I calibrated Dirac Live within an Arcam AVR 860 Processor as part of a very interesting system featuring multiple Emotiva Power Amplifiers, flagship Pioneer LX800 UHD Blu Ray Player and PMC Twenty Speakers with SVS ported Subwoofer. A Huge system in a very small room, a system the customer had invested huge money in and wanted to hear it sound its best.
There was several challenges with this calibration the first one was taking a good set of measurements within Dirac due to the very different volume levels of the front speakers compared to the rear speakers. I know how important a good set of measurement data is so I took my time about two and a half hours getting the measurements just right. Through this process I noticed there was an issue with the system setup the customer had not noticed and that helped to get the system to where it should be.
Following this I spent about 4 to 5 hours working on the system to dial it in to sound the best it can for both music and movies. The customer has a huge ported subwoofer and he had experienced rumble bass from it but never impactful tuneful bass. I integrated the subwoofer with all the speakers to sound much more present, adding scale and drama to the overall sound stage and I also turned it down more than it was setup before, so more bass due to a quality of setup.
I think the biggest surprise for the customer was how good his AV system was sounding for music after the calibration. He ran a separate set of speakers and HiFi System for music but I bet he ends up listening to a lot more music from the Arcam setup this way :). Overall it was a very long day with the travelling but an enjoyable one and I am very happy with the job I did and the sound quality of the system.
Customer Feedback
In January 2020, Terry came to our home to calibrate our system and we found him to be the most approachable and knowledgeable chap we could we wish for.
Nothing was too much trouble and he showed how passionate he is about his (and our) interest in good sounding surround music.
We live in Cambridgeshire and it was a 2 hour journey each way and he gave us his Estimated Time of Arrival and he was “bang on time”
We would recommend Terry to anybody and everybody we speak to.
Since Terry has been (and gone) we have remained in random contact and he is always prompt to respond.
Thank You Terry.