How bad is this room?
 

Today I received the UMIK-1 microphone, so I did my first REW measurement. I am going to move soon, but I am curious about the room acoustics for my current system.

I just ordered a book "
Master Handbook of Acoustics, Sixth Edition" on Amazon. Before I am able to "decode" the graphs generated by REW, can anyone point out what you can see from the attached measurement results?

Thanks

Don't just move... Run! :D

The waterfall graph is the decay time or how long the certain frequencies persist and how long after the speaker has stopped producing that note... The more ridges you have, the more frequencies are at play. The amplitude and time should be self explanatory...

Believe it or not, it ISN'T as bad as you think.

I am going to run:) Seriously, is it that bad?

What I read from the waterfall is: the low frequencies have long decay time, which means "muddy" room; the high frequencies have short decay time, which means "muffled" room. Do I read it correctly?

Try adding 1/6 smoothing to the SPL graph. It will remove the comb filtering noise and allow you ‘see’ the fundamentals.

From the rough data, it appears your system/room is really falling off at the upper frequencies. That probably sounds dull or damped.

Can you tell us a little more about your room and system? I know what amplifier you have ;). Dimensions, speakers, existing furniture or room treatments etc??

It is pretty typical of many rooms that are not treated properly. Speaker positioning and coupling to the walls will have much to do with the response. One simple reason why I don't like to measure stuff is it tends to take away from the simple tasks of finding the right placement for your speakers, treating the walls somewhat to get rid of early reflections and enjoying music. When one starts obsessing over graphs and charts and frequency sweeps, it takes all the fun out of listening and becomes a never ending quest for some elusive perfection which is nearly impossible to achieve.

You want a perfect waterfall response and hear what a perfect room would sound like??? Get a decent set of headphones. Seriously, there is NO ROOM there.

How bad is this room?
 

If your room is reasonably symmetrical, try using the room simulator function in REW to model your room and speaker &listening position. If your existing setup closely resembles your measurement, you can use the model to move your speakers and or listening position to see the impact of this moves on decay and the spl x frequency graph.

Can save some time of hunting. BUT and this is what Serge is getting at, only use the measurements to learn the characteristics of your room and to speed getting you into the ballpark of speaker placement.

Then you need to put the computer away and let your ears guide final placement decisions.

Hi Craig, this is not the system you were referring to :D

System: MC402+KEF 105/3 (when measuring the room, I did not connect the 2 subs);
Room: play room on the 2nd floor, 20x20x8, with two 6x7 "openings" (not windows) in the left and right, and stairs in the back, bookshelves in the left and right, zero room treatment.

The room sim is really fun to explore, I will spend some time on it.

About at which point I can confidently say I am gonna forget all the measurements and focus on music, I am sure I just started and am not there yet :)

I don't know where you are with your experience level but if you are just starting to get behind the yoke of a Cessna, leave the jet fighter simulation for later when you have some solid understanding of speaker placement, system synergy, your taste and what you want to achieve.