Dirac Calibration

[greg90]

I have a receiver that has a license for Dirac live so I wanted to use that to calibrate my mains. I also have a minidsp 2x4hd that I’m going to use for my subs and was planning on using REW for that. I’m not sure how to go about tuning this together. Mains and subs separate with two different programs or is there and easier way? I can’t find a straight answer. Newer to the home a/v coming from a car audio background

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Depends on the receiver and if it has independent sub outputs. If it does, there's not really a need for the MiniDSP.

If not, time align, level match and calibrate the subs with the 2x4, then integrate them as a single sub into the full system as you calibrate the mains with Dirac.

 

[greg90]

Depends on the receiver and if it has independent sub outputs. If it does, there's not really a need for the MiniDSP.

If not, time align, level match and calibrate the subs with the 2x4, then integrate them as a single sub into the full system as you calibrate the mains with Dirac.

I’m using a Onkyo TX NR7100 with a crown xls2502 amp for my subwoofers. There was a reason why I had bought the minidsp but don’t remember why now. Also I kept seeing people say that when they run Dirac that their bass output diminishes . Not sure the truth of that but just want the best sound out of my set up

 

[JStewart]

Dirac Live does not integrate multiple subwoofers with each other.
The add-on Dirac Live Bass Control does that as well as phase align the subwoofer group to each pair of speakers and center.
So without having the Bass Control add-on, a MiniDSP is a requirement for mult-sub use.
Align and EQ the sub group using your method of choice and then run Dirac Live calibration. Dirac will then see your sub group as a single sub and calibrate it with the rest of you speakers.

Regarding bass output diminishing: 1) Dirac does its job and removes peaks that shouldn’t be there. Some folks like their peaks (room modes). 2) some folks like more bass than the default Dirac Live target curve. You can use Harman target curves for Dirac with different amounts of bass boost here:

Dirac Live v2 & v3

The Harman target curves have no high end rolloff as that should be set individually for your room, speakers, and taste. A good starting point is to follow the natural rolloff of your speakers. The target is adjusted within the Dirac app.

There are other guides and advice in the linked page. I strongly suggest reading and using them. The author has been instrumental in getting Dirac to correct issues he has discovered and documented. Dirac also links to his crossover setting document from within their help pages. So that’s his cred. There’s a lot of other rumor and conjecture out there to be avoided.

Happy to help if you have more questions. There are several ”since it’s inception “ Dirac users on the site.

Welcome to the forum! Happy to have you here!

Newer to the home a/v coming from a car audio background

So I’m just figuring this car stuff out now. Home audio is a piece of cake in comparison, imho

 

[greg90]

Dirac Live does not integrate multiple subwoofers with each other.
The add-on Dirac Live Bass Control does that as well as phase align the subwoofer group to each pair of speakers and center.
So without having the Bass Control add-on, a MiniDSP is a requirement for mult-sub use.
Align and EQ the sub group using your method of choice and then run Dirac Live calibration. Dirac will then see your sub group as a single sub and calibrate it with the rest of you speakers.

Regarding bass output diminishing: 1) Dirac does its job and removes peaks that shouldn’t be there. Some folks like their peaks (room modes). 2) some folks like more bass than the default Dirac Live target curve. You can use Harman target curves for Dirac with different amounts of bass boost here:


The Harman target curves have no high end rolloff as that should be set individually for your room, speakers, and taste. A good starting point is to follow the natural rolloff of your speakers. The target is adjusted within the Dirac app.

There are other guides and advice in the linked page. I strongly suggest reading and using them. The author has been instrumental in getting Dirac to correct issues he has discovered and documented. Dirac also links to his crossover setting document from within their help pages. So that’s his cred. There’s a lot of other rumor and conjecture out there to be avoided.

Happy to help if you have more questions. There are several ”since it’s inception “ Dirac users on the site.

Welcome to the forum! Happy to have you here!



So I’m just figuring this car stuff out now. Home audio is a piece of cake in comparison, imho

Perfect! That cleared it up for me. I’m familiar with the Harman curve. Same one that’s going to be used as a base in my vehicles dsp. I like a little extra bass and I’ll make a couple presets. Thanks for the help and the welcome. Looking forward to being on here

 

[ddude003]

This might be interesting for anyone interested in room curves... https://www.bksv.com/media/doc/17-197.pdf

I find it interesting that Dirac Live would be suggesting anyone run a +8dB or +10dB low end... What kind of black magic is this?

 

[JStewart]

I find it interesting that Dirac Live would be suggesting anyone run a +8dB or +10dB low end... What kind of black magic is this?

Dirac actually doesn’t. The Harman target curves are used by folks that want more bass than the Dirac target curves. Curves, plural, because Dirac offers 2.
#1 is a 0.5 dB per octave sloping downward from 20Hz to 20kHz
#2 is tying to mimic and smooth the response of the low end of your speaker group (fronts, surrounds, etc.) and the rolloff of same in the high end. This method will then calculate different targets for each speaker group which doesn’t seem the best idea for creating the best possible transition as the sound moves from one group to another in the mix, a helicopter traveling from behind you to front, for example.
So one way to not use Dirac #1, get however much bass you prefer, and to have the same target for all speakers is to use one of the Harman curves that I linked. They range from a 3dB bass boost to a 10dB bass boost. The 10dB being way to bass heavy for music in the home for me personally and I’m guessing for you as well.

 

[ddude003]

Ok... Maybe substitute "suggesting" for providing... Although the Note does say something about their solution not being perceived as having enough bass by some users... This is an area of personal taste...

#1 is basically 5dB sloping across the 20Hz to 20kHz range... B&K suggest 6dB... Yea, I don't even know what #2 is supposed to do... Magic hand waiving maybe...

It is my belief that professional best practices is to not increase bass and mostly cut everything else... With SOTA DSP hardware and especially software this can be pretty easy to do... And there are a few Old School Studio EQs that stand out... To each their own methods that suit them... Again an area of personal taste...

Consider having approximately 32,767 EQ sliders across the 20Hz to 24kHz frequency range... Hang Loose...