All the Gear, no idea - A REW story

Toobad

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Lets just say doubt decorates the entrance to this particular rabbit hole. I consider myself particularly blessed in so much as I have been able to fully explore my bass addiction. I live in a detached house on a 2-acre plot and have an Aussie wife whose idea of a salubrious home is having an inside "dunny":D. Hence the lounge has been adapted to accept 7.4.4 sound and a 4K laser projector.

A benevolent neighbour, who has since moved away, did the setup and I enjoyed the ULF nirvana that comes with BEQ files. Coming from a soundbar, the upgrade was mind-blowing but, TBH, only came about because Stella Artois and the internet make expensive bedfellows:

XTZ M6 LCR
XTZ S5 Surrounds and Back Surrounds
XTZ S2 Atmos
XTZ Dual 1X12 CimemaSound Subs
SVS Dual PB-3000 Subs
Denon X-4400 AVR
IOTA VX 7-channel Power Amp
miniDSP 2x4HD

So all was well with the world......until it wasn't! Yes, the bass was so epic it had added a crack to the entire perimeter of the lounge ceiling but how did I know it is the very best it can be? I needed tangible visual proof for lasting inner peace and that's when I decided I would have to do a deep dive into the rabbit hole that is REW, miniDSP and Audyssey. A couple of days, endless REW plots and a genuine fear for my sanity saw me deal with levels, multi-sub time alignment, mains integration, crossovers and the flakiness that is the Audyssey MultiEQ Editor app. And then finally the monkey on my back was gone!

The improvement, however, was impressive - perhaps akin to what one would expect from a a significant upgrade of the entire system. The bass from the 4 ported subs was tighter, faster and more articulate than I could have ever imagined. I'm sure more technically experienced members such as @Conrad and @Mr Wolf could take the system to its absolute maximum potential but I am truly stoked with my efforts.

So yesterday we had the inaugural film night with my Sound System 2.0 and I put on John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum to evaluate the chest slam in the 40 - 80Hz range that gunshots produce. It is probably the best film in my collection for experiencing this phenomenon as it is essentially 130 minutes of gun kata. We listen at -6MV and let's just say "Holy Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey"!!!😱😜 My absolute favourite scene is set at The Continental hotel when John and the concierge are repelling the High Table goons with armour-piecing shotguns. See for yourself:



I am so pleased I have managed to scratch the itch but the icing on the cake is that my wife of 30 years came on the journey with me. She sat though hours of Brad Pipkins instructional videos:
Home Theater Gamer on YouTube
and, truth be told, she has probably garnered a better understanding of REW, Audyssey MultiEQ Editor and miniDSP than this 63-year old computer illiterate. I must say she is looking particularly "Jessica Alba hot" to me this morning.😘😍
 
Given your comments, plus your funny signature, you will probably enjoy this thread:


Out of interest, which speakers do you use the IOTA for? Interested as it looks like you have quite a range of different sensitivities in your 11 speakers.
 
That thread reinforces the fact I am truly blessed. We have a synergy which comes from my wife also being my best mate. She is a bit of a "geezer bird" as we also both have Harleys and sports bikes. My signature is a bit tongue in cheek. Her passion is photography and, believe me, full frame cameras and lenses don't come cheap either.

As to the speakers, they are all from the XTZ Cinema Series range so are matched accordingly. I use the IOTA to do the heavy lifting for the 7 base layer speakers leaving the Denon to just cope with the heights.
 

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