This Is A Guide To Improving Your Linn System With SPACE Optimisation
Introduction and Background Information
This thread is a practical guide designed to give you confidence to improve the sound quality of your Linn system using SPACE optimization.
SPACE optimization is embedded firmware in your Linn DS/DSM contained within the Konfig application.
SPACE Optimization is a wonderful tool, designed by Phil Budd (Philbo) and the Linn team, that allows you to make adjustments on your computer through the Konfig application, allowing you to reach a much higher potential sound quality.
Think of SPACE optimization as a combination of art and science, where your computer becomes the paintbrush, and with skillful application of filter adjustments at specific frequencies, to create a soundscape of musicality, detail, depth, balance and emotion. Your speakers become the paint.
If done correctly and the SPACE optimization gods are in your favour, you will be able to overcome most room anomalies that interfere with the sound quality of your room. The ultimate goal is to fit the speakers into the room, so that room anomalies are reduced or eliminated, allowing you to hear your music like you have never heard before.
The result of your adjustments in SPACE Optimization may reward you with deep, musical and detailed bass that does not overshadow the higher frequencies in the midrange and highs. Your overall music should sound musical, with great pace, rhythm and timing and just pop, sparkle and delight, sending goose bumps and the hair on the back of your neck standing. The music should jump out of the speaker cabinets, making the cabinets disappear, so to speak.
Midrange clarity should improve dramatically and you should hear a much quieter background, clean and transparent vocals and instruments, with enough space around each singer and instrument to drive a truck around them. You should be able to experience the emotional connection of the singer to the music, and how the individual musicians interact with each other on the stage.
This guide is designed to walk you through the process which I use, to adjust calculated room modes and add custom room mode filters, to adjust frequency, gain and bandwidth, using digital filters built into Konfig, that are applied to add or remove energy at specific frequencies.
When you are finished this exercise you may notice that the final room modes may be a combination of calculated room modes and custom room modes. These values may end up being quite different from Konfig generated calculated room modes.
Many Linn owners that have used this process in their Linn systems have reported stunning improvements in their Linn’s sound quality. Many that have heard the improvements have exclaimed that the speakers have woken up.
I have personally completed SPACE Optimization in 42 different Linn systems in 42 different homes in Europe and North America so far, and have been extremely pleased with the sound quality transformations in every one.
When you enter length, width and height room dimensions of your listening room, as well as room features and construction materials, into Konfig and press the “Optimize” button, the app will generate “calculated” room modes that are unique to your room. Generally, you may get anywhere from 2 to 7 room modes calculated, each at a different frequency, gain and bandwidth.
A room mode is a calculated peak that appears at a specific sound frequency. Looking at the SPACE optimization generated graph, it should show a number of room modes at different frequencies. Each room mode looks like an upside down pyramid, but can vary in height (gain, usually expressed as a negative value such as -19.34) and width (bandwidth or octave width, usually expressed as a number between 0-1.0).
For example, you may have a calculated room mode 1, that is at 42.34 Hz, a gain of (-24.56) and a bandwidth of 0.12345. By the time you are finished, addressing each room mode, this room mode 1 may sound best with an adjustment to 40.23 Hz, a gain of (-10.43) and a bandwidth of 0.014427, for example.
When you are finished completing this exercise, you may have eliminated some Konfig calculated room modes, and created new custom room modes to replace the calculated room modes.
SPACE optimization can suggest and predict the calculated room frequencies that are possibly masking the sound quality of your music, through bass overhang, bass muddiness, unfocused midrange and highs, lack of detail soundstage or depth of soundstage for example.
The reasons for this may be because the calculated room modes may not take into account your unique room shape, types of furniture, window dressings, carpets, and other features unique to your home, which may effect sound quality. Our goal is to accommodate the difference in calculated room modes and specific conditions for your room.
What Will You Be Doing To Facilitate SPACE Optimization?
You will be listening to a selection of your favorite reference music tracks and listening very very carefully for musical qualities in the music and recognizing that the music may not sound as natural, detailed, transparent or alive as they should. With careful listening while adjusting the room modes frequencies, gains and bandwidth of your calculated room modes in this exercise, to get optimal results in sound quality.
