v.6 FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS® AND MAC OS® X SOUND SYSTEM MEASUREMENT, OPTIMIZATION AND CONTROL SOFTWARE USER GUIDE Manual written and edited by Calvert Dayton and Rob Wenig. Manual design by Rob Wenig. Cover design by Martin Lindhe. ©2007 EAW Software Company, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form by any means without written permission from EAW Software Company, Inc. EAW Software Company, Inc. One Main Street Whitinsville, MA 01588 Phone: (508) 234-9877 Fax: (508) 234-6479 web: http://www.eaw.com e-mail: info@eaw.com EAW Smaart 6 Operation Manual Table of Contents Chapter 1: Getting Started............................................................................................9 1.1 Hardware Requirements ............................................................................9 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.2 Computer.....................................................................................9 Measurement Microphone ........................................................11 Microphone Preamplifier ..........................................................11 Cables and Interconnections .....................................................11 Additional Useful Equipment ...................................................11 Smaart 6 Software Installation ................................................................12 1.2.1 First Time Installation...............................................................12 1.3 1.4 Smaart 6 Signal I/O .................................................................................14 Introduction to the User Interface............................................................16 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.4.3 1.4.4 1.4.5 1.4.6 1.4.7 1.4.8 1.4.9 1.4.10 The Menu Bar ...........................................................................17 The Plot Area ............................................................................17 Cursor Readout .........................................................................17 Start/Stop Buttons .....................................................................17 Measurement Mode Buttons .....................................................18 Display Controls .......................................................................18 Reference Trace Controls..........................................................18 Signal Generator .......................................................................19 Internal Delay Control ..............................................................20 Signal Level/SPL Display and Input Level Meters ..................20 1.5 How to use this Manual...........................................................................21 Chapter 2: Concepts, Glossary, and Bibliography.......................................23 2.1 Concepts ..................................................................................................23 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.4 2.1.5 2.1.6 2.1.7 2.1.8 2.1.9 Decibels.....................................................................................23 Fast Fourier Transform .............................................................24 Averaging..................................................................................25 Sampling Rate ...........................................................................25 Frequency Resolution ...............................................................26 Pink and White Noise ...............................................................27 Data Window Functions............................................................28 Impulse Response .....................................................................29 The Transfer Function...............................................................29 iii EAW Smaart 6 Operation Manual 2.1.10 2.1.11 2.2 2.3 Coherence..................................................................................30 Signal Alignment ......................................................................30 Glossary of Terms ...................................................................................31 Selected Bibliography .............................................................................34 Chapter 3: Analysis Modes and Display Types ...............................................37 3.1 Spectrum Measurements .........................................................................38 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.2 RTA ..........................................................................................38 Spectrograph .............................................................................40 Spectrum Measurement Parameters..........................................41 Frequency Response Measurements........................................................44 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 3.2.5 3.2.6 3.2.7 3.2.8 Basic Frequency Response Measurement Setup.......................44 Frequency Response Overview.................................................45 The Magnitude Display.............................................................45 The Phase Display ....................................................................46 Time Windowing ......................................................................46 Averaging and Smoothing ........................................................47 Coherence and Coherence Blanking .........................................49 Magnitude Thresholding ...........................................................51 3.3 Delay and Impulse Response Measurements ..........................................52 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3 Impulse Response Measurement Parameters............................52 Working with Impulse Response Data......................................54 Automatic Delay Locator..........................................................55 3.4 SPL Measurements..................................................................................56 3.4.1 3.4.2 The Signal Level/SPL Readout.................................................56 Calibrating to SPL.....................................................................57 3.5 Capturing and Loading Measurement Data.............................................60 3.5.1 3.5.2 3.5.3 3.5.4 Capturing a Reference Trace.....................................................60 Loading a Reference Trace .......................................................61 Working with Reference Traces ...............................................61 Averaging Reference Traces .....................................................62 3.6 3.7 3.8 Internal Delay ..........................................................................................63 Internal Signal Generator ........................................................................63 Weighting Curves....................................................................................65 iv EAW Smaart 6 Operation Manual 3.9 External Device Control ..........................................................................66 3.9.1 3.9.2 External Device Control Interface ............................................66 Configuring External Devices...................................................67 3.10 3.11 The Locked Cursor ..................................................................................68 Smaart 6 Screen Capture .........................................................................69 3.11.1 3.11.2 Windows ...................................................................................69 Mac OSX...................................................................................69 Chapter 4: Applications.................................................................................................71 4.1 Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTA) ....................................................72 4.1.1 4.2 Connecting the Measurement System.......................................72 Measuring an Analog Equalizer ..............................................................74 4.2.1 4.2.2 Measurement Setup...................................................................75 Adjusting Signal Levels ............................................................75 4.3 Measuring a Loudspeaker........................................................................77 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 Adjust Signal Levels .................................................................78 Impulse Response Measurement...............................................79 Frequency Response Measurement of the Loudspeaker...........80 4.4 4.5 Measuring a Loudspeaker and Setting an Equalizer ...............................81 Measuring and Optimizing a Sound System ..........................................84 Chapter 5: Smaart 6 Commands ..............................................................................91 5.1 File Menu.................................................................................................91 5.1.1 5.1.2 5.2 Save Impulse .............................................................................91 Exit ............................................................................................91 External Devices Menu ...........................................................................91 5.2.1 5.2.2 Add New Device.......................................................................91 Remove Device .........................................................................93 5.3 Options Menu ..........................................................................................93 5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 5.3.4 5.3.5 5.3.6 Spectrum ...................................................................................93 Frequency Response .................................................................95 IR Analysis................................................................................97 Audio I/O ..................................................................................98 Delay .........................................................................................99 Zoom .......................................................................................101 v EAW Smaart 6 Operation Manual 5.3.7 5.3.8 5.3.9 5.4 Instantaneous...........................................................................101 Reseed Averages .....................................................................102 High Contrast View ................................................................102 Help Menu .............................................................................................102 5.4.1 5.4.2 About.......................................................................................102 Smaart Help.............................................................................102 5.5 Keyboard Shortcuts ...............................................................................103 Chapter 6: Troubleshooting......................................................................................105 6.1 Installation Problems .............................................................................105 6.1.1 6.1.2 6.2 Problems During Installation ..................................................105 Problems After Installation .....................................................105 Configuring Audio Input/Output Controls ............................................106 6.2.1 Windows Wave (Wave-in/Wave-out) Devices Only..............106 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Sound Hardware Problems ....................................................................107 Performance Issues................................................................................108 Font and Display Problems ...................................................................108 Restoring the Default Configuration .....................................................109 Technical Support Information..............................................................110 Index ..............................................................................................................111 vi EAW Smaart 6 Operation Manual List of Figures 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7 1-8 1-9 1-10 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4 3-5 3-6 3-7 3-8 3-9 3-10 3-11 3-12 3-13 3-14 3-15 3-16 3-17 4-1 Audio I/O tab of the Options dialog ..................................................................................14 Input levels: too low (left), correct (middle), and too high (right) ....................................15 Smaart 6 main window ......................................................................................................16 Menu bar ............................................................................................................................17 Cursor readout......................................................... ...