Game Changer! Dirac Officially Unveils Active Room Treatment (ART) Technology

(January 5, 2023). Just a few short days into the new year and Dirac, makers of the popular Dirac Live Room Correction suite, has launched a game-changing home audio technology. Its new “Active Room Treatment” or ART delivers a layer of room correction designed to hone and control frequencies up to 300Hz by leveraging each speaker deployed in a room. The company is debuting and demoing the technology at CES, and says it will begin shipping ART on StormAudio products during spring of 2023. The technology will ultimately find its way to other brands and platforms, but a timetable has yet to be released.

ART is born from nearly 15 years of car audio research and Dirac’s use of Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) mixed-phase impulse response. The company’s first commercial MIMO-enhanced product, Dirac Dimension, was employed by BMW and Rolls Royce to give passengers access to a “more spacious” audio experience. Years later, a second version called Dirac Unison honed impulse response alignment within a car’s cabin, essentially allowing every speaker to contribute to each individual speaker’s output capabilities.

Dan Roemer (Perlisten), Rikard Hellerfelt (Dirac), Dr. Nilo Casimiro Ericsson (Dirac), Matt Trinklein (Storm), Olivier Thumerel (Storm)
Dirac says ART brings those automotive technologies to the home theater environment, but with a focus on low frequencies. The reasoning behind a frequency limitation is speaker position variability. ART-like technologies can correct up to 4kHz within a car's cabin because speaker positions are consistently fixed and known. Home theater environments are far less predictable and widely varied, which has led Dirac to limit ART’s application to 300 Hz and below (ART will only correct up to 150Hz at launch).

Mathias Johansson, Dirac’s Chief Product Officer explains, “Now, with Active Room Treatment we are moving beyond traditional room correction to actually reduce bass decay times digitally, without needing bass traps or thick layers of wall absorption. By actively optimizing and coordinating bass response characteristics from all the speakers in a system, our latest Dirac Live feature reduces decay times to provide an incredibly dense and transparent audio experience in any room."

Dirac says ART isn’t a standalone product, but rather a third layer to the Dirac Live experience. Users will still need to employ Dirac Live and Bass Control to manage both impulse response and subwoofer integration. ART then enters the picture to attack decay and reverb. The technology is capable of using every speaker, from bookshelf models to full-sized floorstanders, to achieve overall effectiveness.

Dirac Live Active Room Treatment will be included, at no additional fee, in all StormAudio Processors and AVRs ordered from January 1, 2023 onward and will be made available through a firmware update in Spring 2023. StormAudio products ordered before January 1st will be upgradeable with Dirac Live Active Room Treatment after the Spring 2023 firmware update and by purchasing a license from Dirac’s online store at $299.

“We have been a close Dirac partner since 2017 and have always been a pioneer in implementing their cutting-edge technologies successfully,” explained Olivier Thumerel, StormAudio’s CEO. “We were the first to introduce the Dirac Live Bass Control in 2020 and are now proud to be leading again with the release of Dirac Live Active Room Treatment. Our users have always praised the performance and results of calibrating with Dirac tools on our platform, and now we are able to raise it to the next level again in partnership with Dirac.”

As for equipment manufactured by other brands, the company says legacy gear running Dirac Live and Bass Control should have no issues running the technology.

Dirac is showcasing ART at CES 2023 using a 5.3 Perlisten speaker array directed by a StormAudio ISP MK3 processor. AV NIRVANA is scheduled for an opening day demo session, so stay tuned for more information.

 

[JStewart]

ART ... great acronym!

Want to hear everything you you've got to say about it after your demo!!!

Will this be a game changer? Will I have to upgrade to a Storm product after purchasing my last pre-pro, i.e. "the last pre-pro I'm ever going to buy."?.

 

[tjcinnamon]

Also very excited to hear impressions!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Hey guys - so, I spent one hour with teams from Perlisten, Storm, and Dirac during a private demo session. The impact of ART is quite notable. It has the ability to tame bass without neutering low-end punch. It's quite fascinating in that it lends to an expansive sound stage that holds together when you move outside of the sweet spot.

I heard quite a few A/B clips and preferred ART in every case.

I can share more later... but here's a video chat that you'll probably find interesting!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Here's a few waterfall graphs to digest...

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Normally I scroll past digital room correction content but this one is more interesting. Will be anxious to hear more real-world experiences.

 

[bogdan benchea]

Do you know if the firmware to get DLART will be available also for the StormAudio MK1 processo?