Before you start this exercise you must enter the room dimensions into Konfig You will have to accurately measure your listening room in “meters” and enter the length, width and height of the room, along with the features of the room such as windows, doors and building materials into Konfig. In addition, you will measuring the distance of your speakers to the walls and from your listening position to the front wall and left wall.
I use a laser measure device measuring in meters or fractions of a meter. The laser measure device is very accurate to measure the distance from your ears to the front wall and left wall, and does a great job for accuracy and speed for window, door and other room dimensions.
Make sure after you enter the values of your measurements into Konfig, that you click on the checkmark after each time you enter your value, to save the setting. If you don’t fill in every box in the room dimensions page, you will not be able to press the “Optimize” button.
You will have to add the type of speakers you own into the Konfig settings, unless you have Exakt speakers, and the system will populate the information for you, including the serial number of the speakers and DS/DSM. If you also use a subwoofer(s), you will also add this into Konfig on the room dimensions page.
If you do not add all the required information into Konfig, then it will not allow you to press “Optimize “ and calculate your room modes.
If everything has been added into Konfig, then you can press the “Optimize” button at the bottom right of the page and you will see a new page with a graph showing the calculated room modes. The fun begins inside this tab, called SPACE Optimization.
Everyone on the Linn Forum that I have met has a different shaped room, with different Linn electronics and speakers. If you took the same Linn stereo system and placed it in 5 different people’s listening rooms, the same speakers will sound quite different in each room because of the interaction of the speaker with the room and how that effects sound quality.
SPACE optimization will allow you to fit your speakers into the room, acoustically, so the room itself has less interaction with the sound waves generated by the speakers. Specifically, it will help to tame the low frequency sound waves in the room that may cause bass boom and other interference.
SPACE optimization is a marvelous tool, but it is complemented by the use of passive acoustic panels, window and floor coverings and other acoustic treatments.
This guide does not supersede, Linn’s own Linn Docs guide to SPACE optimization. However, it is a different approach on how to do SPACE optimization than the method outlined in the Linn Docs.
The original calculated SPACE settings will sound quite good, and many people may be happy with that result.
As you and many others have found, it is easy to adjust SPACE optimization settings and come out with a less musical result or a much better result as well.
However, I am going to pull out the "Give It Another Go Card" using Tune-Dem, your reference tunes, and the idea that your Linn system has the potential to sound incredibly much better with SPACE optimization, turned on and adjusted properly.
I have experience adjusting 42 different Linn systems in a vast variety of Linn speakers and electronics in many different room shapes and sizes, to say the following:
If you only apply the calculated room modes, you are not getting anywhere near the potential of what your Linn system is capable of. I have frequently heard improvements so dramatic that the owner no longer recognized the music they had heard countless times before, and were stunned by the improvement.
SPACE optimization has the potential to make your Linn system sound like it is worth tens of thousands of dollars more than before these adjustments.
SPACE Optimization Tools
Setting Up The Speakers:
Everyone that I visited, without exception, was shocked and delighted by what their Linn system was now capable of, with proper application of SPACE optimization, appropriate toe-in, leveled and secured speakers that don’t rock, and appropriate tightening of the speaker drivers to the speaker cabinets with just the right amount of torque.
Don't underestimate the importance of proper toe-in with the speakers, as this can have a dramatic effect on sound quality, imaging and perceived sound stage.
Reference Music Tracks To Evaluate and Make Adjustments In SPACE Optimization:
Here is a list of some of the reference tracks I use for adjusting parameters in SPACE optimization. At the end of this document in Appendix 1, is a detailed explanation of what I listen to in each of these tracks.
Here is the list of my current reference tracks:
Ane Brun-“Halo”, Rarities Album
Bob Marley- “Buffalo Soldier”, Legend Album Remastered
Dire Straits- “My Latest Trick”, Brothers In Arms Album
Diana Krall – “Black Crow”, Girl In The Other Room Album
Diana Krall – “A Case Of You”, Live In Paris Album
Leonard Cohen- “You Want It Darker,” You Want It Darker Album
Lou Reed – “Walk On The Wild Side”, Transformer Album
Lou Reed – “Perfect Day”, Acoustic version, Last Track on Transformer Album
Malia and Boris Blank – “Magnetic Lies”, Convergence Album
Nils Lofgren – “Keith Don't Go”, Acoustic Live Album
Nils Lofgren – “Black Book”, Acoustic Live Album
Nora Jones- “Turn Me On”, Come Away With Me Album
Oscar Peterson – “You Look Good To Me”, We Get Requests Album
At the bottom of this document, I have included an appendix 1, of my personal reference tunes that I use to tune SPACE Optimization. I try to describe the audio cues I listen for to help make adjustments in Konfig.
