Inside Track: Dirac Live Active Room Treatment

Posted on 4th April, 2023
Inside Track: Dirac Live Active Room Treatment

StereoNET’s Tony O’Brien recently had the chance to chat with Dirac’s Head of Product, Nilo Casimiro Ericsson, about the company’s newly launched Dirac Live Active Room Treatment (DLART) and all things Dirac. What follows is a transcript of that conversation.

Tony: Thank you for meeting with me this morning Nilo. If you don’t mind, I’m going to jump right in... There’s a lot of excitement in the home theatre community regarding Dirac’s upcoming Dirac Live Active Room Treatment or Dirac Live ART technology. What can you tell us about it?

Nilo: ART is actually based on stuff we’ve been doing for many years in the car industry with Dirac Dimensions. By using all of the speakers as an array or whole, Dimensions utilised something that you could describe as a pragmatic alternative to wavefield synthesis to create virtual objects within the listening space.

Not only was Dimensions able to place objects accurately within the car, but it also created virtual loudspeakers outside the vehicle. Scientifically speaking, the technology is referred to as MIMO, which is abbreviated for Multiple Input and Multiple Output loudspeaker correction.

Dirac Live Active Room Treatment uses MIMO’s mixed-phase impulse response correction to enable spatial optimisation in the listening space. Like Dimensions, it uses all of the speakers in the sound system to achieve what passive room treatments struggle to achieve.

Tony: So, it can replace passive acoustic treatments. Can you tell us a little more about how it does this?

Nilo: Rather than targeting each speaker individually, Dirac Live ART uses MIMO mixed-phase impulse correction to make the speakers work as a unified whole or array. It works very much like Active Noise Cancellation Technology, using the speakers to cancel out unwanted reflected wavelengths actively. It effectively turns passive speakers into active support units.

Dirac Live ART then uses the speakers to cancel out room resonances and reflections in the bass region. Using sound to kill opposite pressure from another direction results in a cancellation of the offending wavelength. As the offending wavelength loses energy from the moment it leaves the loudspeaker, the cancellation signal- which is limited in frequency and level- doesn’t have to be as loud in order to cancel the offending wavelength.

The algorithm calculates the filter and determines which speakers can be used to cancel the offending wavelength. So the speakers can work simultaneously as both loudspeakers and active room treatments.

Tony: So it’s aware of the limitations of the speakers- I suppose that there would be benefits in using larger speakers in the system?

Nilo: The more speakers, the better and the more frequency range available to Dirac Live ART, the better the result.

Tony: How does Dirac Live ART work with Dirac Live Bass Control?

Nilo: Lower frequency nulls are already handled by Dirac Live Bass Control within the listening area. Bass Control adjusts the phase response on specific frequencies to cancel a null. Bass Control allows multiple subs to cooperate and apply phase response at a specific frequency to cancel a null.

Dirac Live ART handles the reverberation and decay time, applying multiple FIR filters to the subwoofer or speaker to accomplish this.

Tony: Does it work alongside the existing Dirac Software, or will another piece of software be required?

Nilo: Dirac Live Active Room Treatment complements our existing software and works with Dirac Live Room Correction and Dirac Live Bass Control. It can be used in any system with more than one speaker, with progressive performance enhancements based on the total number of speakers in the system. The more speakers a system has, the greater the effect of spatial optimisation.

End users are not required to do anything beyond what they usually do in a Dirac Live Room Correction or Dirac Live Bass Control calibration. They perform the same kind of measurements they would in a standard calibration.

Tony: When will Dirac Live ART be available, and on what devices?

Nilo: Dirac Live Active Room Treatment is already available for pre-order and will be available in Spring (US) on Storm Audio. Storm Audio has a six-month exclusivity deal with other devices following suit from October, but as yet, there’s no official word on which other devices will be using Dirac Live ART.

Tony: And the cost?

Nilo: Dirac Live Active Room Treatment can be purchased by obtaining a license from Dirac’s online store. At this point, the cost is $299 US.

Tony: Is there anything else you can share with us about what’s in the works at Dirac?

Nilo: We’ll be doing much work on usability in 2023, introducing a new interface that will please all. We’ll also work alongside Masimo Consumer as Dirac Live is rolled out on Denon and Marantz receivers and processors.

Tony: I will let you go shortly, but before I do, I was hoping to quiz you on how to get the best from Dirac for existing users. One of the issues I know I’ve grappled with is how Dirac handles nulls. For instance, what if putting my microphone in one of the recommended measurement points happens to coincide with a null that’s not existent at the other measurement points?

Nilo: This is where a small, sweet spot will always be better, with measurements spaced 30-40cm apart. Never use the same position to measure; always present the software with a new piece of information with every measurement.

Make sure as many measurements are performed on the left side as on the right side. It’s all about getting as much information as possible while staying within the confines of the listening position.

Tony: What about larger listening areas?

Nilo: The same rules apply if measuring for more than one listener. In the case of nine seats, for example, take one measurement for each seat. For three seats, take two measurements at each seat. Once again, more measurements mean more data for Dirac to work with.

In the case of larger listening areas, though, it’s very much about finding a compromise; the algorithm creates an impulse response based on the measurements taken. In larger listening areas, you’ll still find commonalities, but you’ll get more and more differing impulse responses. In other words, with more widespread measurements, you’ll still find commonalities, but you’ll also reveal more problems in the room, leaving the algorithm to decide on the best compromise. It won’t be great for everyone in bigger spaces; it’s more about finding the right compromise.

Tony: Thank you for talking with us today, Nilo. It’s been very informative. We wish you the best of luck in 2023 and very much look forward to seeing Dirac Live ART in action as well as the rollout of Dirac Live to Denon and Marantz products.

For more information visit Dirac

Join in the StereoNET Discussion Thread on Dirac LIVE ART

Tony O'Brien's avatar
Tony O'Brien

As the owner of Clarity Audio & Video Calibration, Tony is a certified ISF Calibrator with over a decade of experience. Tony is an accomplished Audio-Visual reviewer specialising in theatre and visual products for over a decade at StereoNET.

Posted in: Hi-Fi | Home Theatre

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