Ep. 7 - REW Tutorial Multiple Sub setup with Minidsp for Great BASS! | Home Theater Gurus|

[@BrentConnorIsBestConnor]

[2:00] Hardware - UMIK-1 - mentions cross spectrum labs [5:05] EQ - miniDSP [8:00] Plugins [10:16] Connection arrangement [10:56] REW download [12:26] ASIO4ALL - don't work [15:38] ASIO4ALL work around pt1 [15:55] Load microphone calibration files into REW [16:40] Check speaker levels [17:35] Fire up miniDSP [19:04] Make sure there's no PEQ [19:27] Check crossover - default setup for stereo mains [21:17] Make sure Audeyssey isn't enabled [21:30] ASIO4ALL work around pt2 [22:22] Start sweeps sub 1 [22:39] Set sweep Hz range, length [23:35] Resize sweep result graph [24:50] Measuring 1 sub in different locations [26:30] 1 sub sweeps on 4 listening positions [28:20] Remeassure sub1 [30:00] Turn on 2nd sub, turn off 1st sub [32:40] Meassure first two subs together [33:48] Add delay to align - trial and error [37:00] Invert channel to align [41:00] Quickly aligning the other 2 subs [51:10] All subs aligned [52:20] Seat to seat measurements after alignment [55:38] EQ the aligned subs [1:01:00] House curve, adjust freq response to match target [1:02:58] Match response to target [1:04:16] Loading filters for unsupported EQ [1:06:02] Load EQ file to MiniDSP [1:07:58] High pass filter [1:12:00] Add manual EQ [1:15:55] Curve smoothing [1:16:40] Seat to seat with aligned & EQ subs [1:18:40] Crossover [1:20:30] Run Audessey again, adjust any crossovers again [1:22:20] Adjust subs if Audessey tells you it's too high

[@hometheatergurus]

Wow.. I'm gonna have to put you on the payroll.. 😂😂. Thank you so much. I'll add this to the description!

[@BrentConnorIsBestConnor]

@@hometheatergurus glad to help, but it's as much for my reference. lol. Awesome videos man!

[@Tec2Nut]

I connected the Minidsp today but I am only getting output from sub one , I have checked connection over and over , still only getting output from sub one .any ideas 💡

[@BrentConnorIsBestConnor]

@@Tec2Nut so many possibilities. The quiet channel could be bypassed, it could be high/low filtered, it could be mapped to the wrong input. It could be a faulty cable, or similar hardware issue. KZbin isn't the best place to get support. I would try one of the popular forums, like avsforum.com

[@wa2368]

@@hometheatergurus You are a gift to mankind.

[@diamond4829]

Just a heads up for anyone that has recently purchased a MiniDSP 2x4 HD, there is now an newer or updated version of the "console" / GUI and looks a fair bit different than what's being used here. Spend some time looking it over, and you'll see everything that has been explained here. However, what stumped me was when it came to saving the filters from REW I wasn't able to figure out how to import them into the MiniDPS. What you have to do is ignore the import button on the left side of the console, and instead, open the PEQ on the output bar, change over to advanced mode and enable, then look up to the top right of the console and there is a menu slider bar to enable. Once you've done that there is an option to "Load Biquad File", which will be the file you saved in REW. Then your file will load with your filters enabled. Hope this helps.

[@scottstephens8121]

I've been pulling my hair out for weeks and bugging the shit out of people on AVS trying to understand all this. I've spent countless hours in frustration, and this is all it took for me to grasp this. THANK YOU

[@hometheatergurus]

Comments like this make it all worth it! You're welcome!

[@k9trainingservices]

Home Theater Gurus would you do a remote system setup with me please and happy to pay for your time

[@macroastronomy1186]

@@hometheatergurus He is right. We thank you your efforts so much. I will be using this video soonest to adjust my room!

[@HomeTheatreEngineering]

Just wanted to congratulate you folks on such a great video. What solid and factual information and guidance. A great service to Home Theater enthusiasts everywhere. We are big fans ! Keep up the good work.

[@hometheatergurus]

Thank you! I just looked up your channel. I've watched you a few times before. Great stuff! Just subscribed.

[@jamiet74]

Just wanted to say a big thank-you!!! . Videos like this are what make KZbin so great, this will help literally 1000s of people get better bass in their rooms. Cheers!!!!

[@hometheatergurus]

Thank you!

[@kevonmanuel]

I really, really love this man... Best thing on KZbin for us enthusiasts. I finally have a house curve.

[@hometheatergurus]

Haha. A house curve is a wonderful thing!

[@azrizainzainal8119]

Dude, screw Batman, you're my hero now. Thanks for the comprehensive and easy to understand video!

[@hometheatergurus]

🤣 You're welcome!

[@azrizainzainal8119]

@@hometheatergurus One more clarification please - so you recommend we EQ in REW first (as in this video) with Audessey bypassed/off before running Audessey multieq auto calibration? I'm getting mixed responses from the usual AV forums about his - some say run Audessey first and then fix whatever dips and peaks the auto EQ cannot catch with REW, some say REW first then Audessey. FYI my receiver (Denon x6400h) has dual sub outputs (with 2x SVS PB1000) and I run them to the left and right input of miniDSP 2x4HD. Also, if Audessey is run after REW calibration as in the video and we've added delays to the subs, we should expect Audessey's sub distance reading may not be the same as the actual physical distance of the subs to MLP correct? thanks a bunch!

[@hometheatergurus]

@@azrizainzainal8119 I explain why you don't do that. Best to stay off the forums... :) Basically when using audyessy we eq flat in rew and a mindsp. Then let audyssey have it. If you do audyessy first then anytime you rerun audyessy guess what... You must redo rew / mindsp too. If you eq in rew / minidsp first you can run audyessy 100 times and never have to touch the rew eq. Now of course if you move the seats or a sub or add a sub you must then go back into rew and the mindsp.

