Does anyone work with IK Multimedia ARC System or KRK ERGO? Just wanted to get some feedback on which one is better. Will i be able to depend on this type of system and not have to treat my room?

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Originally posted by S1Spawn Does anyone work with IK Multimedia ARC System or KRK ERGO? Just wanted to get some feedback on which one is better. Will i be able to depend on this type of system and not have to treat my room?

FTR, I do not use either of these systems. They are both based on the same principles. I've only seen the ARC as a demo, not used the ERGO.

The ERGO looks to be a good all in one package but with both of these I personally would never use just what is effectively a digital compensation system to make up for a room that is not acoustically sound.

Also, for $600 it's quite steep to just achieve that goal - yes, over the ARC system you get a mackie big knob type control and a mic but you could probably treat the room very effectively for a lot less (probably half) and spend the money on a good mic and a passive volume control, with a nice chunk of gold left over.

With the ARC, I prefer the interface look and have a lot of trust in their ability to build great programs but again it's $500 and you get a mic that's really only going to be useful for one thing.

The thing I don't know about the ERGO is that they suggest using the SPDIF on your soundcard (PT etc) to go in to the control box and don't really like the idea of a $150 box doing my DAC.

Even if you use the analogue connections you still have th problem of a cheap active control but who knows, maybe they got it right?

IMO volume controls either need to be very high quality if they are going to be active or cheap and passive with as little circuitary as possible.

Why do you need this? Is the room untreatable or is it just that you fancied it? What speakers do you have? What soundcard do you have?

Need some more info....

Thanks for the reply..........just thought it would be a possible alternative. Having wife battles over panels . I am planing on putting up DIY panels. Is use Maudio BX5, no sound card at the moment just working with IMacs internal card.

For mixing will i need to get a sound card? Does it affect monitoring?

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Originally posted by S1Spawn Thanks for the reply..........just thought it would be a possible alternative. Having wife battles over panels . I am planing on putting up DIY panels. Is use Maudio BX5, no sound card at the moment just working with IMacs internal card. For mixing will i need to get a sound card? Does it affect monitoring?

No worries but IMO, you should not be considering a room correction system at all for your current situation.

Firstly, your speakers are decent enough and will be fine for home production, but they really don't warrant a room correction system, as they are not of the extreme quality that would benefit or could even be correctly used with one of these systems. You need to have very high quality monitors, with very accurate frequency response for these systems to be beneficial.

It would also be made more of waste as you are using the inbuilt soundcard in the Imac - It's ok but not suitable for any serious use. The DA AD conversion is just not good enough - I have exactly the same issue at the moment (imac), and I'm getting a soundcard soon.

My advice, before thinking about treating the room is to get a good soundcard: figure out how many ins and outs you need (2in 2out or 4in 4out etc.), what connector interface (USB or Firewire), and whether it needs to have midi?

Look at models such as the Echo Audiofire range, and some of the M audio products. I've always thought M audio were decent, but the bulk of my experience with these was with their PCI cards - not their USB or Firewire interfaces and personally from what I've seen and heard of the Echo Audiofire range they are a lot better in terms of quality than the M-audio interfaces and basically the same price.

Once you have a good soundcard, make sure simple room factors are addresses first - and I don't mean treatments!

Make sure your speakers are positioned correctly. By this I mean you have a perfect listening positioning. Make sure they are on stands or at least decoupled from the surface they are placed on: try Auralex Mopads

Also make sure your speakers aren't too close to the walls (either to the side or the back). Make sure you don't have any and surfaces that
sound could splash off, like a large mirror or glass surface behind your listening position etc. If so put a blanket or curtain over it when using your speakers.

Do these things first (new soundcard, speaker placement, and obvious room checks) and I guarantee your setup will sound so much better with only a minimal investment.

Thanks a bunch for taking the time, awesome advice.

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