Originally Posted By: chesseroo
 Originally Posted By: dewd
Alan,

The measurements are taken at multiple locations (up to 8 with the built in Audyssey and 32 with the stand alone product). It all well and good to have nice flat speakers in an anechoic chamber, but little good that does in the family room with glass windows and hardwood floors. Even with my limited ability to test (REW and a cheap microphone), I can see that Axioms speaker are NOT flat in MY ROOM. Want better testing? Check out the reviews in Stereophile magazine.

I'll say this for the 99th time... I still do not understand what you have against Audyssey. At least with this post I think it may be that you may not actually know how it works....

Needless to say, my M60's sound much better with that without.

Perhaps it is the reverse, that you are not understanding how it works in a big picture presentation.

The Audyssey can ONLY compensate (somewhat) for the room artifacts in limited locations (where the equalization mic was placed when Audyssey was in use).
There are far more than 8 finite positions in a room, shifting a foot in either direction will not reproduce the exact same frequency response curve. Audyssey cannot compensate for every one of these 8 points individually either. It simply takes an average of that which occurs across the 8, but what results does it actually provide?
If you have a huge bass hole in seat #7 and 8 but not any of the other 6 locations, the 'average' is still affected by that large anomaly and what sounded ok in seats 1 through 6 originally, now sound worse because of the effect Audyssey took into account from seats 7 and 8.

Another shortfall, Audyssey has very limited equalization capabilities considering the ENTIRE audio spectrum spans 20Hz - 20,000 kHz (give or take but the general range of the human ear).
Do you really think an 8 band equalizer is good enough to properly smooth that huge range?
There is a reason why sound control boards (e.g. at concert halls) have alot more than 8 sliders.

Try to think more broadly before slamming someone who has far greater experience and knowledge of the electronics and open your mind to alternate perspectives regarding the problems of the system. If you like Audysey, go crazy, but it is far from a simple solution to fix all that is really going on sound wise within a room, contrary to what the marketing and hype portrays.

As for 'linear response speakers', Axiom doesn't quote that their speakers will be linear in response at everyone's home. However if the goal is to have the most accurate reproduction of sound from the source, one has to start with flat response equipment, including speakers. The only universal way to measure that without room effects from the speaker company's design spaces is to use anechoic chambers.
It equalizes the field when comparing frequency spectrums from any source.


Since you haven't spent any time learning that Audyssey is NOT an 8 band equalizer (not even close), how can you slam me???????????? Please, do some research.

Secondly, what would you propose doing about the limitations? Is there something better?

Lastly, I realize that Alan has years of experience. I also realize that Tomlinson Holman and professor Chris Kyriakakis may have a clue as well.

Dave
Audyssey Setup Guide