The Most Important Optimization Tool, You!!!
When I am doing SPACE optimization, I listen to specific music reference tracks, and focus on the sound quality I hear, as well as the sound pressure I feel on my ear drums, and my body. The sound pressure I “feel” and “hear”, is a reference tool that is more accurate than measuring the sounds in the room with a calibrated mike or some other measuring device, IMHO.
In effect, I can feel the low frequency music that I cannot hear through pressure on the eardrum. I have also trained myself to listen carefully to whether the music makes me feel uncomfortable, or is fatiguing to my ears. For example, if you are sitting next to someone listening to music at loud volumes while carrying on a conversation with them, and have to speak louder, then that is a sign that adjustments in SPACE optimization would be beneficial. Ideally you should be able to speak at a normal voice level even at higher volumes.
Anyone can learn this, but it takes a bit of practice and an awareness of your world around you, as you perceive it through your senses.
My approach is unique, in that I listen to the music, feel the music and then know exactly which frequencies to adjust in SPACE optimization. The trick with SPACE optimization, is to learn exactly which adjustments to make, when you hear different audio cues, and then the exact frequencies to adjust, the gain and the bandwidth.
I can correlate specific things I hear in the music and know how to make adjustments to make them sound like I want, and soon you will be able to as well.
These audio cues are the information I need to make educated guesses, some intuition, and experience, to make the SPACE optimization adjustments.
Then I start playing around with moving the frequencies, gain and bandwidth for each individual calculated room mode or custom filters.
I have been known to create a number of custom room modes where there were none calculated, and have sent a few calculated room modes to the chopping block.
This is why things like REW are of limited value to me. Although REW and other room sweeps, they can provide some shortcuts to focusing on specific frequencies. I do use SPACE tones when I have the time or inclination to listen to individual generated frequencies between 30-Hz and 100 Hz, (Thanks to Better Music and Eldarboy for the SPACE Tones)
For the listening tests, ideally, you have another experienced person with good hearing to help you do measurements and listen to the music with you to help you make fine tuning of the adjustments to the room modes.
In addition, knowing the science behind it is interesting, but not useful to me in this respect. I am a scientist, but have come to the conclusion that SPACE optimization is as much an art as a science.
![Big Grin]( "Big Grin")
Therefore enquiries to me about the science are best asked of others who know the science of audio.
I read a number of scientific papers recently on digital audio filters. This was interesting, but not overly useful. However, I learned it is all about moving about the energy at specific frequencies, adding or removing energy with adjustments of the digital filters.
In this way, I liken it to an artist that creates a musical soundscape with SPACE optimization, using the computer as the paintbrush and the speakers as the paint.
Adjusting SPACE Optimization:
You have measured all your room dimensions, added the room features such as wooden doors and windows, added your speakers, the speaker placement in the room and also your specific listening position.
Generally, I only add wooden doors as a feature, not door openings into adjacent rooms that don’t have doors.
I do add each window in the listening room, but not if it is a small window removed away from the speakers.
I don’t add the depth of a bay window, but I do measure the size of the bay window and add it as a feature, as if it was flush with the wall. I don’t add a TV, even though it is a large reflective surface, and generally ignore fireplaces, as a feature.
You press “Optimize” and notice you have a number of peaks on a graph.
You may notice that you have the following example calculated room modes:
Room mode 1:
Frequency: 43.65 Hz, Gain (-26.27), Bandwidth 0.082651
Room mode 2:
Frequency: 56.11 Hz, Gain (-20.27), Bandwidth 0.064871
Room mode 3
Frequency: 65.28 Hz, Gain (-14.75), Bandwidth 0.028693
Room Mode 4
Frequency: 72.83 Hz, Gain (-16.75), Bandwidth 0.020675
Of course you may have as little as 2 calculated room modes and in some cases as many as 7 or more room modes.
I will play around with the room dimensions and room features to reduce 6 or more calculated room modes down to 4 or 5. Sometimes you have peaks that are overlapping on top of each other. I generally will treat them as one room mode.
