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So Mini DSP Releases a Room Correction Device With Dirac Live Processing

M

Mister Pig

Pigamus Maximus
So I suspect the system is not as complicated as one of their electronic crossover/time correction units, as this is a room correction only processing platform.

When I looked at the price I was surprised to see that it costs more than the previous Mini DSP products. But it appears it is licensing some heavy duty software from Dirac Research.

For $899 including microphone it looks to be a cost effective way to get digital room correction processing at a somewhat reasonable price. No its not dirt cheap, but its not $2500 like some of the DEQX gear.

It certainly has caught my attention.

dirac-series-front-panel-remote.png


In the near future, I might be able to have one of these on hand to play with for a bit.
Regards
Mister Pig
 
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I heard Mac's multi-thousand dollar MEN220 room correction unit a few weeks ago with all Mac electronics and Revel floorstanders (Studio 2's, I think). It was in an untreated space with reflective boundary layers and bomb shelter concrete walls. I was able to disable the unit on the fly and LF response was certainly much better with the unit taking control of the situation. Spectral balance across the board improved a bit as well, but differences in that regard weren't as apparent as the changes to LF. What I didn't hear was any improvement in imaging or sound stage resolution...which were no doubt suffering because of the room. So my take away was that room reflections (namely early reflections) are still out of control when DRC is implemented....which is to be expected as no DRC unit can't change the composition of the reflective surfaces or dispersion characteristics of the speakers. I certainly wouldn't go spending several thousand on one of these units...but then again I don't have WAF or similar restrictions to contend with. $900 is a little easier to digest, but regardless there's still going to have to be some implementation of acoustic treatments to get an optimized response between the rig and the room. And with a $900 budget I could make a room sound pretty friggin' good strictly with acoustic treatments (and not have to disturb the signal path) and still have change left over for a modest distributed bass rig.

That having been said, I'll likewise be looking forward to hearing your impressions if you get your hands on one of these units, Mr. P.

- Michael
 
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tomlinmgt said:
I heard Mac's multi-thousand dollar MEN220 room correction unit a few weeks ago with all Mac electronics and Revel floorstanders (Studio 2's, I think). It was in an untreated space with reflective boundary layers and bomb shelter concrete walls. I was able to disable the unit on the fly and LF response was certainly much better with the unit taking control of the situation. Spectral balance across the board improved a bit as well, but differences in that regard weren't as apparent as the changes to LF. What I didn't hear was any improvement in imaging or sound stage resolution...which were no doubt suffering because of the room. So my take away was that room reflections (namely early reflections) are still out of control when DRC is implemented....which is to be expected as no DRC unit can't change the composition of the reflective surfaces or dispersion characteristics of the speakers. I certainly wouldn't go spending several thousand on one of these units...but then again I don't have WAF or similar restrictions to contend with. $900 is a little easier to digest, but regardless there's still going to have to be some implementation of acoustic treatments to get an optimized response between the rig and the room. And with a $900 budget I could make a room sound pretty friggin' good strictly with acoustic treatments (and not have to disturb the signal path) and still have change left over for a modest distributed bass rig.

That having been said, I'll likewise be looking forward to hearing your impressions if you get your hands on one of these units, Mr. P.

- Michael
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I don't think any DSP will be a complete solution, the room can still be terrible enough to overcome its contributions. however, from what I have heard from DSP owners, is that the work it does on bass nodes is quite encouraging. Which will even out tonal balance to a large degree. Care still needs to be taken care of to deal with nasty first reflection points, but that doesn't always have to be room traps. Careful arrangement of furniture and speaker placement can go a long ways to dealing with this issue.

If you buy off the shelf bass traps...its not hard to eat up $900 pretty quickly...especially if you have to ship.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
Mister Pig said:
If you buy off the shelf bass traps...its not hard to eat up $900 pretty quickly...especially if you have to ship.

Regards
Mister Pig
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For sure....which is why I've pretty much ditched the idea of using bass traps to deal with LF and instead prefer distributed bass. Less expensive, less intrusive and usually more effective.

But no doubt, the DRC can get a pretty good handle on room nodes. I maintain my stance on proper broadband absorption devices being the best way to deal with early reflections, however. :D
 
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