Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Denon and Marantz AVR: Advanced Room Correction with Audyssey and REW

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When it comes to achieving the best sound performance in your home theater, owning a Denon AVR or Marantz AVR with built-in Audyssey Room Correction is a great start. Audyssey’s ability to automatically configure speaker distances, levels, and frequencies brings a lot to the table, delivering an impressive listening experience in most situations. However, when it comes to fine-tuning, particularly for subwoofer calibration, there’s more to consider.

In this guide, we argue that combining Room EQ Wizard (REW) with Audyssey offers the most powerful route to achieving perfect sound in your home theater. While Audyssey provides a good foundation, its limitations—such as lack of control over subwoofer frequency filters—mean it’s worth considering REW to optimize performance further. Below, we’ll break down how incorporating REW improves subwoofer placement and calibration for superior room correction.

Why Stop at Audyssey? The Need for REW in Your Calibration Workflow

Audyssey excels in automating much of the room calibration process, but its out-of-the-box configuration often leaves advanced users wanting more control, especially when it comes to subwoofer low-end precision. Here’s where Room EQ Wizard (REW) steps in to provide critical insights, allowing users to compensate for areas where Audyssey can’t quite reach.

Before delving into subwoofer calibration using REW, let’s take a look at why REW becomes essential alongside Audyssey.

Optimizing Subwoofer Placement with REW for Audyssey Room Correction in Denon and Marantz AVRs

When setting up subwoofers, one of the most common mistakes users make is relying solely on room correction software like Audyssey to correct subwoofer issues, without properly adjusting the physical placement of the sub beforehand. Room acoustics play a significant role in the performance of low-end frequencies, and improper placement can result in nulls (areas of weak bass) or peaks (overly strong bass) in different listening positions.

Here’s how you can use REW to optimize subwoofer placement before even running Audyssey Room Correction:

Choose the Best Placement: Once you’ve located the ideal placement using REW (i.e., the position that offers the smoothest, most balanced sound across all seating positions), you’ve optimally prepared your system for running Audyssey Room Correction.

First Subwoofer Position: Place the subwoofer in its first planned spot and use REW to analyze its frequency response at the primary listening position.

Additional Listening Positions: Measure the subwoofer output at other listening positions, comparing graphs for consistency or identifying peaks and nulls.

Relocate the Subwoofer: Based on the data, move the subwoofer and repeat the measurements. The goal is to find the position that offers the most consistent response across multiple seating areas.

Subwoofer Calibration: Refining Low-End Precision Using REW and Audyssey on Denon and Marantz AVRs

Even after achieving the best physical placement, simply relying on Audyssey for subwoofer calibration may leave some room for improvement. This is particularly true when it comes to filter precision.

While Audyssey doesn’t allow you to tweak filters beyond broad curves manually, REW presents an opportunity to go deeper and make adjustments before or after running Audyssey.

Here’s how you can refine subwoofer calibration with REW:

Pre-Audyssey Equalization: Your subwoofer may have a built-in equalizer or external equalizer (such as a miniDSP). Use REW to measure and flatten any problematic peaks in your subwoofer’s frequency response before running Audyssey. This will ensure that Audyssey Room Correction works with a more neutral base, producing an accurate calibration.
Tuning Specific Frequencies During Audyssey Calibration: Audyssey allows curve adjustments through its MultEQ app. By using REW’s detailed data, you can tweak the target response curve to focus on specific frequencies that need improvement.

For advanced bass control, pairing REW with Audyssey is essential to ensure every sound is balanced, and no frequency overwhelms or fades out during playback. This collaboration optimizes the low-end experience far beyond the default Audyssey configuration.

Why Audyssey + REW Wins Over Competitors Like Dirac Live and Yamaha YPAO

While systems like Dirac Live and Yamaha YPAO also offer advanced room correction features, Audyssey with REW takes the win for many home theater enthusiasts for three key reasons:

Audyssey’s Balance: Unlike the more complicated Dirac Live, which provides in-depth phase correction and time domain EQ but comes with a steep learning curve, Audyssey offers a user-friendly balance of features and performance. When used in combination with REW, Audyssey can achieve nearly Dirac-level correction while maintaining ease-of-use.
Custom Frequency Control: Yamaha YPAO lacks Audyssey’s precision, especially when handling low frequencies. Paired with REW, Audyssey provides a deeper level of control, rendering it more flexible and adaptable to unique room setups.
Subwoofer Flexibility: With the detailed analysis offered by REW, you can improve pinpoint subwoofer response in ways Dirac or YPAO cannot match without requiring the same investment in additional equipment or software.

Ready to Perfect Your Sound?

Looking to push your Audyssey calibration even further? Discover advanced insights in the Secrets of Audyssey Pro Guide, including expert walkthroughs for using REW, mastering your subwoofer calibration, and tips for perfect manual PEQ adjustment. Whether you’re troubleshooting bass nulls or optimizing room acoustics, this guide gives you all the insider knowledge to ensure you get the best sound possible from your Denon AVR or Marantz AVR.