The last post got me thinking. What do all the forum members want/expect from room correction? I have faithfully read the forum and the postings from everyone on this topic tend to be all over the map. I will give my input on what I expect.

First off, I side with those that say the room has an enormous impact on the sound. I have felt that way for many years and it is why I have extensively treated my room with acoustical treatments from ASC. My room is treated in much the same fashion as Peter Moncreif suggested in his writings some years ago (these articles can be read on the ASC web site at asc-hifi.com).

Tube traps are primarily thought of as low frequency control. Used correctly, however, they do a great job of diffusing as well as absorbing higher frequencies. This controls the frequencies that lie above 200hz quite well. The frequencies that lie below 200 hz are the hardest to control. My room treatments greatly aid in that area but room correction would add that last bit of control over that critical region.

Where I have a problem is with trying to do more with your room than the above. One of my most interesting auditions was with a Sigtech. The Sigtech allows many of the correction abilities that Robert mentioned in his posting above. I was quite anxious to hear the improvement from this piece as it appeared to be the holy grail of correction. Reality was different for me.

The phase and time correction did work as advertised at the seated postion where the measurements were taken. I did hear more precision of soundstaging. Move a foot to the side or back and it all collapsed, sounding worse than it did with no correction. Detuning the correction to widen the sweet spot did not widen the sweet spot that much, certainly not wide enough for a typical home theater seating enviornment. Detuning also reduced the improved imaging to the point that I preferred it uncorrected. Now if you are a solitary user of your system and sit in the same spot as measured, phase correction may be for you.

As to correcting frequencies above 200hz, the Sigtech allows the ability to correct all the way to 20khz. I found that listening to music in this manner was way too bright and unmusical, no matter what I did to adjust the rest of my system. Sigtech recognized this and allows for a user defined rolloff of higher frequencies to suit your tastes. No matter the curve I tried, I ended up preferring no correction.
My take on this is that the original source material is always mastered without the use of a product such as the Sigtech. Instead the mastering is done with speakers similar to what you would use in your home. Correcting with a product like the Sigtech above 200hz simply does not match what the recording engineer heard when they mastered the recording. The sound through the Sigtech was definitely different, it simply was not better.

In my opinion, Meridian is attacking room correction in the proper manner. The room modes below 200 hz have the greatest impact on the sound and are the hardest to correct. Once they are corrected, room treatment becomes the best way to handle the frequencies above 200hz. You have an excellent sweet spot that multiple listeners can enjoy and you are not introducing frequency corrections that were not part of the original mastering of the recording. My room treatments also do a good job of reducing room modes below 200hz, the room correction card would simply get you all the way there on the worst of them. I personally feel it is a mistake to rely on electronic room correction to cure all of your rooms ills without first addressing treating your room with conventional treatment means first. You will get better results in that manner.

mw