Making Movies Sound Better With Bass EQ

Is that manufacturers specs or verified with a REW room sweep?
How a sub interacts with your room is very important, which is why i mentioned about a room resonance, it's where a certain frequency gets over amplified due to how it reacts with the room and ends up with slow lumpy bass at that frequency
REW sweep.

Measured with REW, time aligned, DIRAC applied. Didn't need too much/any PEQ.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot (34).png
    Screenshot (34).png
    273.3 KB · Views: 63
Is that manufacturers specs or verified with a REW room sweep?
How a sub interacts with your room is very important, which is why i mentioned about a room resonance, it's where a certain frequency gets over amplified due to how it reacts with the room and ends up with slow lumpy bass at that frequency


And I used RTA to compare BEQ on and off. BEQ has more extension but seems to lose output around the 40-50hz range on the greatest showman which I assume is where the slam comes from.
 
And I used RTA to compare BEQ on and off. BEQ has more extension but seems to lose output around the 40-50hz range on the greatest showman which I assume is where the slam comes from.
there is no difference at all on the track in that range


it suggests that your subs are struggling with the low end under load and/or the increased low end has altered your perception (because a hump in the 50-70Hz has now become a rising response under 30Hz

if you have measured reduced output then it suggests your subs are suffering from compression
 
there is no difference at all on the track in that range


it suggests that your subs are struggling with the low end under load and/or the increased low end has altered your perception (because a hump in the 50-70Hz has now become a rising response under 30Hz

if you have measured reduced output then it suggests your subs are suffering from compression


Crap so I'm actually imagining a difference which isn't there? Is there a good timestamp available where I can A/B test?

BEQ makes my head hurt, especially with the -3DB +4DB thing. Does that mean add +3DB to the sub trim? or 3DB to the volume? or take it away? :D
 
Crap so I'm actually imagining a difference which isn't there? Is there a good timestamp available where I can A/B test?

BEQ makes my head hurt, especially with the -3DB +4DB thing. Does that mean add +3DB to the sub trim? or 3DB to the volume? or take it away? :D
From what I remember -MV is to turn down from reference by that amount, +MV is you can add
 
Not tried Wonder Woman so can't say, part 1 or 2, timestamp?

When WOTW was released on 4k Atmos, I was so taken back by what they did to the LFE track I rage produced this little video comparing the original (same as BEQ) to the Atmos track:



Not all movies benefit from BEQ but most do. So Lone Survivor for instance has enough ULF in the original track to keep one content. The helicopter scene from 20-22mins has 7hz content, not many subs out there that can reproduce the slow wobble (like you're in the chopper) like a HoverBOSS. Give it spin on your Monos and let us know.



So Lone Survivor at 20-22 is real too.
Can definitely feel the difference with BEQ. Feels surreal with it on...


Seems like the greatest showman file I have is just a bit of a miss.. dunno what its doing but im lacking impact compared to it off.
 
So Lone Survivor at 20-22 is real too.
Can definitely feel the difference with BEQ. Feels surreal with it on...


Seems like the greatest showman file I have is just a bit of a miss.. dunno what its doing but im lacking impact compared to it off.
Some movies benefit more some less, probably at some it's hard to tell a difference
 
Some movies benefit more some less, probably at some it's hard to tell a difference

Thanks. I'm gathering this now too. With Aquaman and Greatest Showman, I don't see mcuh tangible benefit. Maybe when I make a hoverboss.

God damn though Aquaman with good subs is INSAAAAANE. I just tried the scene when he gets the trigent. It felt like something had a ring around my neck... I am running 8-10db hot but god damn that was... surreal.
 
Thanks. I'm gathering this now too. With Aquaman and Greatest Showman, I don't see mcuh tangible benefit. Maybe when I make a hoverboss.

