Spotify

Songstream, most rooms have reflections from the interactions of the speakers in the room they are functioning within - with the sound reflecting off the walls, ceiling, floors and furniture. There can also be standing waves or resonances setup in corners and across wall boundaries, large fireplaces etc. - i.e. boominess.

All this can add to a pretty confused picture of certain frequencies adding and subtracting from each other - which can rob the audio of bass, treble, mids, detail etc.

Now many of us work around this by reducing these affects to an acceptable level by choice of speaker in our room and careful consideration of speaker and  listening chair placement - and the use of soft furnishings at certain key places. However this is not always practical, desirable or sufficiently effective.

The in room correction therefore learns how the room is distorting the sound and  processes the sounds so that it should be ideally neutral in your listening position with all the reflections and issues compensated out - think of it as a three dimensional tone control.

Until recently the cost of doing this in the consumer environment would have made it out of reach to most. However technology has improved in as far as the devices to do the correction are a lot cheaper and more accurate than they have been, therefore it has become more accessible. Additionally there has been more development in this space more generally.

However there are no free lunches - and modifying the sound does cause or can cause other issues - although there is a constant development in this field more generally (not specific to hifi)  so results would appear to be  improving  -  remember we hear timing as well as frequency. - but if the room has challenging acoustics it can be an attractive way forward - its also fair to say the technique can spruce up the sound to make it sound more appealing, again a bit like a three dimensional loudness button - again nothing wrong with this - but its horses for courses I guess and what you want from your audio equipment - and some prefer a sweetened sound.

Simon

I've been using various forms of room correction software with my 7.1 channel surround sound system, which given the considerable extra complexity of integrating multichannel audio is a distinct advantage; it's nigh-on impossible to achieve the same results by repositioning speakers or furnishiings in a normal domestic environment, but up until my experience with the Amarra software I was never convinced by its use for stereo (although it seemed pretty clear to me that this technology was the future for hi-fi)

I've got two systems, one at our main home and another in our second residence, the latter being a completely different system and room. I've set up Amarra iRC in both rooms but in the second system the effectiveness is rather less.

Rather than trying to convince the sceptical by prattling on about it on this forum, I suggest they give it a try (the software IIRC is available on a trial basis) & see if it works for them. Rather than a "sweeter" (?) sound it creates a more accurate one to my old ears.

Simon, and Tony, thanks very much for taking the time to reply on the room correction stuff.  All very interesting.  I've had quite recent experience of what turned out to be a speaker positioning disaster (somebody moved them ;-) ), and the cancellation problems it can bring.  Still can't believe how long it took me to identify the problem, but got there in the end.  I find my own main system has a sweet spot in terms of volume where it, and the room, and me, seem to be in harmony.  Except when playing the track "Heart of Mine" from the album New York City.  Even with the volume a couple of notches below my usual serious listening level, the bass is ferocious on this track and makes the doors and windows rattle, and I'm not sure whether it's the room-boom, or what causes it on the specific track, but it's pretty boomy.  Still love it though.

Thanks PG - I'm very impressed by the 172 so far. I realise it's not a typical upgrade path, so not commonplace, but I really like the sound. It feels very right and plays all kinds of music equally well. I loved the Qute but this is a real step up. 

I already had a NAP100 so could make this change relatively cost effectively (buying ex dem and will sell the Qute) and then at some future point go to a NAP155xs or 200 and sell the 100. So a nice, staged upgrade path centred on the 172. Perfect. 

I went from a Qute to 172 and had the 155XS, I then pxd to a 200 and for me that's a great place to be.

Yes PG,

welcome to the 172 club. I'm a very happy user for two years now, and love its convenience and sound quality. The combination with NAP250 is perfect to my ears.

Enjoy and happy New Year!