[@danut234]

@@hometheatergurus I have a question here: If we run audyssey after making measurements with rew/minidsp, doesn't try to EQ the bass also? Thank you

[@hometheatergurus]

@@danut234 yes but as we discuss in the video we will use a flat target in REW which is what audyssey is eqing to so it will babe little work to do.

[@tedwasileff512]

Thank you. The way you showed how to use this system was Fantastic. Wish everyone would explain stuff with complete explanation from A to Z the way you did. Thanks again!

[@hometheatergurus]

You're very welcome!

[@thelazyswiss]

AMAZING tutorial. Spot on for what I was trying to achieve with the minidsp + REW. It's this kind of videos that make it worthwhile opening the laptop at random hours. Smooth talking, precise with just enough editing to let us commoners understand it and react to pop-ups and things like that. Thanks a lot.

[@diamond4829]

Had a few delays waiting on an additional usb extender with a repeater. I had only ordered one for the Umik1 and needed a second to feed into the MiniDsp, since my computer is a fair distance from my theater and I don't have a lap top. But after getting this all done I'm amazed and smiling from ear to ear now that my 4 subs are gain matched and time aligned. You have NO idea what's going on in your room until you follow this procedure. I couldn't be happier, music and movies have never sounded so amazing. Thank you once again for all the information you provide to guide someone like me who had no clue how to approach and bridge this topic. Your my hero for this year and all of next year for sure .... lol. Thank you !!

[@woohunter1]

Really liked how you explained the importance of delay between the 2 subs.

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! I try to keep it simple or start simple so it makes sense and the visuals definitely help with that.

[@ht.us2235]

I keep watching your videos at work and people looking at my computer like crazy but am ready to go after a week of repeat watching thanks

[@hometheatergurus]

HAHA, Yeah I bet you're getting some odd looks..😅. Good luck!!

[@fastminivan]

Finally got me a minidsp 2x4 hd, followed your video and oh man!! My subs sound even better now! I’m still messing with it but holy cow! I’m a true believer now!

[@jamesphillips9128]

Hi I’ve been reading and trying to make REW work for a couple of weeks. Last night I sat down with a beer and this video and after 4 hours of tinkering and rewatching this video and the my 2 subwoofers have never sounded more alive. And what’s better I have a basic understanding how it works !! Thanks for your efforts making these videos ... Much appreciated ...

[@hometheatergurus]

Awesome man! It's a lot to take in but definitely worth it!

[@LifeofBliss]

Hey man, finally had the time to go through this whole thing... This was very well done and super informative! I did all of my tuning before you came out with this and was trying to follow a few online guides on AVS. I probably followed what you did about 80% of the way but need to go back and retune now that I've seen this. Hope you're doing well with all the craziness right now!

[@dadevastator24_77]

Hello, I’m new to this. I just plugged in my mini DSP 2x4 HD because I need it to calibrate 4 PB-2000’s. At the moment I’m trying to figure out how to use REW. When using the mini DSP with the Umik-1 do I also wed to have my laptop plugged in with hdmi to my AVr? On REW I can’t figure out what selection to make for the Output device? My options are : Default Device, Default Audio Device, Built in output, HDMI, and mini DSP 2x4 HD.

[@diamond4829]

My UMIK-1 and mini dsp 2X4 hd is suppose to be delivered tomorrow !! - Sooo ... I'll be gain matching, aligning, and EQing over this week / next weekend !! Excited. Thanks again for the time & effort you've put into these and wealth of information you've shared in this series !!

[@hometheatergurus]

Good luck and if you run into any hiccups we are on Facebook and have some really knowledgable mods.

[@alexasigno]

Excellent and very clear video, thank you. I've since discovered there is a time alignment tool now in REW, it'd be awesome if at a later stage you could talk through how to use this properly.

[@peerguy]

You should have a million subscribers. This is the best home theater house curve video on KZbin

[@carloslarard]

amazing video, there's not waste in a second. congratulation, you catch my attention. i hope you can do a video blending and checking how smooth are the subs together to the main, and how to fix it using the same technique of phase and delay.

[@mrrexy4151]

There is a lot of science in room acoustic setup...Nice video!!

[@hometheatergurus]

Thank you!

[@Sensi1995]

Thank you for this, i am sure it took you forever to do an amazing helpful video for all of us, really appreciate it! keep up the good work.

[@d.l.2401]

This is the BEST REW/ Room EQ Wizard tutorial. Thank you for this. You are the best. I just got my UMIK-1 about 3 weeks ago. I just now have downloaded the latest REW 5.20 Beta 36. Now I just need the DSP 2x4 HD to adjust my 4 sub-woofers. I currently have the Denon AVR X4000 with the Audyssey MultEQ XT32. I use as a Pre-pro except I do power my front height speakers from the X4000. I hope I can improve my bass better now.

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! I'm sure you'll soon be in bass heaven!

[@Prevstar]

If I set a house curve in REW, then run Audyssey should I also enable Dynamic EQ ?.

[@jeffs70chevelle]

After aligning the subs would it be terrible just letting Audyssey auto eq instead of manually?

[@Urkain87]

hands down the best and understandable way to approach and explain sub/room -correction, AWESOME. My new hero withing audio!

[@jimmy2shoes75]

Excellent video the best I have seen yet on Eqing subs with the MiniDSp, I had to learn a lot of this the hard way, this video would have save me a lot of effort a year ago 😂, but I learnt a lot in this video, I especially liked how you performed the hardcut at the 18hhz frequency as I'm not a big fan of this sound either and I never found a good solution for this. Thanks for the video, I have subscribed and will be checking out your previous videos

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks and it sounds like you learned similar to the way I did. Not sure how far back you go but 15 years ago I used a radio shack spl meter and we had a generic Cal file we all used to take REW measurements. Then I'd load filters on a behringer feedback destroyer using a dial. It took forever. We've come a long way since then. This video would have helped me too!

