Interesting blog. I have the (almost) identical setup, and will read it with great interest. I know candycane asks questions to hulkss, but allow me to post some thoughts about my experiences.
- A $600+ sound card? really? is this a showstopper with anything less, or is this overkill?
Lynx produces really stable and low latency hardware and software, and the DACs are superb and of studio quality. In my setup I even upgraded to Lynx Aurora8. The main advantage for me was an improved clock and toroidal power supply (not noisy switch mode). Of particluar interest is the low latency between inputs and outputs when doing room response measurements, as this is a requirement for doing high quality frequency sweeps. I had less luck with that with my old m-audio.
You would need a calibrated microphone and mic pre-amp. Never use e.g. a non-calibrated emc8000 behringer and download some "calibration curve". Calibration is individual, hence the term....
- The blogger used Audiolense, but what version and what cost? That company's website refers to a version 4.2 but there is no product cost that references 4.2 on the "shop" page
You do not buy a particular version x.y, but rather a 1 year upgrade license (choose amongst XO, 2.0 etc).
- How easy is it really to send the Audiolense results to the convolver, and how easy is it really to set up the convolver to work with JRiver?
Simple! Audiolense exports the wav filter files and the Convolver text setup files based on the speaker setup you configure prior to measurement. You would need ConvolverVST in DSP studio (not wrapper or the one named only convolver).
I have some issues regarding ConvolverVST forgetting the filter file, and keeps not changing filter file when I switch zones in JRiver (this may be because I do not know how to use ConvolverVST properly).
- Did you use the B&K house curve as your target curve, or something else? Could you tell the difference readily if you tried flat versus the B&K house curve?
I know this question was directed to hulkss, but anyway: In Audiolense, the target curve is what you can spend infinite time and efforts on. You can even ask Mr Audiolense himself for help, but you
will end up fiddling with it. My taste is a 1 to 2dB increase in the bass for music and 6 to 8dB increase for movies.
- How many subwoofers did you use? If one, could it have handled two from what you observed?
You can have multiple subs. It all comes down to the number of output channels on your analog out. I use two subs on one channel using y-split.