I would suggest you do some experimenting . . . After listening to this for a while determine which you like better . . . .
What the guy who designed your speakers said!
What the pro-auto calibration people are not telling you is that auto calibration does not “hear” things like the human ear.
The Audyssey calibration normal curve (not the “Flat Curve) rolls off the high frequencies to compensate for an imbalance in high frequencies in movie soundtracks that can occur when playing what was intended for a large movie theater in a smaller room where the reflected vs direct sound can behave differently. There are potential problems with this. First this isn’t always necessary especially when sitting close to the speakers or in a heavily treated room. Also most music sound engineers don’t master for large venue playback. The result can be a noticeable loss in high frequency (above 10kHz) playback especially in music, but also in movies if your setup isn’t susceptible to the imbalance caused by small venue playback. My room is well treated so in both cases the Audyssey Curve kills the ambiance in movies and especially music for me. Made even worse if you are older like me and your high frequency hearing is diminishing. Auto calibration will not take this into account. It’s one of the reasons I can instantly hear and don’t like the sound of the Audyssey curve with most quality music, and some movies because it kills the high frequencies which my ears are already doing.
Audyssey applies midrange compensation, an intentional dip in the 2kHz region, where most tweeter-to-midrange crossovers are. The thought, correct or not, is that this is a weak point in speaker performance which Audyssey attempts to nullify by intentionally not presenting the playback as the sound engineer intended. The idea is to null out the harshness that can be caused by both the tweeters and midrange drivers operating near their respective lower and upper limits.
Auto calibration also doesn’t take into account that you don’t hear things as well from behind as you do from the front. It will set your rear speakers to the same relative level as all the rest which means unless the sound engineer boosted the rear channels to account for that they will not present an equal soundstage with the rest of your system. I generally find a +3dB boost to the rear speakers brings most soundtracks back into balance in my room.
Also, in general applying EQ above 200 Hz is considered problematic. However, in the bass range it can make noticeable improvements which outweigh any problems caused, especially below 50-60Hz were room treatments start to fail, though it’s still AFAIK considered best to balance your bass with multiple sources and room treatments saving EQ for last. The main problem being is that it’s hard to EQ out a null. Even the Audyssey bass manager, SVS AS-EQ1, I have can only boost a null +5dB while it can reduce a peak -20dB.
Another problem is you simply can't create an EQ curve for multiple spaced seating nor can you correct the time domain for all seats. You can do dam good if EQing for one seat however once you move beyond a single seat the EQ curve must be an average of what “best” for all the seats. I found in testing the AS-EQ1 that this could often make one side seat sound and measure better at the expense of my other two seats, one of the ones always being made to sound worse is the center, sweet spot. OTOH if I do subwoofer EQ for only the center seat it comes out as close to perfect as things can get.
Auto calibration systems can be great for people who more or less want a sound system that is essentially “plug-and-play.” However, if you want to get the most out of your system you should experiment with as many different variations as you have time and energy for. Over time as you train your ears by listening to your system you will develop a much better understanding of how to set it up so it sounds best to you, in your room with your equipment. OTOH if you don’t want to be bothered by experimenting or tweaking the auto calibration will likely give you an acceptable sound. But if you don’t explore other options you will never know if you are getting the most out of your system.
Audyssey, or it’s spokesperson on the internet, has written that it comes down to “Reference vs Preference” which IMO is misleading. In several areas I mentioned above Audyssey admits to tweaking the sound in a way that deviates from Reverence. So ultimately you really have an issue of Preference vs Preference and the only why you can determine what you prefer is by experimenting.
Note that I am not Audyssey bashing. I usually use Audyssey for movies because it comes on automatically if I engage my wide speakers. In my experience what I gain using the wides far outweighs what I loose using Audyssey for movies. OTOH I never use it for music, not even the flat curve. I may use Dolby to get mutli-channel and even occasionally kick in the dolby height speakers for music but never Audyssey . . . my preference.
