Topic: Ethan Winer's Hearing is Believing - Room Measurement

[STAmbio]

Ethan is a respected and often quoted "expert" in room treatment and infamous for spending very little money on equipment over room treatment. His room treatment cost him about $15000 and his equipment is only about $10000. The sound - he claims it to be as good as any high end system. What's his secret? Room treatment.

But what exactly is Ethan targeting when making an ultimate listening room? The acoustics for small mastering room. Blackbird's Studio C is also an ideal room for Hifi listening. Sometimes people get confused with a recording studio and mastering (& mixing) studios or couldn't tell the difference. For an example, to record a piano you need quite a reverberant acoustics and therefore a vocal recording booth would not be suitable with the exception of Studio C.

I have previously posted the impulse response of Studio C which is according to the measurement supposed to sound dead. This unique Studio C defies the measurement and theory.

Ethan's ultimate mixing room is also an ideal 2 channel listening room.

If you have the desire - and budget - for the very highest quality, this is the treatment solution for you. It's also ideal for regular 2-channel hi-fi listening.

Proof here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB8H0HFMylo

In the case of Studio C,

Studio C is a stunning room that features a Digidesign ICON system in a remarkably versatile recording environment. “You very quickly forget about the room, and before you know it, you are simply immersed in music,” says Massenburg. “You have a more intimate handshake with the recorded musical performance. The room disappears quickly, rather than adding something of its own — it is very transparent, which is right up my alley

http://www2.digidesign.com/digizine/dz_main.cfm?edition_id=101&navid=907

And another listener's opinion,

I've been in that room before. It sounds absolutely amazing. The studio's owner, John McBride threw on The Beatles - A Day In The Life, and Michael Jackson's Thriller in surround sound. Never in my life have I heard anything with so much clarity, detail, and accuracy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/3p8phg/the_perfectly_acousticallybalanced_studio_c_at/

For small rooms. Always take room measurements with a pinch of salt. As long you control the bass and first reflection points, you are almost there. The funny thing is in one of my video there is a serious -5 dBFS (4.4ms) pre ringing and so far no one noticed it. The visitors actually prefer that sound over the correct version! 









 

[STAmbio]

Here is the frequency response in my room using a $100 speakers. 




The other measurements below are those of Sound Lab Electrostatics speakers with two different sitting position.



Here below is the sound of $100 speakers in my room. Compare that of Sound Lab speakers in my profile homepage videos. As you can see how much room acoustics influence and speakers quality. Listen to the bass difference and guess which is which? You need a full range headphone to hear the bass difference or use your main system. Note the difference in one of the FR is nearly a whopping 30dB and yet it is not audible in real music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao-L4hw5D3M

[STAmbio]

I am getting more curious with FR measurements and actual music coming out of the speakers.

According to the measurements, I should have a bump around 5kHz but from the actual recording's spectrogram  below it tells otherwise.







Compare the original and my recording of sound from my speakers spectogram. You could see a clear attenuation at around 5kHz. Please note that the microphone level was reduced significantly to avoid clippings. The decay on HF appears to be shorter due to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RYoxKYKNV4

Which one of the videos do hear the loss of 5kHz?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdMpXpnMH1M8rI-qlCRLZsPALIe8Ja8zA

[STAmbio]

Repositioning of the speakers and angled outwards by 20 degrees! Do you hear the difference? 

https://youtu.be/gcsN219A_Vw

[STAmbio]

After 3 years and exhausting search for assistance from pro audio community to configure artificial ambiance, it is now progressed very well to a 32.1 system. I have also decided to deaden the room with acoustics form and Roxul. Except for the front side diffusers and some on the ceiling which contribute very little effect to the sound, I have opted to artificial room reverberation using Ambiophonics Domestic concert hall concept with 30 surround speakers.

Here is one example which was recorded with Sennheiser AMBEO headset to give a listeners perspective at the sweet spot. Use headphones to experience this binaural recording to hear the surround sound.

More info at https://goo.gl/CF1C6B

This setup is based on Ambiophonics with domestic concert hall concept using additional speakers to reproduce the hall ambiance using impulse responses of St. Cecilia Concert hall. 30 surround speakers produce the ambiance from various angles.

https://youtu.be/WwCgHK8hMb8

The YouTube version of the original is here or you can download the free version from 2L website.

https://youtu.be/Ym4sH9VaHbU