[@jimmy2shoes75]

@@hometheatergurus I've been getting into home theater at a serious level for 5 years now, so still a noob in a lot of ways but I enjoy the hobby a lot. I'm just in the middle of watching ep18 on chest kick, what I have been experimenting with lately is using a program called Ratbuddy with my denon receiver to adjust the target curve that Audyssey gives which i find when Multi Eq is enabled is a lot different when disabled. When disabled the whole system sound fuller but lacks the functions like Dynamic EQ and the ability to use the Multi EQ app to only correct up to 300hz. So with Ratbuddy i can add +6db at 20hz and 55hz for the front stage , This gives me a almost similar sound to when Audyssey is off with the extra benefits. Source material docs.google.com/file/d/1YH_eNHRCxKFCwXMddi28kzXqnUwYHfrD/edit?filetype=msword But I just installed a new Tv and time to do new some new speaker arrangements and Sub Eq so will use a lot of this new information on your channel, I'll will watch a lot more of your videos before I begin the chirp chirp sounds😂

[@larrycalcaterra422]

Cannot thank you enough to this. Picture (video) is worth 1000+ words. For those who are not fortunate enough to have dedicated spaces it would be beneficial if you could do a vid that covered smaller and or odd sized rooms. Keep up the good work!

[@hometheatergurus]

Yeah once I get the new house built I'll do that. The old room was too perfect it makes it look too easy.

[@balko-adventures]

Man, I'm impressed with your knowledge. I really appreciate the time and tutorial you do. I've learned more in this video, than I did in the last 6 months reading about REW.. Thank you very much :)

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks and you're very welcome. Really glad it helped!

[@Member319]

Great turorial, why dit your dB's change about 24:50. FIrst they were about 50dB after that 85dB? I had them low too, so in the EQ my dB where to low to get a filter. when I cranked the target level. gr Dan

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks. I probably turned it up. I mentioned in the video they need to be high enough to get a nice measurement but not crazy loud.

[@jeroen8136]

Awesome video dude! (just like your other video's btw). I've used your gain matching guide and this one to setup my subs. They have never sounded this good! A big thanks dude!

[@hometheatergurus]

That's the kind of feedback I like! Awesome!

[@joaquinsole3434]

This has been by far the best video I have come across for a tutorial for miniDSP 2x4HD. In less than 3 hours I was able to go from an ok setup at -4 volume to a wow at -10. Thank you!! The house curve is a must!!! Can’t thank you enough.

[@TeamWeberRacing]

This was a great video and I picked up a lot new things!

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! Glad you found it useful!

[@mthiassou4628]

Hello from France, I'm a fan of your channel! thank you for all these informations which helps me a lot. It would be great if, with your knowledge, you could make tutorials on the MSO (Multi-Sub Optimizer) software which is very complementary to REW and the mini-DSP. (I just received my Valencia Tuscany (and it's not easy in France) following your various videos. Thank you, they are great!) Thank you again for sharing your passion with enthusiasts around the world!

[@JavonDGreen]

I’ve gotten a lot more experienced at this since I’ve watched this video. Still amazed at how you achieved equal response in all seats. However my room is a bit awkward. Anyways 1 thing I’m slightly confused about still is how running room correction afterwards won’t affect your house curve? Won’t it try to bump your curve out and flatten it? Also by auto changing the distance won’t that mess up your curve at the crossover? Wouldn’t running the room correction first to see where your mains land then creating filters in rew work better? Reason I ask is after running calibration my curve never looks the same that I set it to after remeasuring.

[@hometheatergurus]

If you watch the eq section you're supposed to eq flat when following with room correction. You do not do the house curve if you're using it. I discuss that here but it's brief and easy to miss. Check out the audyssey video as it explains how to measure and not jack up the work you've done here. It's around ep 40. As for how my response looks realize I design home theaters and this room like my new one is perfectly setup and not always doable with existing rooms unless the room was designed to be a dedicated theater or a perfect rectangle. If it's done right the results are easy to get.

[@michaelbested123456]

@@hometheatergurus I think it's a bit confusing , that you set a house curve and then say that you need to run aydessey again and here you say can't run aydessey with a house curve

[@hometheatergurus]

@@michaelbested123456 you're mising part of the video. No house curve when following with room correction. Eq flat. It's explained in the video. I didn't use audyessy or room correction on the system I had when I did this video which is also mentioned.

[@Sk8Life911]

You are the man! So Happy you exist! Thank you 🤘🏻

[@mystickid1]

Awesome video brother. I only have enough room for one sub in my living room, will using REW and a mini DSP still improve my base with one sub only?

[@matthewforrest7660]

Yes buddy it really will I have only one sub, but now I have it EQ nice and flat and let adussy give it a dynamic EQ it sounds night and day better 🙂

[@corvettetexan]

I spent a few hours going through this process and finally managed a good house curve for my 2 SVS subs... Then I moved the mic over a foot or two over to the next seat on the couch and it looked pretty awful with 2 massive nulls. My seat-to-seat consistency is nowhere near as good as yours. I was a bit crushed so I walked away from it for a while. I will try again another day. Great video and awesome content! While I am discouraged at the moment, your content has given my a deeper understanding of what work needs doing. Thank you!

[@hometheatergurus]

You're welcome. Check out the room mode episode. That will explain what's going on and how to fix it with placement. Also play with delay and see if you can find a happy spot that makes the other seats more similar even if summation isn't perfect. It's a game of tug of war but the room mode episode will help it click. Mine was so easy because I used the info in the room mode episode to place everything.

[@cmo27]

Thanks so much for this video, it has made a massive difference to my 2 subs. I have 1 question though, how do I Integrate the subs after they have been eq'd with the mains? I have a perfect flat line when sweeping just the subs (I use ypao so not worried about house curve) but when I sweep with mains and YPAO enabled, my response is all over the place. Is it a matter of just adjusting sub distance on avr after audyssey setup has run? I have fronts and center set at 90hz, but I have tried 100hz and it made no difference.