 

[dami1337]

Two questions regarding the speaker and sub setup @Todd Anderson

1. Were the surrounds in typical Dolby 5.1 arrangement eg in the corners`I would have expected a demo with 7.x to make better use of the cancellation aspect but it seems like you liked even 5.x a lot in the demo room

2. Similar question about the subs and what the optimal set up might be. I wanted initially to get two big subs in diagonal corners and was waiting for the announcement/details. My main question is really if subs would need to be in some kind of DBA style setup eg having a front and a back that is cancelling the waves again. So basically 2 subs front, 2 subs back being best to leverage ART. But here there are "only" 3 subs. Was it 2 in front and one in back?

Overall it would be great to get some direction from Dirac prior to launch for anybody who is currently planning to upgrade speakers to understand what they see as minimum requirements or avg and best case. Applies also to how powerful (full range capabilities) surrounds should be to leverage ART as good as possible.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Do you know if the firmware to get DLART will be available also for the StormAudio MK1 processo?

99% sure the answer is yes

 

[Todd Anderson]

Two questions regarding the speaker and sub setup @Todd Anderson

1. Were the surrounds in typical Dolby 5.1 arrangement eg in the corners`I would have expected a demo with 7.x to make better use of the cancellation aspect but it seems like you liked even 5.x a lot in the demo room

2. Similar question about the subs and what the optimal set up might be. I wanted initially to get two big subs in diagonal corners and was waiting for the announcement/details. My main question is really if subs would need to be in some kind of DBA style setup eg having a front and a back that is cancelling the waves again. So basically 2 subs front, 2 subs back being best to leverage ART. But here there are "only" 3 subs. Was it 2 in front and one in back?

Overall it would be great to get some direction from Dirac prior to launch for anybody who is currently planning to upgrade speakers to understand what they see as minimum requirements or avg and best case. Applies also to how powerful (full range capabilities) surrounds should be to leverage ART as good as possible.

Here’s a list of the gear used (all Perlisten): S7t left and right, S7c for center, S4b for surrounds, and D15s for subs.

Here’s a picture of what the rear looked like:

So, a fairly standard array.

I talked to Dirac fairly extensively about 5 or 6 weeks ago, and I specifically asked them about systems needing to have full-size speakers for the best performance. They said no, that most bookshelf models play low enough to have impact.

Obviously, having some speakers that have depth in frequency spectrum is necessary. That said, the speakers in a system are recruited to work together to solve acoustic issues.

I don’t know an answer to your question about subs and sub positioning. Let me reach out and see if I can get an answer on that…

And yes, the 5.x demo I heard was great. I’ve heard and seen a lot of demo systems over the years… lots are fun, few make you go wow. This was a wow.

Now, if you like your bass to be super bloated and linger in your room, this isn’t for you. But if you want a tight low end that punches hard and then disappears, this is for you.

What came to mind for me was standing in a pool and forcefully plunging your hand in the water in front of you. You get that big initial splash that that goes straight up… and then there’s a residual splash and movement in the water that can hit your (or someone near by) in the face. With ART, you still get that initial splash shooting up in the air. But you don’t get splashed in the face! (If that makes sense)

 

[tjcinnamon]

Here’s a list of the gear used (all Perlisten): S7t left and right, S7c for center, S4b for surrounds, and D15s for subs.

Here’s a picture of what the rear looked like:

View attachment 58283

So, a fairly standard array.

I talked to Dirac fairly extensively about 5 or 6 weeks ago, and I specifically asked them about systems needing to have full-size speakers for the best performance. They said no, that most bookshelf models play low enough to have impact.

Obviously, having some speakers that have depth in frequency spectrum is necessary. That said, the speakers in a system are recruited to work together to solve acoustic issues.

I don’t know an answer to your question about subs and sub positioning. Let me reach out and see if I can get an answer on that…

And yes, the 5.x demo I heard was great. I’ve heard and seen a lot of demo systems over the years… lots are fun, few make you go wow. This was a wow.

Now, if you like your bass to be super bloated and linger in your room, this isn’t for you. But if you want a tight low end that punches hard and then disappears, this is for you.

What came to mind for me was standing in a pool and forcefully plunging your hand in the water in front of you. You get that big initial splash that that goes straight up… and then there’s a residual splash and movement in the water that can hit your (or someone near by) in the face. With ART, you still get that initial splash shooting up in the air. But you don’t get splashed in the face! (If that makes sense)

Wonder how it will work if I like to run my subs hot. Presumably, I wouldn’t run them hot via a minidsp but I’d have to run them hot on the target curve or AVR

 

[Todd Anderson]

Are you thinking it might tame them?

