Audyssey Announces Dynamic Volume

[kennyt]

fitz/ken more,

You both are essentially right, and therefore also both a bit off.

Room correction is something I have been playing with for years now, first with my Meridian 861v4, which I must admit was not a very user friendly way to correct a room, to multiple receivers (and the new Denon pre/pro which I haven't yet opened but will do immediately when I go home in a few weeks!) with Audyssey (a few different versions), and have also had the joy of using the new Anthem Statement D2 with Anthem's Room Correction (review forthcoming) based on Canada's National Research Council's ideal room acoustic response, and I can say that room correction is one of the best new technologies to hit the HT business in years, maybe even decades!

This is not to discredit treating the room itself. Since the primary trouble comes from the room itself, a poorly treated room, or a totally untreated room will place significantly more stress on the room correction system, adding more potential for error and distortion.

In an ideal world, we all would have our rooms treated as best as possible, THEN also use room correction. This way the demands on the room correction could be minimized, and you could obtain the maximum sonic benefit with the least alteration of the audio signal. I agree with fitz that this often isn't possible, for numerous reasons, architecture, WAF, space etc all limit what we can do.

Even in my home where the wife allows me total free rein of the multiple stereo systems in the home, I must admit, my rooms could be better, because they weren't built as perfect anechoic chambers, they will never be one! That said, good speaker placement (thanks for tolerating them so far into the room sometimes Judith!) does help maximize performance, but the room is still a huge factor. The room correction software out there helps to 'make the best of it' for what we each face.

This is why I feel it is such an important advance in HT. When I was turning on and off the Anthem ARC in my reference rig, it was amazing how much better the balance from front to back was, and this from a system that has identical front and rear speakers (I am still using the Def Tech Mythos ST's for all four). I have a pretty good idea how to work a speaker into a room, but must admit I wasn't ready for how much better the ARC made the rears match the fronts! Now, if an experienced audio and HT geek like me can be awed by this, I imagine those who, as fritz says put their speakers where they look good will be pushed so much closer to the ideal sound we all are striving for that they will reap HUGE benefits from room correction, making their audio experience better than it would ever have been without such a system.

So you can see my feelings, first, try to maximize what you can, speaker placement, component synergy and room acoustics. THEN use the room correction software.

KT

[wes]

Ok so I guess Classé is full of it then!!

[fitzcaraldo215]

Ken - It will be interesting to see what Classe's new pre/pro is capable of. I know the old one was very good sounding. It just was not up to date in terms of features. But, I am in no hurry at all to do anything about my Integra, because I am enjoying the best reproduced sound I have ever heard with it.

We have to balance Classe's rejection of Audyssey for what ever reason against Wisdom Audio's and Phase Technology's acceptance of it. Both should be knowledgable about room acoustics, because they make pretty good (and expensive) speakers. It's interesting that they see Audyssey as an added plus to the sound of their speakers.

We do not know exactly why Classe rejected Audyssey, but I suspect it is more for the product differentiation reason I cited, like Krell, Anthem and others. Classe is probably going to invent their own "room correction" system, because any pre/pro or receiver costing over $1,000 today has got to have this feature to be competitive. But, also because it is a great breakthrough in improved sound. At least, I think so. Maybe Anthem's is going to be better, who knows.

In any case after years of high-endedly looking down at "Jap crap", my hat is off to Onkyo, Denon, Marantz and also to NAD for jumping on this technology ahead of everybody else. They were able to recognize the potential, succesfully engineer it in and roll it out to their high volume markets while much of our high end was still trying to maintain the technological status quo. Marantz is coming out wit a new pre/pro with it, and Denon, as we know, already has a new one. Yamaha has implemented their own non-Audyssey version. I just read a review of $1,600 Sony receiver that does not have any room correction. What are they thinking?

The Asian tradition of quickly deploying leading edge technology, often borrowed American technology like Audyssey, has set many markets on their ears in our lifetime already. Their ability to offer very high quality at lower than existing prices has just killed many American and many European companies. Look at what they have done to cars, motorcycles, cameras, televisions, etc., etc. As I see it, they are making a real challenge to our high end audio electronics companies right now. Audyssey is a key part of that.

[wes]

Originally Posted by fitzcaraldo215

Ken - It will be interesting to see what Classe's new pre/pro is capable of. We have to balance Classe's rejection of Audyssey for what ever reason against Wisdom Audio's and Phase Technology's acceptance of it. Both should be knowledgeable about room acoustics, because they make pretty good (and expensive) speakers. It's interesting that they see Audyssey as an added plus to the sound of their speakers.

We do not know exactly why Classé rejected Audyssey, but I suspect it is more for the product differentiation reason I cited, like Krell, Anthem and others. Classé is probably going to invent their own "room correction" system, because any pre/pro or receiver costing over $1,000 today has got to have this feature to be competitive.

Classé said that they will not include any automatic room correction" system and that they have a manual EQ that one can use an audio professional to tailor the pre to their need!!

I believe they just didn't want to pay the licensing fees for Audyssey, THX and so on!!!

I hope they live up to the hype with the SSP-800 since it won't even decode the new Codec DD true HD and DTS-Master Audio!!! They will have an upgrade some time in the future!! We will see it is very disappointing that is all I can say to launch a brand new product and not even offer the latest features!!

[fitzcaraldo215]

Well, I guess my insticts were right about Classe, and they typify the dilemma faced by our high end manufacturers. They can produce great sounding analog output stages and amplifers, but this new fangled digital stuff - HDMI, automatic room correction, losslessly decompressed multichannel, etc. - is impossible for them to keep up with. Also, look at poor Theta and its' magnificent Casablanca. While it was once the ne plus ultra in technology, in terms of critical features to take us into the Blu-Ray age, it is totally lost in the dust behind the Asians. Maybe their new owners will be able to get this turned around. I hope Anthem is able to hang in there, and they do seem to be working hard at it.

Honestly, though, I am thrilled at the pace of improvement in audio. I think we are witnessing a paradigm shift as digital technology really starts penetrating the audio signal path. Having been a high end audiophile for all these years (about 40), I think we are witnessing something significat here. The analog-centric high end can no longer look down on and disdain the sonic capabilities of digital-technology-driven home theater. I think it was Satchel Paige, the great Negro league and major league pitcher who said, "Don't look back. Something may be gaining on you."

OK, I am an early adopter, but I have switched, because I am able to get better sound from a home theater system than I have ever experienced anywhere in the high end world of 2-channel vinyl or Redbook CD.

My crystal ball still predicts an all digital signal path (eventually a wireless one) from source to digitally amplified speakers someday in the not to distant future - within 10 years, maybe. It is looking like the mainly American high end establishment will not be the ones who bring it to us.

[wes]

A digital path already exist look at Meridian, I am not enamored about their stuff I think it looks really cheap but they are digital.

I wished Classé got it's act together may be the SSP-800 once it is upgraded with the new codec will be a stllar performer. Their design is fantastic