[@bigrome83]

I have 2 pb16 ultras. Is it better to use the SVS PEQ or buy the minidsp 2x4 hd? I really like the integration of minidsp within REW. Disclaimer I’m a beginner. Thanks

[@operator8380]

Awesome! Can’t thank you enough for your effort making this video. I went through this exactly step by step last night with 3 subwoofers. After aligning/filters I had a +/- 3db perfect house curve! The mains were still crossed at 200hz per your gain matching video. Now that my curve was perfect I moved my mains back to 80hz, did a sweep. It completely ruined the curve with all kinds of nulls across multiple octaves. This is with no room correction applied still. Will running my 8 position YPAO now that aligning is done clear this up, or do I need to re do aligning with the mains at 80hz this time? Thanks again brother!

[@hometheatergurus]

Awesome! Yeah you need to run auto setup to align the lcr to the subs. Until then they're not aligned and you get a nasty response all around the crossover point.

[@thepiecesfit5049]

I'm still new to this but I feel like 80hz is just a guideline not a wall. I found something similar in my recent testing. Feel free to raise your crossovers to 100hz or even 120hz if it gets rid of the dips. Just measure another frequency response after. The problem with Audyssey and other receiver correction methods is they play one speaker at a time. So this doesn't account for phase issues especially when the sub is integrated. Tweak your crossovers and adjust sub distance as needed.

[@mutatedgenome]

Many thanks for taking the time to make this tutorial. It has been extremely helpful.

[@hometheatergurus]

You're very welcome!

[@JibJab24]

Thank you for this, ordered a MiniDsp based on your video. Regarding Dynamic EQ, I have a Denon 6300 and if I set up my dual subs with your house curve, would I turn Dyn EQ off or use the Audyssey app and only EQ above the sub's response level? And I'm assuming the subs can be plugged into any output from the MiniDsp or should I output from 1 & 3 or 2 & 4?

[@hometheatergurus]

You're welcome. The video will walk you through all of that but with audyessy you eq for a flat target in rew and use dynamic eq. And yes you can use any of the 4 outputs and just set it up in routing.

[@Shishaaa88a]

@@hometheatergurus do I measure audessey previous to doing all your steps in this Tutorial or afterwards? I would assume afterwards ...but im afraid it messes all Up.....we will see. Ordered the minidsp after watching this Video. I have a huge room Mode and reverbation time on 28,5 Hz due to my l-shaped room....If i just eq as you did, does rew take those times into account?

[@Sensi1995]

@@Shishaaa88a You run Audyssey after your are done with EQ in REW for your sub/s. nothing will get messed up this is the correct way to do it. everything will show when you room measurements and most of the time things can get fixed with EQ you just have to try a couple of times and it will work! worst case moving a sub or two a few inches can do wonders. good luck

[@wells2671]

I hope you don't mind, I've been sharing this video with a number of folks on AVSForums who can use the help. And I'm looking forward to your next video on multi row seatings and room modes

[@hometheatergurus]

Awesome! Yep I think the next video on modes is really gonna help a ton. It has a huge impact on sound yet is rarely explained.

[@ericanglum]

Just bought a minidsp HD and mic. Thank you for making this video...I have 3 subs and can't wait to properly adjust them. 👍

[@hometheatergurus]

Glad I could help!

[@isak6626]

Thank you for an outstanding video! I've been looking for a video like this for a long time. This was really helpful. I do have some questions though that I would really appreciate if you could answer. 1. How do I set my receiver prior to running the miniDSP EQ, with regards to levels, distances, crossovers etc? I'm still a little confused by how the two interact, especially if we use the miniDSP to integrate the mains with two subs (which we could, right?). 2. You talked briefly about Audyssey, and that we should run Audyssey AFTER having gain matched, aligned and equalized our subs. a) Should we really let Audyssey EQ again? If so, should we limit its EQ to certain frequencies using the Audyssey editor phone app (I would really like a video on this by the way!)? If not, is there any way to retain the benefits of Audyssey (e.g. dynamic volume, which I use a lot for night time viewing with my wife) without messing up the bass response? b) When I have tried to integrate my two subs using REW and a Denon X2300W that only has one subwoofer output, I have used Audyssey to find out the distance to each sub (since the physical distance is different because of the internal DSP), calculated the average distance and used that as a starting point when trying to integrate my subs, because if I just let Audyssey set the distance with both subs running, it gets the distance all "wrong" and the integration is not at all that great. With the miniDSP though, you are suggesting that we let Audyssey determine the distance of the grouped subs after we have aligned them. But will that distance be optimal with regards to the integration with the main speakers, or should we still tweak the timing between the grouped sub and the mains etc? 3. You said we should set the crossover in our receiver as high as possible when we integrate our subs, but what about after? All speakers will put out bass, and that will affect the bass response in the room right? Shouldn't we take that into consideration when optimizing our bass response, e.g. by trying out different crossovers? As a side note to that, can we use REW to determine the optimal crossover frequency for the other speakers than the front left and right (e.g. center, surrounds, heights)? 5. Do you think the HD version of the miniDSP is necessary if you "only" have two subs? 6. Do you see any point in buying a more fancy receiver only for its EQ functionality when you have the miniDSP? For example, my Denon X2300W does not have the more advanced version of Audyssey (XT32) and no independent subwoofer outputs, but is that still useful when you have the miniDSP? Many thanks in advance. Looking forward to more great videos like this!

[@hometheatergurus]

Man thats a lot.. :) First thanks, glad it helped! With the editor app I limit eq to 300hz and use dynamic eq. With accurate speakers I ideally only eq the modal area. In rew you'll set the target flat as explained in the video. As for avr settings just turn off all dsp. Distances don't matter as they don't alter the response as long as you follow the steps in the video and raise the crossover point before rew alignment measurements. Running auto setup afterwards will smooth the repsonse even more and adjust sub distance for the newly aligned group so the subs are aligned to the mains. Verify with rew to make sure you don't have negative summation at the crossover point to make sure sub distance is right. The subs crossover is maxed out during the alignment but after everything is done I'd set it no lower than 80hz as you want the subs handling as much as possible as you hopefully have a great and similar response seat to seat and no single speaker will give you that in the modal area. As for the mindsp. Yes I'd get one. It makes life easy. As for the avr inwouonr upgrade unless your missing some feature you really want. As for subs we need one sub out which all avrs will have so as long as we have a mindsp we don't need anything fancy from the avr.

