Room Target Curves - then, now, and options to try...

Be it resolved that there is no such thing as achieving sonic perfection - technically at least based on objective ideals, but "perfect" can also be a subjective state of mind.

In domestic homes, we're simply not going to be able to achieve near-perfect rooms. Likewise, no sound system will be absolutely transparent although the digital electronics side will get much closer to "perfect" than analogue playback and loudspeakers. Furthermore, beyond what we can say about our domestic playback systems, despite all the care and detail-orientedness put into a recording studio, they're not identical even if they followed published standards (like ITU-R BS.1116, or EBU Tech 3276), and besides, is there ever such a thing as a perfectly engineered recording? Or a perfect performance from our favorite artists for that matter?

While perfection might be out of reach, let's not turn away from the pursuit of what is reasonably accurate which is something we can all do to some extent whether it's choosing better-engineered gear, working on small room acoustics, or using DSP to improve frequency response and/or time-domain performance at our listening position. Regarding the specifics of DSP room correction, let me refer you to previous articles covering various methods here, here, here, here, and here.

The intent of this post is to focus on the topic of Room Target Curves which we define and apply when doing EQ and DSP correction. Let's explore a little history, what they are, what they look like and considerations for what to try at home.

As It Is. - Guest post by T.S. Gnu.

"His Master's Voice" - Francis Barraud, 1898
(2025 color remastered.)
Original Nipper with Edison cylinder phonograph.

The Journey

We live at a time in history that many consider to be unique. However, this can be said by anyone at any point in history, and not for the multitude of reasons they believe it to be so, but rather due to the unassailable fact that it just happens to be to the only period in time that they happen to be alive. That is... just the way things are. While it may be entertaining for people to write (or read) about something "As We See It" or even "As We Hear It" along with all the pitfalls that come with those points of view, reality only cares about, and I'm anthropomorphizing here, what is — reality doesn't care about how we see it. This phrasing is also testament to how we are ill-equipped (post-modernists more so than others 🙄) to deal with the fact that the Universe is — it simply exists. The Universe is. It is cold (ca. 2.7K). It is indomitable. And it is uncaring of what we see, what we want… even what we are. 

With that foremost in mind, this missive aims to outline what is as far as our little hobby goes, along with a view of the sauntering journey (with a little ambling off the path) to what we discovered when we arrived here, here being the present time. What is presented here is factual information about past events that is verifiable, and with the odd scientific principles that have been verified by mathematical proofs; in addition there will be the odd opinion, which will be clarified to be as such. Readers are free to disagree with the latter and I encourage active engagement on the same.