You listen to some of your reference music tracks with these calculated room modes and notice that sound quality is an improvement over what you had before. Job done? No!!!
Adjusting Room Modes For Bass Issues
With careful listening, you notice there is muddiness in the bass tracks on Buffalo Soldier and you can’t hear the growl of the bass guitar grinding its way through the track, with a perfect overlay on the bass drum.
Oscar Peterson’s You Look Good to Me has a beautiful bass line that should give you a lot of detail in the bass, as the strings are plucked, but on listening, you notice that there is not a lot of detail and definition in the bass line.
Lou Reeds Walk On The Wild Side has a wonderful bass line that repeats itself throughout the song, and you should be able to hear the bass strings being plucked and released, but you can’t. The bass string should have a very audible reverberation and when the string is released.
There is some work to do then.
When you have adjusted the bass properly with SPACE optimization, lots of detail will reveal itself in the midrange and highs you never heard before.
So how do I remedy this issue?
Whenever I see a calculated room mode 1 in the 35 Hz - 50 Hz range, it is a safe bet that there will be a real room mode at approximately half the calculated room mode that does not show up as a calculated room mode. However, it may not be exactly half the frequency, but off by many Hz above or below the projected value.
For example, if your calculated room mode 1 is in the 32Hz to 49 Hz range, there is almost certainly a real room mode in the mid to low 20 Hz range or may even be below 20 Hz. Thank you Linnrd, for this helpful discovery.
I have learned that different speakers seem to respond to specific frequencies.
If I am adjusting 242's without a subwoofer, I would start creating a custom room mode 1 at 23 Hz range, whereas Komris would be around 18 Hz, Exakt 350's with an Exakted Melodik sub was around 16 Hz, for example.
Origianl Isobariks might be at around 28 Hz and Keilidhs could be around 30 Hz. My Akubariks are around 21 Hz.
I don't know if this undiscovered lower frequency room mode is harmless or not, but it certainly has a major impact on bass overhang. Bass overhang can best be described as a muddiness in the bass, and can be heard as a "wooommmm wooommm woommm sound that is prominent in the music if you listen for it. Once you have identified it and then hear it prominently in many of your favourite tracks, it is a very good idea to create a new custom room mode 1 at the lower frequency.
You may not be able to hear it in all cases, but you will feel it in your ear drums as a sensation of pressure on your ear drums. This can also make the music unenjoyable, to the point where you may experience a kind of listening fatigue, and start switching to different music tracks part way through the song, and then go to the next song trying to find musical satisfaction, not realizing that the music sound quality is “off” and not enjoyable to listen to.
The key here is to be aware of your body and the sensations it is picking up from the music. You literally can hear and "feel" the music, as clues as to what is going on in your room and your speakers.
However, don't assume that all your bass issues are coming from low frequency bass in the 16-30 Hz range or lower. Often there are additional bass issues in the 60-80 Hz range that contributes to a muddy sounding vocals and instruments. Remember that 60-80 Hz is still low frequency.
Try different values and just listen. Preferably you do your listening with another person, to help you confirm it is an improvement.
Listen to Walk On The Wild Side, Buffalo Soldier and You Look Good to Me, over and over again. Move the frequency of the custom room mode one up and down, until it sounds better, to see if you are in the right frequency range.
If that sounds good, move the frequency up and down by 1.0 Hz at a time. So try 21.4, 22.4, 23.4, 24.4, 25.4 and so on, to see if you are going in the right direction and the midrange and highs become more clear? If not , go back to 21.4 Hz and then go the other direction, to 20.4, 19.4 Hz etc. If you like what you are hearing, it is time to fine tune the frequency, to 22.53, 22.63, or go to 22.22 and lower, until you hear your Linn system sounding its best.
Now that you have dialed in the best sound quality at a specific frequency, adjust the gain. For example, if the gain of room mode 1 is (-26.47), start off with a gain of about (-12 dB) for your custom room mode, then adjust up and down in gain to see if the sound quality improves?
Don’t forget to write down every change you make to frequency, gain and bandwidth as you go along, with a pen and paper. Otherwise, it will be difficult to go back to a setting that sounded really good, and you want to go back to.
Don’t forget to “Save” the profile as you go along, if you like the settings.