[@isak6626]

@@hometheatergurus A lot covered in the video, that's why :) Thanks a lot! Just moved, so I'm about to expand my 5.2 setup to at least 5.2.4, possibly 7.2.4 of I can find a cheap and compact 2 channel amplifier to pair with the Denon x3600h or x4500h. Speaking of height channels, you have any tip for placement of wall-mounted ceiling (elevation) speakers?

[@isak6626]

@@hometheatergurus Hi again, There seems to be some controversy around what crossover setting to use while integrating multi sub. Audioholics recommend using a crossover of 80 Hz in a couple of their videos, but you recommend setting it as high as possible. When we run our system, the rest of the speakers will put out bass above the crossover, so why not take that into account when optimizing our bass response? Isn't it beneficial for the response to have as many bass sources as possible in the room? And don't we risk messing up the response curve if we pretend that only the subs will be playing up to 250 Hz, when in fact, all speakers will be playing above the crossover? What is your thought?

[@hometheatergurus]

@@isak6626 i didn't recommend 250hz. I said until it's audible. That may be 80 it may be 100hz. Of course we are ant as many bass sources as possible. 4 however is the point of demonishing returns. As for loudspeakers putting out bass, that's one source, so as soon as we hand off to the speakers the seat to seat consistency goes out the window as we now have one speaker producing a modal frequency. We don't have multiple sources if bass above the crossover as any single speaker can now produce the modal Frequencies. I cover this in my modal calculator and sub setup videos.

[@isak6626]

@@hometheatergurus I think you misunderstood my question. I meant the crossover setting while aligning the subs. You said 250 Hz and sweep the mains as a workaround to using ASIO and sweeping the sub channel. My question is what happens when you revert to 80-100 Hz after having aligned the subs. Suddenly you have multiple speakers outputting bass above 80-100 Hz, which will alter the response in the 0-120 Hz range. Why not use a 80-100 Hz crossover when aligning the subs as well, so that you can take that extra bass into account when you optimize the response?

[@daphoosa]

About 15 years ago I bought two subwoofers and placed them front of my room and left and right corners. The sound was every uneven just listening by ear. Messed with inverting one of the subs and adjusting crossover points, everything, but nothing was a clear improvement. Sure could have used tools like this. I ended up stacking the subwoofers and that was the best I was able to do at the time. Huge improvement over separating them. I'm now in a new house looking to add real subs to my HT and this is the route I heading down. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@spyismyworld]

Great video...very well detailed and explained. Few questions in my mind, hopefully you can answer. 1. Do we do this audyssey off or pure audio. 2. After audyssey calibration, will dynamic eq used or has to be left alone.

[@MidnightMagic]

I turn off the audio processing. You can use dynamic EQ but if you are makeing your own house curve it's not really needed. Set it all to "straight decode" You run the auto calibration after to sett the speakers and put EQ on the speakers. After it I will always go into the settings and use Manual EQ. Apply everything to the speakers that the auto calibration did but leave the subs at 0, because you will be setting your own house curve EQ in the minidsp

[@Sensi1995]

You turn Audyssey off and do this. after your are done you will room Audyssey, if you like afterwards you can use Dyamic EQ it won't harm any EQ done in the mDSP.

[@JavonDGreen]

Man. Thank you so much for this. It’s slightly advanced but I’m pretty sharp. You made everything really clear. Really appreciate you brother. Take care!

[@Quetzalcoatl0]

Wow. This video is priceless. Thank you for the deep information.

[@merihakaboogie]

Very impressive results, learned a lot! Thank you! Would have been interesting to see the waterfall graph to see how even your time domain looks like :)

[@tagemathiassen]

👏👏👏👏👏👏 so so awsome. Watched it two times now. This is great info. Got my minidsp hd 2x4 yesterday. Cant wait to have some fun with it. Best regards from Norway

[@hometheatergurus]

Awesome! Take your time and go step by step and you'll be good to go!

[@tagemathiassen]

😍 i spent about 4-5 hours moving subs and main listening position. Meassuring every time. So took my time and did everything step by step and managed to get a good response from the subs. Tested some scenes the next few days. And watched Fury with a few friends yesterday, and man wow that realy gave us a workout. Those 50cal guns pounding in the chest 😳😳 thanks again for doing this, making my way throug all your videos now 👏👏👏

[@aaronschen9896]

Not the most exciting video I'll watch today, but certainly the most useful and informative. I am going to use some of the concepts to try to better integrate my 2.1 stereo. The mains are full range and no DSP available, the sub is controlled by 2x4HD. Less than ideal but hopefully can get decent results in practice. I only care about 1 listener so that helps!

[@hometheatergurus]

😁... Very true! Many have used it to help put them to sleep!

[@nickbessey5352]

Right at 42:38 you answered a question i had. But I do have a little negative summation around 43 hz, but no matter what I try I cant get that to smooth out. With 1 ms of delay to the right channel, I can get a positive summation, but only to the right, I still have a negative summation to the left around -7db I appreciate the video and will continue to use it to fine tune my subs.

[@venkatesanjb284]

Mini dsp 2*4 (OUTPUT 0.9v rms) or minidsp 2*4HD ( 2V RMS ), which one to buy ??

[@LameGaming]

At 18:35 you clicked restore config in the mini dsp and said we wouldnt need to click that, so what would we choose if first setting up a mini dsp...." Synchronize config"?

[@cliffburks480]

I can't overestimate how valuable I find this video. I feared REW for a while before I jumped in and started doing what I could manually. I still feared Mini DSP but you have helped me overcome that. I do have a question however. If you set your house curve, then run Audyssey, won't Audyssey try to flatten that out and negate some of the work you've done?

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks. And yes you're correct. I do cover that during the eq section. Anytime you use room correction eq or a loudness compensation you need to eq to a flat target as the auto eq programs will eq flat. You only do a house curve in rew when not using room correction eq.

