REW Software & setup

Or should I have added . . . I have a cheap spl meter from ebay?

Spl fails to work but manged to get decent sound card grqph. My first decent waterfall bit loud tho! Now how do I interpret the graphs ?????

Apart from questioning the mic, am I right to suggest that waterfall graphs should broadly indicate . . .

A flat response within 6db would be good.

Sounds should fall by 30db after about 1/4 sec

Are there better ball park figures to aim for?

Loads of info here http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/24/1/Ethan_Winer_Acoustics_Forum

Thanks will take a lookie . . .

Hi Robin,

Did you have a look at our video on the REW package?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4uSR3cUUSY&feature=relmfu

Also post some of the graphs on here, there are plenty of people who could help you interept them

Hi Rob,

Your Yamaha mic may not give you accurate results, the REW software usually requires the use of a calibration file to compensate for the microphones own frequency response.

New Radioshack SPL meters don't cost a great deal:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Sound-Level-Meter/dp/B000TM15OY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344348919&sr=8-2

Post up your graphs in any case, I'd be interested to see your results!

Thanks both - I did find the video very useful as well as help on the REW site for setting up my DAC. I guess I will have to find a decent mic then first. Thanks again.

Any broad help with interpretation would be useful but I will check out all these references in detail.

Cheers

Mics like the Behringer do come pre calibrated

Thanks Sheggs. I guess before I buy a mic I need to understand what readings I should be aiming at and how they can be directly influenced by either room treatment or EQ. My earlier thoughts may or may not be relevant. Whilst I enjoy looking at these things I dont want to strip the room and do before & after measurements its more about trying to bring any further improvements. Having said that I am so very pleased with the way things have gone with even these modest and ameteur attempts. Glad I dont own the glass orangery in previous post !

Cheers

SORRY to HYJACK this thread but ...

Sorry cant start a new thread - Any ideas how to paste from Word. My text seems un-editable???

Cheers

Hello maTe

Great your using REW once working its the bet tool for setting up a sub and tweaking!!

You need to use a mic that has a calibration file - these are limited to the ones on the home theatre shack website.

You cannot just use any mic like the one with your amp or you will get false readings.

A good cheap way to get going is to use a RadioShack spl as they are cheap and the calibration file is readily available.

Its supposed to be quite accurate but only to 4khtz - you can buy a mic and mic amp from DSPeaker especially for REW but it's. Fair bit more expensive.

REW is the nuts - no way of knowing what bass response you are getting without it - use and see how bad it is - quite the eye opener!!

Fortunately with it you can see what an anti mode does and why it was worth the £200 you paid for it

Great Tutorial - Lots to learn fom it - thanks 

Hya. My sub uses a sound meter and ofcourse the auto setup of the amp. If I use REW what can I do in my room, based on its results, to make corrections? This ofcourse is in a non studio, domestic setting and I dont want to buy an antimode or similar.

Cheers

Move it to a position where you are getting the best response for starters - you want as least amount of dips as possible

The position of the sub in your room is vital 

Secondly you can check the phase with your front l & r - if they are out of phase you will get bass cancellation - big dip in freq response

You can check your sub level set by your amp and make sure getting a smooth response through your crossover point

If you are getting a lot of peaks then that's probs what your hearing most of - but these can be treated whereas dips can't.

Treatment is anti mode or bass traps or other sub eq - anti mode does the business to give you a much flatter response, often lowering a peak will help bring up a dip

I don't think your amp will do anything to eq your sub - I think only audessy eqs the sub my knowledge might be wrong. Tho