If you really like a particular profile, use the “Save As” button and give it a new name. For Example: Paul’s Test 1, Pauls Test 2, and so on.
For the bandwidth, I aim for the narrowest bandwidth possible that will capture the bass, with the filter. I try to aim for a bandwidth of 0.014227, as the narrowest allowable bandwidth at the moment. However, you can widen or decrease the bandwidth easily with a custom filter. If you go too wide, it will not give you good sound quality.
Narrowing the bandwidth to the narrowest possible will give stunning results.
So that should take care of your new custom room mode 1 for now. But it is now time to revisit the original calculated room mode 1
Example calculated room mode 1:
Frequency: 43.65 Hz, Gain (-24.27), Bandwidth 0.082651
Going back to Konfig calculated room mode 1 and move the frequency up slightly from 43.65 to 43.79, to 43.99 Hz, 44.12 Hz, 44.24 Hz and so on. Alternately, go the other direction and try listening with calculated room mode adjusted to 43.48 Hz and then lower, to see if you can hear a difference.
I have found in most cases, not to eliminate calculated room mode 1, if it is in the 30-50 Hz range, but will adjust the frequency, gain and bandwidth moderately.
In fact, I will often leave the calculated room mode 1 bandwidth more or less as calculated. However, I will move the frequency up or down in small increments until I find an improvement in sound quality.
Please note though, with a calculated room mode, you are very limited in how much you can adjust the frequency and the bandwidth. That is why I will create a custom room mode if I can’t get the adjustments that I want.
Then I may incrementally increase the gain, for example from -24.27 to -24.45, to -24.63 -24.78. Alternately, you could reduce gain to -24.13, to -23.88 and so on. Usually an increase in gain of 2-3 dB for calculated room mode 1 is enough and yields the best results, for calculated room mode 1
Once you have a good sounding frequency for calculated room mode 1. Try add about 3 dB of gain and see how that sounds? I find a slight boast to room mode one is helpful. Again, adjust the gain in very slight increments, until you get a sound quality your like. So if the calculated room mode 1 is 43.65 Hz, at -22.34 dB you may find the best sound quality is about -21.00 dB or -19.53 dB range. Your results may vary and don’t be afraid to experiment.
The bass is now deeper and more musical. Yet it is very easy to carry on a conversation in the room at loud volume, without raising your voice. The mids and highs are greatly improved, with awesome dynamics, detail, transparency and musicality.
What do you do if Konfig has already calculated a room mode 1 in the 20 Hz range?
I have seen enough Linn systems now, that I can say that sometimes SPACE optimization does calculate this lower frequency room mode in the 20 Hz range. If that is the case, then I adjust the frequency of this calculated room mode 1 up or down in frequency as well, to see if you can capture the specific frequency, and zoom in on the specific frequency that is excited. Then create a narrower notch filter at that frequency.
If you create a new custom filter to replace an existing calculated room mode, so you can make bigger adjustments to frequency and bandwidth, make sure you change the gain on the original room mode to zero, yes “0”.
This will involve creating a custom room mode at that frequency that is a very narrow notch filter. Then you must play with the gain on that room mode. I have the best success with a narrow bandwidth notch filter, but sometimes I have to widen the bandwidth to capture a bit more of the offending frequency.
You always have your saved favorite optimization profile you can go back to if you don’t like the result.
For the calculated room modes, you can only move the frequencies slightly from calculated, maybe a couple of dB on either side of the calculated frequency. Even so, it is highly worth while to see if moving the frequency of your calculated room modes incrementally up or down, improves the sound quality.
If it sounds better, it is better. Make sure you save your settings after each adjustment, otherwise you run the risk of having a great sound quality, but without saved settings, will lose everything.
Also write down all your changes as you go along, for frequency, gain and bandwidth. Then you can go back to changes that sounded good, if you overshoot the best sound quality.
Record your final results so you can go back to them later if needed.
Don't be afraid to create additional Profiles, and a back up of your favourite sound quality profile.
Adjusting Calculated Room Modes 2, 3, 4 And So On
Okay, you are listening to your music and playing your favorite reference music tracks, and notice that female vocals are shouty or have sibilance. You notice that the soundstage is detailed but flat. You notice that the piano doesn’t sound quite right.
You notice that a male or female singer’s voice doesn’t have enough body and depth to the lower range of their voice.