[@cliffburks480]

@@hometheatergurus OK -thank you for replying. I must have missed that (you generously provided a lot of information). I'm not saying I must have a house curve . Never have - but never been fully satisfied. Realistically though "fully satisfied" is a rabbit hole we all get dirty in. If however you want the benefits of both Audyssey EQ "and" a house curve to boost the lower octaves could it work to run the quick measure audyssey to get the distance of the subs, log it and cancel out. Then run full audyssey measurements with "no subs" and then manually apply the sub distance setting? Of course as you stated the audyssey distance setting is often incorrect and results in phase errors that we have to correct and I am familiar with that. Perhaps I should just EQ flat and use dynamic eq but my listening volume is fairly consistent so if I could do it in a more...purist/less bells & whistles manner, unless it's a bad idea to try, I'd like to know. I'm just trying to get the general practice correct. Is there a best of both worlds or am I digging another rabbit hole? You're the best man. Both for your video tutorials (in plain English, not trying to demonstrate to people how smart you are) and the prompt response. I wish you were in VA but since you're not I cant wait to see what you come out with next. I don't care what you say about not being made for the camera - you're a great instructor.

[@hometheatergurus]

@@cliffburks480 thanks! And yeah it's a long video and super easy to miss stuff. I'm the world's worst about missing stuff. I'd personally align subs, apply eq to a flat target then run audyessy and use dynamic eq if you can. I don't use it in that room because it's an older avr (7009) that doesn't have the new app. I don't like to apply eq above the modal area so can't use audyessy or dynamic eq because of that. With the newer avrs with the multi eq app I limit eq to around 300hz and use dynamic eq. It begins boosting above the subs and really does a great job but doesn't eq my speakers above 300hz so they remain accurate at the source.

[@lysine45]

Hi Man，suggest you doing an update of this..new version of REW has the alignment tool which is quite easy for alignment now..

[@hometheatergurus]

It's actually been around for a while you just had to know how to use the impulse feature. I don't teach it because it's based on one spot and inaccurate as you add subs as the virtual sub shifts. Using measurements to align is fool proof and you can see and align several seats.

[@barryplessala6185]

Not sure if I miss it but what volume do you set the receiver to? Thanks for all the information, can’t wait to start measuring

[@LazayLada]

barry plessala Thanks, I need this information too.

[@Sensi1995]

Best to keep it around -10 (just make sure it stays that way in ALL of your measurements!)

[@soumyajit92]

Hi, is it worth it do it for a single sub? It's in the right corner of a rectangular room while my seats are at the two thirds line from the screen.

[@jeremygattenby2183]

Fantastic video. I’ve been considering a miniDSP for about six months and you just pushed me over the edge. Liked and subscribed. Thank you for taking the time to break it all down for us. You’re my hero!

[@tyrealsan8234]

Glad I found this video with my search, now a new subscriber! Thanks!

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! Good to know this little channel popped up in the hay stack.

[@DBowesMusic]

If I had run YPAO before, should I reset all distances to 0?

[@dadevastator24_77]

I will like to point something about when you were importing the file to the peq. At 1:06:14 for channel (1&2) “Bypassed” it and for Chanel (3&4) you didn’t bypassed the signal. This make both peq’s look different. Channel 1&2 doesn’t match with channel 3&4 peq. Can you please clarify?

[@MOTARO006]

The best video for minidsp. It will be nice it you do a video with the minidsp non HD interface.

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! I do have on I just did on HPF where I cover the basics like routing and setting up the crossovers. One day I may do one like ep 7 but this was a beast to shoot and produce taking probably 30 hours of time.

[@tcmears148]

Awesome work and watching all your videos! If you had LFE channel available through ASIO or a Mac would you take your measurements from that or still from a main unlplugged and high xover? LFE seems like it would work, no?

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks John, Yeah use ASIO if you have it working. I didn't want to put you guys through that kinda pain so i left it out. It's buggy and REW is always updating. Also with this method you can roll right into looking at the main to sub integration.

[@sebastian7539]

How do you disable audyyseey for subwoofers only? So that it won't alter the subs at all but will still apply corrections to all speakers?

[@hdmoviesource]

Can I do a basic alignment with just an spl meter and receiver levels test? with just speaker delay?

[@garryhammond3117]

Thanks Steve! - Awesome tutorial! Just got my MiniDSP2x4HD and UM1K-1 mic! I have 4 older subs 2x Velodyne 5000 (15") and 2x Klipsh Sub12 (12"). - All placed in corners of a 24 foot sq. room. Hoping to get them optomized following your instructions - Not sure how much has changed since your original video. - Cheers!

[@joshbourlas7936]

How were your results?

[@garryhammond3117]

@@joshbourlas7936 I haven't gone through the process yet Josh - I'm going to be moving some things (the screen and speakers) around, so I'll wait until all is moved to avoid doing it twice. - I'm excited to use my new Seymore AT screen, which is part of the move.

[@AlGat11]

Great video and I am working through all the steps with my system but one part is not working for me. I am adjusting time delay in 10 ms steps, and no matter what it is set at, the frequency curve for that subwoofer overlays each other. So no matter what time delay I set, the curve just lays over top of all the rest. What am I doing wrong?

[@kevinc7910]

Wow that was a great tutorial. Not going to lie I had to back the video up a few time and I’m still a little confused on some points, but I’m so excited to give this a go. I’ve played with REW with my 2 SVS SB16 subs already, but I was just kind of winging it. Now I feel like I know what I should be doing and I hope I can execute it. I’m Going to order a mini DSP H-D and start over. Your video will make setting up my home theater so much more enjoyable. I can’t wait to hear the sound improvements. Thanks

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks. It's definitely a lot of information to learn at once but you'll be a pro on no time!

[@uwsome1]

I Did the Same thing you Did with 2 SVS PB 16

[@cliftonfriese18]

Just purchased Mic from Parts Express, great video. cannot wait to use REW.

[@hometheatergurus]

Awesome! Take your time. Slow wins the race. Almost everyone that has issues rushed and missed stuff.

