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The MultEQ-X program isn't immediately intuitive. The software runs on a Windows 10 or 11 PC operating at 64 bits, or on an older, Intel-based (not M1), Mac using Boot Camp or virtualization (it currently isn't available for MacOS). AVRs with built-in Audyssey MultEQ xt32 processing will benefit most from MultEQ-X, which offers greatly improved adjustment flexibility over previous Audyssey versions. The latest version of Audyssey is MultEQ-X, which was released in December 2021 and is priced at $199. (The Editor app includes a feature I've used extensively: restricting equalization to a limited frequency range, typically to just the low-to-upper bass where room modes have the most detrimental impact.) The latter, a $20 download that isn't compatible with all Audyssey-equipped AVRs or processors, offers the ability to manually tweak the target correction curve. For many years, the top-level version was MultEQ xt32, which was later supplemented by the MultEQ Editor app. Today, all A/V receivers and preamp/processors include room EQ of some type from Audyssey, Dirac Live (Audyssey's main competitor), or other brand-exclusive formats such as Yamaha's YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer) and Anthem's ARC (Anthem Room Correction).Īudyssey has been refined frequently since that introduction. But EQ for home theater was a different ball game. With rare exceptions, traditional audiophiles never embraced it, perhaps out of fear it would pollute the straight-wire-with-gain purity of their setup (and the room doesn't?). It wasn't until 2002 that room EQ took off with the launch of Audyssey, which was founded at the University of Southern California by USC professors Chris Kyriakakis and Tomlinson Holman, the latter famous for his work in the development of THX while at LucasFilm.īy 2004 Audyssey began appearing in A/V receivers and preamp-processors. My first exposure to it came over 20 years ago with the Snell Acoustics RCS1000 Room Correction System, a complex device that never made a splash in the market before that innovative company folded. Electronic correction for the flaws common to any listening room wasn't always a thing.
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