you can't correct for individual speakers after measuring them in just the area they're most dominant. 

I'm in the process of trying to eq the area but I'm going to take another approach and see if that works. I'm going to measure each speaker just around the area where it is most dominant using a moving mic method. Then I'll correct the FR using REW. Then I'll use MSO over the entire area (I've two subs there) to even out the bass and blend into the mains. Just got to wait for my 'multi-channel' amp to come back from its repair/service first. 

I have a large shop with a flex 

and I took measurements though out the space and I’m very pleased with its results 

far far better then I could do on my own 


.02c 

First time I ran Dirac it seemed to improve things but on a repeat it made it sound awful! Now rerun just don't seem to get it right. That's why I said hit and miss. 

A large area with more than two speakers isn't what 2channel dirac is designed for but guess there may be situations in which it still works.