[@krjohnson29]

This was great, thank you for the knowledge! 👍 Excited to try this on my dual sub setup 🙂

[@MrLogic85]

This! This was the most informative and most helpful subwoofer guide I have ever come across. This explains so much. I thought the subwoofer crawl was about enough for a home amateur. But now I understand that you might not find the best spot, you might even find the worst spot with a lot of highs and nulls. I need to get myself a microphone.

[@KevinGuyot]

What should the distances setting be in the AVR if you have multiple subwoofers? Would you let AVR calibrate that? AVR has a single control of 2 sub outs.

[@hometheatergurus]

That will come during the system calibration but yeah let the avr set it then verify. I have a video on main to sub integration that explains it.

[@wojciechczupta]

what about treating frequencies for which decay time is very long? (room modes?)

[@hometheatergurus]

Room modes are covered in the room mode episode. As for peaks which is where the decay time is always longest eq knocks them down which reduces both energy and audible decay time. There's also a 4 part series on room treatments but the room mode episode should probably be watched first.

[@pb24dagrk]

Fantastic video, I'm late to the party but finally getting around to it. Watched this twice already before trying it this weekend. One thing I'm still confused with, does it matter what volume I have the setting within AVR and within REW settings?

[@darrenkeogh3321]

Wow great video! I brought a minidsp hd 2x4 at Christmas and this evening is crunch time, my friend is gonna bring his mic and lap top round and we’re gonna see what my room is doing with my 2 Paradigm Servo 15s (front L/R)and SVS sb-2000 middle rear. Hopefully we’ll figure it all out 👍🏼👏🏼

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks Darren! Lemme know how it goes.

[@nitrofreakmanho]

Thank you SO much for making such a detailed how-to video on REW+MiniDSP. I’ve been tinkering with both, off-and-on, for a couple of weeks as time allows, and although I got decent results, it’s nowhere near what you achieved here. Thanks to this video, I now have a better idea of what to do the next chance I have time to try again. I was kind of flying blind because I don’t know much about taking room measurements with REW, I find myself hoping I set it up right before I start measuring. I’m using the regular MiniDSP, and not the HD version, so I hope I can get close to the same results. Again, thank you for being so detailed, and taking the time to do this for us!

[@YasenDeyanovPlamenov]

Hi Steve, Your Job here with your channel is more than FANTASTIC! It's just mindblowing!!! Keep the good work and help all fans around the world. 🙏 I want to ask you something.... How to connect my laptop to my Marantz SR8015, in order to reproduce the settings you show in this video and make sure that the REW settings, the lap soundcard and my Marantz work the way you show here? I want to finetune my subwoofers. I also have bought the Audyssey EQ X app for my smartphone. But, I am not sure if I do the settings properly. Currently I am using a stereo jack (plugged into the headphones jac of my lap) to rca chinch (plugged to my CD in of the receiver), but I feel that this is not the best way to do this. I don't have an HDMI out, on my laptop.

[@wells2671]

Question for you about checking results with REW after you run the auto correction... Assuming you've done all the sub alignment and now you just want to make sure that the mains are properly crossed over with the subs, do you play left and right Mains combined plus the subs, or just one of the Mains (either Left or Right) plus the subs, in order to check the integration at the crossover point?

[@hometheatergurus]

That's a good question and I should have discussed this. Just one channel.

[@wells2671]

@@hometheatergurus thank you! this will be a fun night of testing once the family goes to sleep tonight🤣

[@KurtCocainOriginal]

@@hometheatergurus I don't understand... why not check with LR playing with the sub? Ultimately, that how you measure your setup's response 10 - 20,000 Hz

[@hometheatergurus]

@@KurtCocainOriginal I don't measure response that way. I always measure each independent channel. Any professional that sets up your room should do the same and supply you with before and after measurements. The sub can be asked to handle the low end for any single speaker that's why we see how it looks rolled to each of the LCR. If you run both mains at once crossed to the sub the output gains 3db in the mains and will make the sub look like it's 3db too low.

[@ocaudiophile]

I like your channel. One of the very few which gives accurate and practical information. However, this video is 3 years old and REW has changed quite a bit especially creating the correct Minidsp filters are now somewhat different than the method explained here.

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks. In what way has it changed? I've used the newest version and as of last week it's the same. Measure, adjust target, match target, save file, load file. REW has other features now for sure but the eq portion seems to be the same.

[@ocaudiophile]

@@hometheatergurus In the EQ window, there are now 6 different Minidsp filter types and for older MiniDSP models you can only select "48kHz plugins" version which produces 6 biquad filters one of which you have to turn off if you have a Minidsp 2x4 for example. That was what I was referring to.

[@stillplay7311]

Why do I need the MiniDSP 2x4HD? Maybe I missed something but couldn’t I just delay the subwoofer in the receiver with distance settings to match 5ms? And then take the EQ listed at 1:05:25 and put those into the subwoofer EQ on the receiver? Please explain. Thanks!

[@hometheatergurus]

You could delay a sub if you have dual sub outs but then you can't run auto setup as it'll change it. You'll also need to align subs to mains yourself which you should verify anyways. We show the avr one sub so it can't mess anything up when you run auto setup. As for the eq, no You can't load eq info from REW into an avr.

[@stillplay7311]

Home Theater Gurus couldn’t you just run auto setup and then add the distance after the fact? On REW, it gives you all the changes the EQ I thought. You could plug in the frequency gains and Q setting on my Yamaha EQ for the curve and get nearly identical sound. I’m just confused what I’m missing. Sure, you’d have to do separate sub outputs but you can match the delays with distance settings calculations. I’m not seeing the value of the MiniDSP except being able to copy the EQ curve into it which saves 5 minutes assuming a 7 band EQ.

[@hometheatergurus]

@@stillplay7311 if you have 2 subs and you want to do it manually you can definitively give it a try and see how it turns out.

