XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro

[chessman]

My combination HT/Listening Room is heavily acoustically treated. To be honest I chose and placed products on general principles, trial and error, luck, and tons of contradictory reading. Now I am going to try an empirical approach. Tomorrow I should receive an XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro, an all-in-one kit that includes a calibrated microphone, sound card, tone generator, cabling and software for my provided laptop.

The kit will allow me to take a number of readings, which include among other things, (1) frequency response graph, (2) RT 60 for 5 critical frequency bands, and (3) a 3D waterfall graph. The problem, of course, is that knowing you have a RT 60 problem at 125 H does not tell you, by itself, what to do about it.

I anticipate a number of problems. XTZ may not yet be compatible with Windows 8, which is what my laptop uses. I am not a computer wiz, so something like a device driver problem could be a real snag. I have also decided to start "in the middle" by leaving the existing treatments in place and, hopefully, just be tweaking.

After a mind boggling amount of reading I am going to aim for the following stats:

(1) Just do two channel for the first try,
(2) As flat a frequency response as I can get without EQ,
(3) Under 200 H I will live with +/- 5 dB and focus on resonance,
(4) Over 200 H I will shoot for +/- 3dB from 200 H to 4000 H and focus on reverberation,
(5) For the measured 5 critical bands either .4 or .5 seconds RT 60, and
(6) A waterfall graph that shows reasonably even decay across the board.

I will try to take pics and keep a log of what I am doing. The room sounds very good already, so I do not really expect a dramatic change. To be honest, I would be thrilled if the measurements just verified the prior efforts as correct.

So, more to come ....

[crwilli]

Good luck! I use REW and know flat is a vision/dream even with room treatments and the MEN220 and an EQ for my woofer columns. It can drive you crazy Randy!

Sent from my iPad using A.Aficionado

[chessman]

Craig, I know. I just had to pick a target.

For frequencies above 200H I think an even decay rate is far more important than a flat frequency response.

P.S. I am not smart enough to use REW, which is why I went with the simpler (and less capable) XTZ.

[Kal Rubinson]

Etz?

[Masterlu]

[chessman]

Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson

Etz?

Oh crap, it is, of course, the XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro. I should not post when I am tired.

Mods, I cannot fix a typo in a thread title. Could you do it for me?

[chessman]

Originally Posted by chessman

Oh crap, it is, of course the XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro. I should not post when I am tired. Mods, I cannot fix a typo in a thread title. Could you do it for me?

Thanks for fixing the thread heading. And thanks Kal for pointing out my error.

[chessman]

The kit arrived double boxed (albeit a bit loosely) safe and sound. Inside is a metal carrying case with foam cutout to hold the components. A few pics are attached. It is too late to fool with software tonight.

[antipop]

I've made a thread here with my initiation to REW and how it lead to my room treatment.

I need to redo a new test with the updated system and change in speaker placement.

[chessman]

Georges, you are a better man than me.

I false started with REW several times. Finding my own sufficiently compatible microphone and sound card sounded bad enough, but at "phantom power" I threw in the towel. I admit that I paid money for convenience (and to cloak my newbiness ), but "Room Analysis In-A-Box" was the right choice for me.

Of course, now I need to read your REW thread.