Can we adjust for this to improve it?
Yes, and here is what I do.
If set up properly, SPACE optimization can be used to create a warmer sound by adding some gain to room modes in the 60 Hz range and the 70 Hertz range. This depends on room mode 1 being set up properly, as it can mask the mids and highs. To add gain, you would for example go from a gain of -20.34 to -17.89 to get some more "body, depth and detail". This effectively adds energy to that room mode frequency, while a change from -17.89 to -20.34 would remove some energy from that frequency.
For example: Nora Jones song "Turn me On" from her "Come Away with Me" album. After 45 seconds to a minute or so into the song, her vocals can be a bit shouty if the optimization is not set up properly. With Diana Krall, there can be a bit of shoutyness and sibilance in some of her vocals, on songs like Back Crow.
What can I do to eliminate that?
I find that adjusting the room modes in the 70 Hz range and applying some gain can help minimize and eliminate this issue. If you don’t have a room mode in the 70 Hz range, create a custom room mode, starting at around 74.3 Hz, then adjust the frequency up and down slightly, to what sounds best. Then adjust gain and bandwidth. Aim for the narrowest bandwidth possible that does that gets the best sound quality. Don’t be afraid to reduce the gain as well, as too much gain will give poor sound quality.
I want to create a deeper and bigger soundstage . What can I adjust in SPACE optimization to do that?
Making adjustments in the 60 Hz range will help. If you don’t have a room mode in the 60 Hz range, create one, starting at around 63Hz and then move the frequency up and down from there.
The vocals seem a bit muddy and I want more space around the instruments?
This can be tackled by adjusting very incrementally, the frequency, gain and bandwidth of the room modes in the 60 Hz and 70 Hz range.
The real breakthrough to overcoming muddiness in vocals and instruments is in narrowing the bandwidth of each of the calculated and custom room modes to the most narrow possible. Then the vocals and instruments will pop and sparkle from the speakers, with tremendous space around each instrument.
Once you have tackled the room modes in the 60 and 70 Hz range, then move onto the 50 Hz range, if there is a calculated room mode in the 50 Hz range. If not, don’t create one.
I generally do not use SPACE optimization in frequencies over 80 Hz
If you do have a calculated room mode in the 50 Hz range, try moving the frequency up and down for calculated room mode 2, from 56.11 Hz to 56.34 and keep going up, or alternately down to 55.94 and so on. If it sounds better and you like what you are hearing, then record what frequency sounds best, and then change the gain to zero to effectively turn off Room mode 2.
Now create a new calculated room mode 2 at the frequency you found sounded best, but now you have more control with the custom room mode 2 to increase or decrease the frequency even more around 56.11 Hz, until you find the best. Once you have found greater sound quality, adjust the gain up or down.
You can do the same for the calculated room mode 3 at 65.28 Hz and then create a new custom room mode 3, as above.
Now that you have done this, revisit your room mode at 74.3 Hz and try giving it more gain, as well as more gain for the custom room mode 3. This should go a long way to taming the shoutyness and clear up the vocals and instruments. As I mentioned, your results may vary, as I am not able to hear your Linn system.
At the moment, we are only given 4 custom room modes, so use them judiciously.
So if you know that 56.11 Hz, 63.00 Hz and 72.83 are dialed in correctly, it is time to set the gain for both those frequencies to zero.
Now create three custom room modes, one at 56.11 Hz and another one at 63.00 Hz, and one at 72.83.
Using the same gain settings that you had before, at -13.20 dB for the one at 56.11 Hz, and -16.45 dB, I suggest you change the bandwidth at those frequencies to the narrowest possible.
So your room mode 2 that was a bandwidth of 0.067019 will now be 0.014427
Your room mode 3 which had a bandwidth of 0.0596 will now be a bandwidth of 0.014427 or something like that.
Yes, it is detective work at each home, as each room and stereo setup is so different.
I also listen intently for aggressive vocals, such as pushy leading edge notes, or for example, harsh highs, and then tackle them one by one. Hopefully I get a good balance that suits the room.
To many people's ears, they may assume that the bass they hear was actually in the recording, but in fact it could be bass generated from room issues. One way it can represent itself is that you feel a slight non descript pressure on your ear drums. Unless you listen for this specifically and become aware of it, and it's affect on the sound quality, you may not know to compensate for it. It is quite possible to apply too much gain, so a slight reduction in gain should remove the feeling of pressure on your ear drums.