[@stillplay7311]

Home Theater Gurus ok so one more question is how many EQ points does REW send over to MiniDSP how many can MiniDSP HD handle? I will be calibrating two subwoofers. I’ve had issues with nulls for a while but never have measured

[@hometheatergurus]

@@stillplay7311 manually You have 10 PEQ filters on the input and 10 on the output. You wouldn't load them manually though (other than tweaking) as you'd be loading a file. You can them in the video when I load the files and do manually tweaking.

[@christisdale9977]

Hi,I plan on getting someone to do this for me using the Umik1 and mini dsp 2x4 hd.Can you please tell me what cables I would need?

[@jjlnguess7354]

I have this mic, Dayton Audio UMM-6 USB Measurement Microphone, will this mic work for your tutorial? Thanks.

[@jeremytews3006]

Great informational video! Definitely do a video on room modes and seating positions. I’m designing my theater 2.0, we sold 1.0 and I never got around to learning REW. Things will be different this time

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! I'll be doing room modes very soon!

[@MagnoliaED]

Great stuff. Thank you or taking what was surely a significant amount of time to make this video. Question, though: You invert the polarity on a few subs and see constructive output, but the delay is left at 0ms. Wouldn't there be merit in also experimenting with delay to see if there's more constructive/additive output of that sub with the group of subs?

[@JDuBz815]

Thanks for the great video/series. Really helped me to figure out REW and MiniDSP.

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks. Glad it helped!

[@robincruz6132]

I learned a lot. Thanks. What do you do with Audyssey after this? DO you set Audyssey to only work about the subwoofer cutoff?

[@michaelstephens41]

If you had more than 4 subs, how would you hook them up? Would you need two dsp hd's?

[@nezff]

Got the MiniDSP 2x4HD, usb 3.0 extension cable. Laptop will need a HDMI? HDMI from laptop to receiver? AVR to minidsp input RCA, minidsp to amp RCA/XLR Umik to laptop via usb cable? thanks.

[@michaelbested123456]

so if you would use the flat curve, where do you raise the flat curve to? the run audessey again part is confusing. You set the house curve and says you will need to run room correction again due to sub distance adjustments, but you allso says that , you should not run audessey if using a house curve

[@matthewbeck5938]

at 1:06:00 After creating the EQs in REW, you implemented them in miniDSP by loading them into the OUTPUT PEQ (for each of the 4 output channels). Is there a reason you didn't load the same EQs into the PEQ on INPUT #1 (LFE in)? Wouldn't that have the same effect? And you'd only have to load the EQs once?

[@hometheatergurus]

Yes there a very good reason. It's explained why in the video when we do manual eq. We need to leave the input for manual touch up.

[@Scarczar]

Hi You have made a wonderful video to help us understand and apply. I need help in one area so kindly help me. I am using a Stormaudio processor with Dirac and all my outputs are used which leaves me with just one for my subs. Should i eliminate some speakers from my 9.1.6 and make room for 2 subs out from processor or get a mini dsp? Please note that REW calibration can be added to Stormaudio like on mini dsp hd 4x2. Thanks!

[@romanlewandowski9616]

Absolutely fantastic and video on how to use the mini DSP And Ari W fantastic. What volume do you set your AV are at during this process

[@hometheatergurus]

Thanks! Just enough to get a good response. It doesn't have to be too loud.

[@darrenkeogh3321]

This is great, lost me a bit a times but very informative! Well done. 👏🏼

[@jjlnguess7354]

Will this minidsp work for only 2 subwoofers, Thanks.

[@kcee3dee]

Good stuff throughout, you're sharing a lot of good unbiased knowledge so far. Since this tutorials a few years old, are there any recent developments with REW that would be a good addition to what you've already explained? I know it is what it is, physics doesn't change, but sometimes tech finds one thing or another to tweak. After a long hiatus of audio systems and tuning (well it was high end car audio, mostly ARC Audio, Hybrid and old school Pre-China Cerwin Vega), I am getting back into it without the car this time, putting my mid-level system into the other room for some upgrades. I am still new to REW, but after an afternoon, it's all coming back to me, but some of this software has it's own specific quips sometimes, asio4all works thankfully, so I am probably overthinking it. The minidsp is a handy cheap addition that would've cost at least double if it was for my car builds back then. Going to be using it for two SVS SB-1000 Pros (small listening area (12x14) want to try sealed first), Klipsch RP8000F, RP504C, still using the old Reference Bookshelfs for rears, but figured out a way to put the old R620F florstanders high enough back there just for fun. I am glad this will decouple the sub tune from Audyssey, and also love the new Multeq-X letting me inject REW data. This lesson combined with your lesson matching the fronts is a huge help. I am switching from trying to make a perfect musical soundstage (car audio days) to a massive bubble of evenly blended frequencies. Been fun so far. Instead of nonstop dynamat and crushed fingers, I'm throwing bass traps in every corner and figuring out how to design and 3d print my own diffuser panels. Thanks again for the kind free help! The audio community has always been a pay-it-forward and share community since before I was even a part of it, it's great to see it still happens.

[@JesseS-ip3lv]

Thanks so much for the great video! I am recalibrating a new layout and using the Windows based DIRAC Live for it with a minidsp 2x4HD. Will running DIRAC after this method mess with this at all or are there any adjustments to keep in mind with it?

[@NoWay-db1mu]

In your video you advise adding a butterworth filter to ported subwoofers to cut signals below their tuning frequency. Would you recommend the same for subs with passive radiatiors?

[@hometheatergurus]

A passive radiator is controlled and extends similar to a sealed. You'd filter it to taste or to get more headroom above a given frequency.

[@Scarczar]

Thank you very much for this video which has helped me set up the 4 subwoofers in my room to deliver excellent bass. Mini dsp and this video has changed the sound in my HT. Cant thank you enough so thank you once again.

[@johntullio745]

Great video but I have 2 seperate mini dsp with 6 subs connected to both. one mini dsp connected to sub1 and the other connected to sub2. Do I follow the same guidelines getting them time aligned all together or seperate allignment for sub1 and sub2 outs and then running Audyssey after. Need some clarification thanks 😊