God damn though Aquaman with good subs is INSAAAAANE. I just tried the scene when he gets the trigent. It felt like something had a ring around my neck... I am running 8-10db hot but god damn that was... surreal.
Aquaman without beq is bass feast on itself 😂 might need to re watch with rs2 i remember when the big beast he was riding on was full of bass.

You runnin your subs 10db hot on trim? What your reading on rew when just white noise from sub?
 
Seems like the greatest showman file I have is just a bit of a miss.. dunno what its doing but im lacking impact compared to it off.

You really need to match the BEQ to the type of sounds that it was created with. If it's not a rip you have made yourself i'd be careful - Quite a few BEQ's have different files for ones between the Atmos for 4K at the Dolby off a Bluray.

It gets even sketchier with old files as some DVDs were not bass neutered as later Bluray/UHD are!
 
Aquaman without beq is bass feast on itself 😂 might need to re watch with rs2 i remember when the big beast he was riding on was full of bass.

You runnin your subs 10db hot on trim? What your reading on rew when just white noise from sub?


idk about white noise but speaker cal out of FR I'm running 75db whilst the sub is running about 84db out of front right via subwoofer cal test tone in REW.


Its not actually 10db hot.. its a 10db house curve with a big bump 10-15 hz... DIRAC did it not me but I do like it a lot lol
 
You really need to match the BEQ to the type of sounds that it was created with. If it's not a rip you have made yourself i'd be careful - Quite a few BEQ's have different files for ones between the Atmos for 4K at the Dolby off a Bluray.

It gets even sketchier with old files as some DVDs were not bass neutered as later Bluray/UHD are!
I'm matching the BEQ to the specific 4k disc its detailing.

greatest showman only has an atmos and dts. i have the 4k disc and the 1080p bluray. i used the atmos BEQ with the atmos version. (I hate the 1080p bluray lol)
 
From what I remember -MV is to turn down from reference by that amount, +MV is you can add

Really?? Damn the Wonder woman gets neutered as its a -3.5MV and feel like it loses a lot of impact.

I thought -3 mean to add 3DB because it was mastered 3DB less like the test videos.

The test videos all say -10db which means turn it up 10db.
 
Really?? Damn the Wonder woman gets neutered as its a -3.5MV and feel like it loses a lot of impact.

I thought -3 mean to add 3DB because it was mastered 3DB less like the test videos.

The test videos all say -10db which means turn it up 10db.
Yeah but it always say MV not - 3db bass, I was confused about it too, so I've asked on avs and this -/+ refers to reference level, so let's say you reach your reference level on +5 MV but on beq says - 5db so you would need to back off those 5 from your ref level for sub safety and vice versa, at least this is how I understand it.
 
Yeah but it always say MV not - 3db bass, I was confused about it too, so I've asked on avs and this -/+ refers to reference level, so let's say you reach your reference level on +5 MV but on beq says - 5db so you would need to back off those 5 from your ref level for sub safety and vice versa, at least this is how I understand it.
really? thats so weird and makes no sense to me cos surely bassEQ only fiddles with the bass.. so by adjusting MV, we're adjusting not only the bass but everything els ewhich goes with it ?
 
really? thats so weird and makes no sense to me cos surely bassEQ only fiddles with the bass.. so by adjusting MV, we're adjusting not only the bass but everything els ewhich goes with it ?
Screenshot_20210528-004619.jpg



If there are any -/+ Gain numbers with a MV or N/A for filter type at the end of the BEQ...that's a recommended Master Volume change on your AVR or Pre/Pro
Some titles are a little too quiet, even at reference levels, some are already clipping before BEQ so the MV adjustment should be made up or down
(relative to your normal listening levels)
 
I just ignore it and watch at a volume that I find comfortable. :cool:

Yeah. I Understand what the +/-MV does (master volume) but I also find a lot of things vary a bit between films. Most bluray are 80 on my dial, but most Netflix stuff i end up dialing up a fair bit. Prime seems similar. Youtube WAY down (TV, but second system)

I set the dialogue to a comfortable point as if you can't hear that, not much point in watching (unless subtitles, mebby)
 
I tend to vary between -20 and -10 with 0 being reference on most content. Very rarely do I go above that so well outside the suggested +/-MV figures. For those courageous enough to watch at reference, respect, but I value my hearing too much. :D
 
The +/-MV advisory is mainly for people that listen at ref. level, and IIRC, was intended to keep the 0-20hz content no more than -15dbfs at peak levels.
 