My understanding is that SO suggests that adjustments to room modes should generally be at frequencies that are < 100Hz.
What still amazes me is the way in which slight adjustments to Room Modes at these lower frequencies can have such a positive impact further up the audio spectrum!
Reviewing your progress so far:
So we started with the following example calculated room modes:
Room mode 1:
Frequency: 43.65 Hz, Gain (-26.27), Bandwidth 0.082651
Room mode 2:
Frequency: 56.11 Hz, Gain (-20.27), Bandwidth 0.064871
Room mode 3
Frequency: 65.28 Hz, Gain (-14.75), Bandwidth 0.028693
Room Mode 4
Frequency: 72.83 Hz, Gain (-16.75), Bandwidth 0.020675
By the time I am finished doing all the SPACE optimization, it would not be unusual to have a set of calculated and custom room modes as follows:
Calculated Room mode 1:
Frequency: 41.85 Hz, Gain (-24.89), Bandwidth 0.072651
Calculated Room mode 2:
Frequency: 56.11 Hz, Gain (0.0), Bandwidth 0.064871
Calculated Room mode 3
Frequency: 65.28 Hz, Gain (0.0), Bandwidth 0.028693
Calculated Room Mode 4
Frequency: 72.83 Hz, Gain (0.0), Bandwidth 0.020675
Custom Room modes, to replace calculated room modes 2, 3, and 4, as well as a custom room mode 1 to handle the bass overhang issues:
Custom Room mode 1:
Frequency: 21.53 Hz, Gain (-10.37), Bandwidth 0.014427
Custom Room mode 2:
Frequency: 54.49 Hz, Gain (-8.78), Bandwidth 0.0014427
Custom Room mode 3
Frequency: 63.51 Hz, Gain (-7.65), Bandwidth 0.014427
Custom Room Mode 4
Frequency: 74.3 Hz, Gain (-10.21), Bandwidth 0.014427
One final observation. Even when I have had SPACE optimization dialed in well, I still think something is missing. I have found time and time again, it is because the speakers were not toed-in enough. Toe-in your speakers to get excellent imaging and soundstage!!!
If you walk around the house and the music sounds great in every room in the house, you have dialed in SPACE optimization well.
You are now a SPACE cadet.
Enjoy the music.
Hashluck’s Observations and Encouragement:
After I visit Hashluck’s home and he observed me doing SPACE optimization, he wrote the following on the Linn Forum that I think is appropriate, regarding SPACE Optimization:
What did I learn from this?
1. Think outside the box - The Linn calculations are a starting point but try and consider what is really going on. I had two room modes quite close to each other which created quite a hole until we narrowed the bandwidth of one and there were also other harmonics that needed to be dealt with to allow the system to breathe fully hence the additional Custom Filter.
2. Don't be afraid - Save as you go and experiment, you cannot break anything. I had previously been less worried by this but more ignorant of how very small changes could make such a big difference and thus how easy it is within a few notes to tell whether it is for the better or not. It does not take as much time as you might think.
3. Have the courage of your convictions - if it sounds different it is different and you will instinctively know if it is better or not really quickly. Several times we made a change and I thought I could hear a difference but was reluctant to voice it since the change to the filter we made was so small and then Paul would pipe up with exactly what I was thinking A good example was the change of Custom Filter 1 from 28Hz to, initially 31Hz, the music just flowed better conveying far more emotion. Change to 32Hz and it went off again. Paul and I both heard this the same.....
4. Get another set of ears if you can. It encourages you to try things and helps with the above.
5. There is no magic wand. Some tracks will always be challenging. At some point you will hit a bottleneck be it the limits of the equipment or room (as well of course as just trying to compensate for any poor recording). I still have a couple of tracks with issues in my room (though they still sound very good). I do think I could come up with a profile just for those but that is not a realistic scenario. So I would concentrate on well recorded material of the type most often listened to rather than focusing on one 'difficult' track.
![[Image: kazoo_screenshot.png]](http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48791659/kazoo_screenshot.png)
but with no luck
![[Image: wall.jpg]](http://s20.postimg.org/d4mjgoqnx/wall.jpg)
