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In Reply to: RE: Question for Satie posted by pwicca@cybermesa.com on August 24, 2016 at 05:03:06
You sound like me, a little too pedantic and sweating details that really aren't important. You can pick your poison, measure from the center of the speaker or the ends -- it will not matter because the final tuning is done with your ears. You may find using Room Equalizer Wizard which is available for free helpful. You will need a calibrated microphone and either a DAC or sound card.
I use a Behringer UCA-202 ($30) which is surprisingly good and UMM-6 (from PartsExpress) which is now about $80. Another cheaper alternative is to get a IMM-6 mic which works with an iPhone and use the built-in sound card of your computer and a free app. I haven't done that but it might be good enough for government work.
I married the perfect woman. The downside is everything that goes wrong is my fault.
Follow Ups:
Sadly your character description is not very different from mine. But in my defense in Jim Smiths book he notes that an error of only 2" over 12 feet can cause problems. As I went through his reference CD for setting up systems ( Tears of Stone by Chieftains ) I found issues which he credits to error in speaker placement. Would like to see if more accurate speaker placement would resolve some of the issues. Joe Fagan
I suggest you buy a laser distance measuring device and a tripod. :-)) I bought a Bosch unbit.
And you measure to the centre of the bass panel.
Andy
Thanks for the suggestion. I have been using a Bosch Laser Distance Finder and it is much better than my old tape measure. Have a tripod but have not found it easy to use. Reason for my questions is that I am trying to replicate the procedures outlined in Jim Smiths Get Better Sound. He recommends measuring to the tweeter for speakers in general and is less specific about Magnepan type speakers. As an example on his reference CD he points out a chime which should be localized behind the the right speaker. When I listened to the chime on my system it was located in the center of the two speakers. He noted that this was most likely due to the left speaker being slightly closer to the listener than the right. More specifically he noted that a difference as little as 1 to 2 inches over 12 feet could cause the position of the chime to move from behind the right speaker to the center of the two speakers. Given the number of installations that Smith has managed over the years I take his findings seriously and wonder if I am not measuring the distance from my listening position to the 3.7s correctly
No doubt slight errors in position can make substantial changes in the results. My point is that precise measurements with a tape ruler or laser ruler (been there, done that) will not get the results you want -- it's a starting pont. You need to fine tune with your ears and REW. Remember no room that humans live in is perfectly symmetric.
Give yourself some time -- 2 or 3 years is probably a good guideline :).
I married the perfect woman. The downside is everything that goes wrong is my fault.
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