Hi all,

I am looking for some advice and direction with regard to Bass EQ, ezBEQ & Raspberry Pi which I have recently discovered. I have managed to merge my house curves on my MiniDSP 2 X 4 HD with the film/movie database (obtained from the AVS Forums (so the Base EQ element is on the Input side and my house curve is on the output side of the MiniDSP)) and am able to load each of the plugins with my laptop attached to my MiniDSP and watch the film. I have seen a marked improvement on many of the films I have tried and a little improvement on only a few others but overall it is pretty awesome (even though my subs only go down to 20 Hz).

The advice I am looking for is in relation to me purchasing a Raspberry Pi (model, supplier, kit form or separates etc) as I have no experience with these little wonder devices. Before I take the plunge and purchase the Pi equipment I would like to know if this is the correct way to go, I don't want to have to use my laptop every time I want to watch a film but at the same time where do I store the database of "merged" films so the Pi can be told where to select the correct plugin for the MiniDSP (again I am not keen on having to keep my laptop on all the time), can you store the "merged" film plugins on the Pi itself so you can control and select the relevant plugin from your iPad or iPhone etc without any requirement for laptop or PC. i do have a NAS which is permanently on the network if this is an option for the film plugin repository?

Any assistance and advice on this topic will be greatly appreciated. I am now scouring YouTube for Bass EQ, ezBEQ and Pi videos for information.

Thanks

Charlie
 
Hi all,

I am looking for some advice and direction with regard to Bass EQ, ezBEQ & Raspberry Pi which I have recently discovered. I have managed to merge my house curves on my MiniDSP 2 X 4 HD with the film/movie database (obtained from the AVS Forums (so the Base EQ element is on the Input side and my house curve is on the output side of the MiniDSP)) and am able to load each of the plugins with my laptop attached to my MiniDSP and watch the film. I have seen a marked improvement on many of the films I have tried and a little improvement on only a few others but overall it is pretty awesome (even though my subs only go down to 20 Hz).

The advice I am looking for is in relation to me purchasing a Raspberry Pi (model, supplier, kit form or separates etc) as I have no experience with these little wonder devices. Before I take the plunge and purchase the Pi equipment I would like to know if this is the correct way to go, I don't want to have to use my laptop every time I want to watch a film but at the same time where do I store the database of "merged" films so the Pi can be told where to select the correct plugin for the MiniDSP (again I am not keen on having to keep my laptop on all the time), can you store the "merged" film plugins on the Pi itself so you can control and select the relevant plugin from your iPad or iPhone etc without any requirement for laptop or PC. i do have a NAS which is permanently on the network if this is an option for the film plugin repository?

Any assistance and advice on this topic will be greatly appreciated. I am now scouring YouTube for Bass EQ, ezBEQ and Pi videos for information.

Thanks

Charlie
Hi

I installed ezBEQ on my PC so if my PC is not on, I switch it on, choose the file, download it to the minidsp then turn it off again. The advantage of installing it on my PC is that I didn't want to buy yet another device. The disadvantage was that there were no clear instructions on how to install it on a Windows machine but there are clear instructions for installing it on Linux devices. I don't know if that is still the case. For your house curve you have to manually pre-install the curve on the output channels (I think) then just leave them there. When you use ezBEQ it will only configure the input changes (or vice versa) so your house curve will always be there.

HtH a little :)
 
For the Pi, you can use either a zero-w (be careful, there's a zero non-w which doesn't have wi-fi), a Pi3, or a Pi4. I got mine from the PiHut. Get an SD card that's a decent size, 8GB is more than enough.

