So a while ago I bought a test mic, had it calibrated, installed Room EQ Wizard, and finally last weekend I started testing my speakers+room.
Watching a bunch of YT tutorials, this seemed to work fine, even though results were very surprising for me: my HiFi speakers turned out to be more flat than my KRKs (plus they give me the low range the 5’’ KRKs obviously lack). Or maybe I messed up - read on.
Anyways, I was wondering why exactly I would need an SPL meter, when all I want to know is frequency responses? I skipped that part. I understand the software needs to plot its frequency diagram with some dB values (and it did), but does it really matter what exactly they are for my purpose? I don’t want/need to calibrate the volume of my speakers right now. I also know about the human equal-loudness contour, but this shouldn’t matter either, as all I want to do is measure frequencies in the room, not my reception.
Because your ear’s sensitivity to frequency and any given microphone’s sensitivity to frequency will change based on the loudness. Without knowing what SPL you’re working with you won’t know how that sensitivity affects your perception of a ‘flat’ response, and it can skew the results. You could end up trying to correct for a frequency imbalance that doesn’t really exist. For example, if the software needs 86dB SPL for a proper reading and you’re working at 70dB SPL, your perceived loudness of the frequency range between 2kHz-4kHz could be slightly greater than it really is. The software will have the same problem depending on how it’s calibrated.
Check out the equal-loudness contour to see how our ear’s sensitivity changes with frequency and level.
Check out the equal-loudness contour to see how our ear’s sensitivity changes with frequency and level.
Thanks Din for your answer.
Yeah I know that our ear does this, but it didn’t come to my mind the software might mimic this or have some similar behaviour. I was thinking: It’s only the speakers, the room, a mic which has been calibrated, the audio interface, which is calibrated by REW, and of course REW itself. No ears, that’s what I thought. But yes, what you say makes sense, thx!
So a while ago I bought a test mic, had it calibrated, installed Room EQ Wizard, and finally last weekend I started testing my speakers+room.
Watching a bunch of YT tutorials, this seemed to work fine, even though results were very surprising for me: my HiFi speakers turned out to be more flat than my KRKs (plus they give me the low range the 5’’ KRKs obviously lack). Or maybe I messed up - read on.
Anyways, I was wondering why exactly I would need an SPL meter, when all I want to know is frequency responses? I skipped that part. I understand the software needs to plot its frequency diagram with some dB values (and it did), but does it really matter what exactly they are for my purpose? I don’t want/need to calibrate the volume of my speakers right now. I also know about the human equal-loudness contour, but this shouldn’t matter either, as all I want to do is measure frequencies in the room, not my reception.
Why SPL meter, anybody? Do or don’t I need it?
SPL meter is not strictly necessary but doing the tests too quiet or loud can be misleading. You can use a smartphone app to get you into the ballpark.
The results being surprising could be about differences in your recording setup. I mean if you don’t precisely place the mic in the exact same setup (precisely same location, angle, height) and do test sweep on same volume level, same audio interface etc. the results won’t be very accurate. So it could be about that.
This forum was really helpful for me when I treated my previous room (gone now :() so in case you fancy checking it out:
SPL meter is not strictly necessary but doing the tests too quiet or loud can be misleading. You can use a smartphone app to get you into the ballpark.
The results being surprising could be about differences in your recording setup. I mean if you don’t precisely place the mic in the exact same setup (precisely same location, angle, height) and do test sweep on same volume level, same audio interface etc. the results won’t be very accurate. So it could be about that.
Setup was the same, I select the speakers by one mouse click. Ok, can’t be 100% sure with volume. Dang it you’re right! Even though I didn’t move the mic, the HiFi speakers are 60cm further out to both sides, which means their sweet spot is further away from the desk – not the place I normally sit (and where I placed the mic). Oh well, this is getting much nerdier than I thought…
For the testing volume, I guess I’ve been roughly in the appropriate range around 75-80 dB SPL. I borrowed an SPL meter about 3 years ago, and I think I never really touched the volume knobs after that. Oh, scratch this, bought a new audio interface in the meantime, lol. Alright, this might be the culprit then. Good idea with the smartphone. I still have an old phonephone, but my flatmates own those new shiny things.
This forum was really helpful for me when I treated my previous room (gone now :() so in case you fancy checking it out:
But yes, what you say makes sense, thx!