ART is only addressing lingering decay. So, you can still run hot.

 

[tjcinnamon]

Are you thinking it might tame them?

ART is only addressing lingering decay. So, you can still run hot.

I was thinking it may diminish the effect

 

[Todd Anderson]

I was thinking it may diminish the effect

It does appear to tame bass, but what you’re hearing is a lack of lingering sound waves. That initial bass, however, still has power.

 

[tjcinnamon]

It does appear to tame bass, but what you’re hearing is a lack of lingering sound waves. That initial bass, however, still has power.

That's not what I was referring too. I meant it would tame it's ability to reduce the decay times.

Example: Running subs flat ART reduces the decay time to 200ms but running subs hot from a miniDSP would increase the decay time to 300ms.

I think we'd need to have dirac control the sub curve and have the AVR control the sub gain. Where as, before I'd do everything from the miniDSP's with subs but Dirac/AVR will need insight into the overall sub level to have the surrounds respond in kind.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

It will be interesting to see what is discovered by the end-users when it gets out there in the masses, as I run my subs hot as well.

 

[JStewart]

Here's a few waterfall graphs to digest...

View attachment 58279

Now, if you like your bass to be super bloated and linger in your room, this isn’t for you. But if you want a tight low end that punches hard and then disappears, this is for you.

Did the folks at Dirac mention if the decay time is user adjustable?
It’s been said that even decay times are desirable, but perhaps that was because without this technology, having the lowest frequencies decay at the same rate as the upper was the best that could be achieved, and the psychoacoustic preference is actually unknown.
Also, in the video I think it was stated that the filters are effective to much higher frequencies in their auto implementations. Intuitively this seems more desirable, but who knows?

 

[Todd Anderson]

That's not what I was referring too. I meant it would tame it's ability to reduce the decay times.

Example: Running subs flat ART reduces the decay time to 200ms but running subs hot from a miniDSP would increase the decay time to 300ms.

I think we'd need to have dirac control the sub curve and have the AVR control the sub gain. Where as, before I'd do everything from the miniDSP's with subs but Dirac/AVR will need insight into the overall sub level to have the surrounds respond in kind.

Ah. I see what you mean. We’ll have to wait and see once ART gets out into the wild…

 

[tjcinnamon]

Either way, I’m excited. I have my room pretty treated and lower bass is very difficult to tame. I don’t use membrane traps (and those are hard to use) and the remaining traps have to be huge.

If this works well for my next theater, I’m gonna upgrade the surround/tops with bigger in wall drivers

 

[Todd Anderson]

You’re hitting on the big point: traps for sub 150Hz aren’t doable for most of us… this new tool solves that problem.

Just as a word of caution: the graphic demonstration in the video is misleading because ART won’t necessarily attack first refelections. It’s designed to tame what happens later.

That’s something I talked to Dirac about and they clarified. I suspect we’ll likely see new marketing images at some point

 

[tjcinnamon]

You’re hitting on the big point: traps for sub 150Hz aren’t doable for most of us… this new tool solves that problem.

Just as a word of caution: the graphic demonstration in the video is misleading because ART won’t necessarily attack first refelections. It’s designed to tame what happens later.

That’s something I talked to Dirac about and they clarified. I suspect we’ll likely see new marketing images at some point

Are you referring to the graphic at 1:25?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Yes, the video graphic that shows elimination of a first reflection

 

[GERONIMO.USMC]

Hey guys - so, I spent one hour with teams from Perlisten, Storm, and Dirac during a private demo session. The impact of ART is quite notable. It has the ability to tame bass without neutering low-end punch. It's quite fascinating in that it lends to an expansive sound stage that holds together when you move outside of the sweet spot.

I heard quite a few A/B clips and preferred ART in every case.

I can share more later... but here's a video chat that you'll probably find interesting!

I feel obligated to thank, and tell you, that you ask the best and thoughtful specific customer oriented questions to these audio companies when you interview them. The other youtube personalities pale in comparison.

Your Sound United, and DIRAC interviews are the best I've seen. I appreciate it. Keep it up.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I feel obligated to thank, and tell you, that you ask the best and thoughtful specific customer oriented questions to these audio companies when you interview them. The other youtube personalities pale in comparison.

Your Sound United, and DIRAC interviews are the best I've seen. I appreciate it. Keep it up.

Wow. That’s such a nice thing to say. Really appreciate it… sincerely!

 

[Todd Anderson]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1612806131864174595