You burn the OS using the burner available on the Raspberrypi.org website, put it in the Pi and connect the pi to a keyboard, monitor and mouse. From there you enable wifi and follow the step by step instructions to install both minidsp-rs and ezBEQ.

A couple of things to bear in mind:
  • ezBEQ works differently to BEQd, there's no merge anymore. You'll load your room eq and house curve to the output and leave the input empty. ezBEQ will manage the input only and not touch the output.
  • If you try to use multiple sources of input (minidsp plug-in, ezBEQ web, ezBEQ app) things can get confusing. A simple workflow is to load your data using the minidsp plug-in and then close that and don't touch it again. From then on just use ezBEQ web.

You can apparently set it up so that you can use both, but unless you have a need to I wouldn't.

The ezBEQ app is great but the web is pretty much just as good now.
 
Hi

I installed ezBEQ on my PC so if my PC is not on, I switch it on, choose the file, download it to the minidsp then turn it off again. The advantage of installing it on my PC is that I didn't want to buy yet another device. The disadvantage was that there were no clear instructions on how to install it on a Windows machine but there are clear instructions for installing it on Linux devices. I don't know if that is still the case. For your house curve you have to manually pre-install the curve on the output channels (I think) then just leave them there. When you use ezBEQ it will only configure the input changes (or vice versa) so your house curve will always be there.

HtH a little :)
Hi Coulson,

I have managed to install BassEQ on my windows laptop with instructions on the links over on AVSForums and BEQ Designer page ( BEQDesigner).

I have downloaded the software BEQDesigner and have managed to merge the movie database (with nothing on the output side of MiniDSP plugins just the input Bass EQ increases on it) so the database list now has my house curves on the output side - which does work great (although it is recommended that this merge process is done weekly with good housekeeping of it (regular repository clear out is also recommended)).

I was hoping to avoid carrying my laptop to my man cave every time I want to watch a film as it is in my detached garage (not good when its raining etc) and I don't really want to be putting another big device (HTPC / PC) into my cabinet (more initial big costs and running costs etc).

I have seen the CO Guy Stuff channel on YouTube using a Rasperry Pi 4B attached to the MiniDSP permanently (then using the smart phone app to select the plugin remotely) but it is not clear in his video if he has merged his house curve to the Bass EQ plugin and if so where he is storing the merged dabase repository of film titles (PC or on the Pi itself).

If the Pi option saves me using my laptop every time then it may be the way to go for me, if I have to have a PC on my network every time I want to select a film from the dbase then I had just as well use my laptop directly to my MiniDSP and save myself £100+ and probably a lot of cursing at my lack of programming capabilities with Raspberry Pi and Linux etc.

Cheers for the info.
 
For the Pi, you can use either a zero-w (be careful, there's a zero non-w which doesn't have wi-fi), a Pi3, or a Pi4. I got mine from the PiHut. Get an SD card that's a decent size, 8GB is more than enough.

You burn the OS using the burner available on the Raspberrypi.org website, put it in the Pi and connect the pi to a keyboard, monitor and mouse. From there you enable wifi and follow the step by step instructions to install both minidsp-rs and ezBEQ.

A couple of things to bear in mind:
  • ezBEQ works differently to BEQd, there's no merge anymore. You'll load your room eq and house curve to the output and leave the input empty. ezBEQ will manage the input only and not touch the output.
  • If you try to use multiple sources of input (minidsp plug-in, ezBEQ web, ezBEQ app) things can get confusing. A simple workflow is to load your data using the minidsp plug-in and then close that and don't touch it again. From then on just use ezBEQ web.

You can apparently set it up so that you can use both, but unless you have a need to I wouldn't.

The ezBEQ app is great but the web is pretty much just as good now.
Is ezBEQ web the one with an executable Python script which should be run before using the webpage to load the minidsp? That's the one I'm using.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom