RTA options?

[thylantyr]

I haven't followed this area of audio in long time. What is the latest buzzword on 'in room' speaker measuring systems
that is simple to use, not too esoteric? I just want to measure my loudspeakers and do some corrections using the Behringer DCX2496.

What are my options in either PC based or non-PC based systems? If PC based, WinXP preferred.

Can you give me an idea on the lower to higher cost solutions are so I can get up to speed.

Thanks,

[ThomasW]

By nature RTA measurements have limited use given the inability to omit the effects of the room

The one piece hardware units are expensive.

I use TrueRTA

[thylantyr]

55 views and 1 reply, was it something I said :boohoo:

Does TrueRTA have the same problems with in room measurements as you noted? I just need to do some
simple spl vs. frequency for now, in room or outside.

Which level are you using ? 1, 2, 3, 4 ? The price looks good,
what is the catch 22? :lol:

What is a good mic and sound card to use? I have an ancient
PC at home.

[jdybnis]

The Behringer ECM8000 works well for me. You'll need a mic preamp that provides phantom power too. Behringer's cheapest mixer has one on it. Its only something like $20.

Pretty much any soundcard will work. I got a Edirol UA-25. It's expensive. I got it because it has a built in mic preamp. It's slick because I need one less box and it's powered off of the usb cable. It is convenient to use with my laptop and desktop.

[Saurav]

I've played with Speaker Workshop for measuring speakers, and it works fairly well. You can't do some of the advanced stuff that people here post (or at least, I haven't figured out how to do it), but it's fine for basic frequency/impedance measurements. It's probably the only free software package that can do MLS measurements. It has a bit of a learning curve, but there are online manuals that walk you through it.

I would also recommend the "Testing Loudspeakers" book (I think that's the name). That'll teach you a lot about how to measure speakers, and more importantly, how to interpret the data that you end up with.

[ThomasW]

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11850&highlight=TrueRTA

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3515&highlight=TrueRTA

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3369&highlight=TrueRTA

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3324&highlight=TrueRTA

The cheapest Behringer mixer doesn't have phantom power, one must buy the U-802 to get phantom power.

One must have a full duplex sound card to use these software programs

[thylantyr]

Thanks for the info. I asked the same question on Madisound and got more hits.

* SoundEasy v10 - $228
* Liberty's Praxis - $999
* Speaker Workshop - Free
* LspCad

Free to $999 .. wide range of choices.

What's the skinny on all these software packages?

[ThomasW]

If you're designing and building speakers then those programs are what you use.

If you're just tuning a room then play with this freeware. You will need to install the latest Java Runtime Environment it's free as well.....

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.mulcahy/roomeq/

[thylantyr]

If you're designing and building speakers then those programs are what you use.

If you're just tuning a room then play with this freeware. You will need to install the latest Java Runtime Environment it's free as well.....

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.mulcahy/roomeq/

One more 'what if' question

If I'm designing and building and tuning a room, then
which software do you recommend that does it all but not overly complicated ?

I'm just trying visualize what my options are. I don't mind spending money but I'm pretty sure I don't want to spend
$1000 on software that I may not exploit to it's full potential.

:T

[Saurav]

You could try ETF for tuning a room as well. I can tell you that Speaker Workshop doesn't work too well for that. I've tried it.

[ThomasW]

If I'm designing and building and tuning a room, then which software do you recommend that does it all but not overly complicated ?

* SoundEasy v10 - $228
* Liberty's Praxis - $999
* Speaker Workshop - Free
* LspCad Standard $200, Pro $980

You're out of luck because IMO they're all quite complicated to learn and frequently a pain to use.

People mistakenly think the programs themselves actually design speaker systems. They don't. They simply automate the math for calculating the design variables. One must know how to design speakers in order to use any of these programs.

Also one must have test equipment to take measurements of each driver mounted in it's intended baffle and import those measurements into the program before starting to design the speakers system. One can't use the measurements provided by the mfgrs, it's not the same as the baffle you're going to use.......

I hope you can see that designing a quality speaker system from scratch is a difficult and complicated process taking hundreds of hours of time. And after it's first built then new measurement and testing begins to fine-tune the design.

There are quite a few excellent DIY speaker designs one can simply copy. Those created by our own JonMarsh represent someone who is an engineer, who's been designing speakers for more than 30+yrs. My advice to people is just copy one of his proven designs....

[thylantyr]

Movie: Master and the Commander

So essentially I have to pick between the lesser of the two
wievels ? :rofl:

In a nutshell, for a quick and dirty view of response,
TrueRTA will do the job. They sell 4 versions, one being
free, which one?

For a more comprehensive job, I need to look at the other packages listed but each will have a learning curve.

Do any of these other software tools offer the ability to
always see in room response, ie, like a true RTA with LED's
bouncing -- rofl Or are they all just gated ?

On this forum, what is the software of choice for
loudspeaker design ?

[AndrewM]

Why not ETF? It seems to be marketed towards room tuning, so it won't include all the of the x-over design stuff that you don't need.

Andrew

[ThomasW]

The 1/24th octave version of TrueRTA is the only version worth owning.

Or download that Room EQ Wizard freeware program I posted the link to.

This is a pretty nice low buck program too.....

http://www.audiotester.de/mainE.htm